Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1959-04-09
Over Garden Wall
Your Plants
CANBe Kept
Healthy
U. Of Md. Extension Service

ltd be nice IL there were some
magical way to keep insects and
plant diseases from iniuring
home fruit and ornamental
paintings. It'd be nice - but
there isn't any magic formula.
But that's no reason to let
the bugs and blights take over.
There is a way to keep your
plants healthy, SO that they'll
produce the way your nursery
cstalog said they would. And
it's not too hard, either.
What it takes is know-how,
planning, and a little work at
the right time.
How to Do 1t
Here's the know-how, supplied
by extension specialists at the
University of Maryland:
The first rule of any program
to prevent insect or plant dis.
ease damage is: take good care
of the trees and shrubs. This
means cleaning up and destroy
ing diseased parts, pruning
to make spray coverage more
effective, and repairing injured
or broken limbs and bark.
Then you spray. Spray with
the right material at the right
time.
Don't spray Unfortunately.
Spray with purpose. Be sure
to use the right material. Time
your spraying right. Spraying is
a preventive measure, not a
cure. 1t will keep your plants
healthy, not cure them if they're
already sick. That's why it's so
important that you use the right
material at the right time.
Right now, it's time to apply
dormant spray, before the buds
of trees and shrubs open. Choose
a warm day, when you don't
expect a freezing night for two
days.
Be sure that you don't apply
dormant sprays to plants that
are beginning to show green in
their buds, with the buds open
ing up. Dormant spray mate
rails are applied in strengths
that will injure growing plants.
Apply only one dormant spray
a year.
Here are a few more precau-
tons: Oil sprays will injure SUI
gar and japanese maple, walnut,
butternut and many coniferous
evergreens. Lime-sulfur will
stain painted surfaces and ma.
sonary, so don't use lime-sul-
fur on plants near buildings.
Be sure to thoroughly cover
shrubs or trees being sprayed.
The best guide for this is: spray
until droplets form and begin to
run off the branches and twigs.
Shade Trees and Ornamentals
To protect Towering, cherry,
oaks, rose or tulip poplar trees
from scale insects, spray with
superior type oil. Apply at the
rate of one and one-half cups of
oil in three gallons Of water.
For scale insects on holly and
magnolia, reduce the strength of
the oil emulsion to one cup of
oil in three gallons Of water.
For oystershell scale on lilac
and ash, and for aphid eggs on
cherry, dinitro (DN) is pre-
ferred. Use at the rate of one
half cup of liquid DIN or one
half cup of dry DIN to three
gallons of water.
Fruit Trees
On apple and pear trees, DIN
Is used in combination with oil
to protect against scale insects
and to kill aphid and mite eggs.
The proportions to use are two
tablespoonful of liquid or dry
DIN with one cup of superior
oil to three gallons of water.
To control apple rot, prune all
dead and weak wood from trees.
Burn the removed branches,
since dead twigs are infested
with fungi that cause fruit rots.
On peach or plum trees, con-
troll scale insects and peach leaf
curl with two quarts of liquid
lime-sulfur to three gallons of
water.
The same mixture of liquid
Ime-sulfur may be used to con-
troll scale insects on juniper, or
bladder gall mite on silver
mania