Scrapbook image

Your scrapbook

Forgotten your details?

Enter your email address and we'll send your username and password to you

London

  • Partly CloudyToday
    15°C/26°C
  • FairTomorrow
    13°C/26°C
  • See Gardeners'
    7-day forecast

Our Gardeners' 7-day forecast warns you of changing weather conditions (including frost, high wind and drought) and suggests actions to take to protect your plants.

Advertisement

Problem solving

Powdery mildew on rose flower stalks

Symptoms

Leaves and buds, possibly even stems and thorns, are covered by a dusting of white powder.

Find it on: roses - other powdery mildews affect other plants

Time to act: spring, summer

Rose powdery mildew

Powdery mildew is a fungus that produces airborne spores from infected stems or buds. After overwintering on your plants, the disease is most likely to flare up if the roots are in dry soil and the leaves are in humid air - conditions that are often found when plants are grown near or against a wall.

Solution

Organic

Prune out and bin (don't compost) infected leaves or stems. When buying roses, choose varieties with good resistance to powdery mildew - a reputable grower will be able to advise. Keep the soil around the roots moist at all times. When planting roses, prepare the soil well by digging in generous amounts of well-rotted compost or farmyard manure into the planting hole. For established roses, a thick layer of mulch around the base of the plant will help.

Chemical

Before symptoms appear, apply a fungicide containing flutriafol, myclobutanil or penconazole at the recommended intervals from early spring.

Advertiser Links

Subscribe to the magazine

August edition of Gardeners' World Magazine

In August...
The August issue is on sale from 30 July. Subscribe today and receive the next three issues of Gardeners' World magazine for just £1.

The UK's number 1 gardening magazine

TV & Radio

Television icon

What's on this week

Find out what gardening programmes are on TV and radio this week. And read more about the Gardeners' World programme.

Offer

Planter

Order five lavenders and only pay p&p.

BBC Magazines

© BBC Magazines Ltd. BBC Worldwide Ltd.

The BBC Gardeners' World Magazine word mark and logo are trademarks of BBC Worldwide Ltd.

BBC Magazines is owned by the BBC and our profits are returned to the BBC for the benefit of the licence-fee payer.