Gourds & Fungicide

May 5, 2012 - Green Dragon Amaryllis displaying red spots

 Back in the beginning of May, I noticed that my Green Dragon wasn't looking as healthy. There were spots along the top of the leaf and the edging was starting to look 'burned'.

May 5, 2012 - Green Dragon Amaryllis

 I was stunned when I turned the leaf over and saw this entire mess under it. I posted the pictures on a forum and someone believed it to be red spider mites. The usual suggestion was to throw it away and get a new one. I'm not keen on that idea so I did a lot of searching for a home remedy. Something about how red spider mites thrive in dry conditions. I tried a soap spray, tobasco spray, milk spray, etc... but the spots were spreading as the days passed.

June 2, 2012 - "Candy Floss #2"

But then Beryl paid us a visit and dumped quite a bit of rain here. I was mortified to see that the red spots had spread like crazy in the rains we had. I hit the internet for another search and found out that there was a fungus that often attacks amaryllis/hippeastrum called stagonospora curtisii that thrive in wet conditions.

Again, the recommendation is to discard the bulb and get a new one but seeing as how I am not keen to the idea (Heh!), I decided to look up what the best fungicide was. One that was mentioned several times over in handbooks and guides was something called Cleary's 3336 and a more affordable solution was Thiomyl. I shelled out a good chunk of change and sprayed the stuff on my bed. I really dislike the idea of using fungicides but since this fungus can overwinter and return in the spring, I'm going to give this a try and see if I can't squash it out.

June 5, 2012 - Bicolor Gourd

 Speaking of Squash! I am getting a major kick out of this bicolor gourd that's growing on my fence. I never bother with anything from the squash family since there seems to be six million different bugs that attack each part of the plant but this plant seems to be thriving! I bet it's also because we seem to be, so far, having a cooler-than-average summer as well as regular rain here and there (enough so that we are no longer in a drought of any sort after two years!).

June 5, 2012 - Bicolor Gourds vine

To me, they look like dragon claws gripping an orb. Don't they look like that?