John Gyer wrote: This causes me to suspect that soil conditions that favor pathogens may be as important - or perhaps more important - then the soil temperature itself.
Ive come to the same conclusion here, John, at least with respect to certain plants. As an example, I would cite the culture of the common and very beautiful Allium caeruleum. Because this plant is readily available from bulb merchants and is also very inexpensive, its hardly the sort of plant most of us give serious attention. If it fades away, its easily replaced. I eventually realized that I rarely see this plant in local gardens, and when I do, the plantings look recent. So I decided to do an experiment. I have a raised bed of the local clay loam. I planted two dozen bulbs of the allium The first year results were, as usual, wonderful. Once the seed started to ripen, I covered the alliums with a sheet of glass for the rest of the summer; the glass was removed in the autumn. The next year the plants returned in numbers and there was plenty of bloom. This went on for several years, with the onion clump becoming thicker and more floriferous each year. In 2008 I decided to test the hypothesis; I didnt cover the plants for the summer. The next year there were no blooming plants and very few plants at all. The last time I looked last summer, there were none. There are some lilies which I suspect require the same treatment plenty of water up until about the time of bloom, then gradually drying soil for the rest of the growing season. For instance, Lilium pumilum, which has the reputation of being short lived, might benefit from this treatment. This common and inexpensive lily has never lasted more than a few years here. Im going to give it a trial this year to see what if any difference summer dry soil makes. Although most growers report this lily to be short lived, a few growers report it to be long lived. Well see. One other memory: years ago I was given a generous packet of seed of one of the blue poppies. I sowed this in one of my bog trays in late winter. I soon had a patch of about a half square foot of thousands of seedlings they covered the ground like some yellow-green moss. That was easy I thought. Two months later not a one survived. Jim McKenney [email protected] Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, 39.03871º North, 77.09829º West, USDA zone 7 My Virtual Maryland Garden http://www.jimmckenney.com BLOG! http://mcwort.blogspot.com/ Webmaster Potomac Valley Chapter, NARGS Editor PVC Bulletin http://www.pvcnargs.org Webmaster Potomac Lily Society http://www.potomaclilysociety.org
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