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Begonia Bumper Pack 21 tubers - 7 of each
- £11.99
Fuchsia Giants Collection A 5 young plants
- £5
Geranium Colour Carnival F2 Hybrid Mixture 42 plug plants
- £6.99
Impatiens (Busy Lizzie) Accent Mixed F1 120 miniplugs + 20 Free
- £10.99
Lily 100 Days Collection 10 bulbs - 1 of each variety
- £9.99
Petunia Orchid Picotee Mixed F1 100 miniplugs + 10 FREE
- £12.49
Verbena F1 Quartz Mixed 84 plug plants
- £13.99

Live Plants

Flower Seed

Vegetable Seed
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Powdery
Mildew - Plant Fungal Disease
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Powdery Mildew on a marrow leaf
picture used permission
of Pollinator - published under
GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2

Powdery Mildew on grass
picture used permission
of Forestryimages - Clemson University - published under
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License
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Signs - White
powdery mould appears on the leaves, stems and buds. Young growth in particular
is affected. The disease is encouraged by the plant being dry at the roots with
damp stagnant air around the top.
Damage - Looks
unsightly and causes leaves to drop early. If the plant is well established this
is a relatively harmless disease. However, care should be taken with younger plants
since these may be drastically weakened.
Treatment - A fungal disease
so one of the best ways of dealing with it is by good hygiene. Remove all dead leaves
in autumn to prevent the spores from over wintering, burn the leaves or take them
to the skip rather than use them for compost or you may well just perpetuate the
problem.
Like many fungal diseases, this is caused by any one of a whole
group of fungi.
Mulch well in spring and autumn with well rotted farmyard manure
to prevent the roots drying out. If possible, prune plants so they have an open
shape and air can move through the branches.
Horsetail tea.
Horsetail (Equisetum arvense) is a pernicious weed which spreads by underground
stems that go very deep and form horizontal rhizome systems. This makes it particularly
difficult to control particularly on heavy soils where trying to pull it up
just breaks off the stems leaving a piece in the soil to carry on. If you have
a horsetail problem, there's a bright side to it because an infusion of the
weed makes a good fungicide for control of mildew on strawberries and other
crops, and checks rust on celery and celeriac.
Collect the horsetail, foliage,
stems, rhizomes and all, and for each 28g (1oz) pour on 1.1 Litres (2pt)
hot, not boiling, water, and allow to stand for twenty-four hours. Strain
off the 'tea' and use undiluted.
Elder
spray. This kills aphids,
small caterpillars and is useful as a fungicide for mildew and blackspot on
roses. The toxic agent is hydro-cyanic acid, so in preparing the spray use an
old saucepan.
Gather 450g
(1 lb) leaves and young stems of elder prefer-ably in spring when the sap
is rising. Place in the saucepan and add 3.3 litres (6pt) water. Boil for
half an hour, topping up as necessary. Strain through old tights and use
the liquid cold and undiluted. It will keep for three months if bottled
tightly while still hot.
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Chemical
fungicides
  Make sure you shake the bottle well before
use as the active ingredients often settle to the bottom - take it from me
I learned the hard way!
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