In September and October 2001
I had a very interesting
month long trip to South Africa. After two weeks of
business, I then had a very enjoyable and relaxing
holiday travelling to the game parks and scenic
attractions in the southern parts of the country.
Unfortunately the trip did not begin too well. I was
flying into Johannesburg Airport just as the sad events
were taking place in the USA on September 11 and
there were many upset people around for many days
afterwards. Increased security at each of the airports
meant lengthy delays for me while travelling.
The seasons in South Africa are the same as ours. It
was peak wild-flower time in some places I visited and
I saw many areas and flowers similar to those in
Western Australia. It was too early to see their
daylilies but it was the Clivia and iris flowering time
and I was treated to some very spectacular displays in
gardens and horticultural shows. At one large Clivia
nursery in Stellenbosch I saw two greenhouses, each
covering about an acre, full of clivia blooms. One was
full of clivias in shades of orange, red, peach, and
apricot, and the other, in shades of yellow, cream and
near white. I'm now a very keen collector of clivias
and have since imported lots of seed! Unfortunately, it
will take 3 to 4 years before I see the different
varieties in flower. I have some shady areas around our
new house to plant them in and they will look very
colourful when they are all in flower.
Sue and I moved into our new home on the hill at
Policeman's Spur Road the day before I left for South
Africa. Visitors to my old nursery and who climbed up
the hill to look at the daylilies in my stock beds will
know the spot I'm referring to. We are very fortunate
to have 360 degree views of the countryside around us
and from our upstairs bedroom we can look out over
trees to the scenery to the far west and south. I can
tell you, its very difficult to leave in the morning
for work! The landscaping on the two hectares around
the house is underway now, and I am continuing with my tree planting
program.
Sue's new gardens on the old daylily nursery site
are developing very well and the tearooms are nearly
completed. She is looking forward to her retirement
from nursing in December and putting all her efforts
into something more relaxing and enjoyable. To see what
she has achieved in the new gardens so far is amazing.
You wouldn't believe that she is a relative newcomer to
gardening. Sue will be writing to all those people on
my client list who live within a 100 km radius to let
you know when the tearooms and gardens will be
open.
By the time you get this newsletter, winter will
almost be over and it will be a short three months
before we all see our beautiful blooms appear again.
Here's hoping you can find room in your garden for a
few more of our beauties!.
Warmest regards and best wishes from Scott and
Sue
My Gardening Magazine Advertisement Headline says :-
'If You Can Kill a Daylily . . . .
You Should Give Up Gardening!'
Yes - I really mean that!
Daylilies are so easy to
grow and if you keep killing them you really should
think of doing something else in your spare time rather
than gardening. Or, take a good hard look at what YOU
are doing and not blame the daylilies for dying on
you.
In the last week of May, I received the first ever
letters of complaint about our advertisements in the
garden magazines. My replies gives me a perfect
opportunity to get some of my ideas across to you.
"I write to tell you how much your advert has
annoyed me over the years. What a dreadfully negative
statement. I spent 40 years gardening on clay soils.
Then 30 years ago I moved to a place with deep white
gutless sand, no access to all those mulches and
composts needed, and almost no water. I brought my
daylilies with me - only half survived, and only
because I shifted them into pots and used recycled
water. I've learned a whole new system of gardening
since, but would still not put them in the ground. My
main concern is what image you are conveying to a new
gardener who fails first time around? Why not try
something positive such as:- Let Us Chose a Suitable
Plant for your Location. How much nicer that would
sound for a beginner?"
A. G. Dudinin. W.A.
The words used in this
ad were actually said by one
of my clients to his neighbour as he passed over a few
surplus daylilies for her to plant in her new garden.
He knew that anyone so hopeless at gardening that they
could kill a daylily really should give up !
Trying to grow daylilies in " deep, white, gutless
sand" ? What a challenge! Is it possible to grown
ANYTHING in these conditions? You say that there was
no mulch and compost available all those years ago but
surely there are nurseries and landscape suppliers
nearby now? If you could get really top-grade compost
and put it on top of your sandy soil after adding Blood
and Bone and Dynamic Lifter Plus and allow the microbes
to work for you for 6 months, I think you' ll find your
daylilies will grow very well in it. I' ve visited some
gardens in WA which have been developed on sandy soils
and their daylilies are growing really well because
they have added lots of organic matter over the years.
I' ve seen really good mulches used--mixtures of
newspaper (some printers sell shredded paper), lawn
clippings, lucerne hay, organic sugar cane, and autumn
leaves. Remember that soil, like daylilies and roses
etc, is a gross feeder and needs to be lovingly and
continually mulched.
What have you been doing with your food scraps all
these years? I know of some gardeners who make a trench
in their lousy sandy soil, and, starting at one end of
the trench, they put their scraps in it and cover it
up. The soil organisms soon break it down and the worms
join in and create very good soil.
The second letter reads:
"This is a letter I have intended to write all the time
(years) that I have been receiving my monthly copy of
Gardening Australia. Each month I look for your ad, and although there have been some subtle changes, your
headline remains. Please do not take me too seriously,
but I find this offensive as they do not thrive for me.
When we first came to this garden in the foothills of
the Mt Lofty Ranges we bought three plants. Two died and
the other was moved from place to place trying to find
it a comfortable spot. It now receives a fair mount of
sun and is very spindly. It did have a flower last year
- its first flower in its eighth year of life but I
don't think it is happy. In my previous two gardens my
daylilies grew so extensively that I was constantly
having to divide them. I could grow them in sun, shade,
with little water or lots of water, and they didn't
seem to care. So what is wrong? We have a creek area
with ferns and shade- loving plants, open native garden,
a rose bed, a sheltered patio area, many large trees
(eucalypts and consequently a fair amount of shade).
Can you understand how I cringe when I read your
ad?"
Mrs Shirley T
Athelstowe. S A.
One of my first thoughts when I read both letters
was - how is it that they have read my ads for so long
and not been tempted to order our catalogue and get a
free plant? Had they done so, I' m sure they would
have found the solution to their problems and now be
growing perfectly - and enjoying - many of my superb daylilies. You
see, with every plant or order, we send out a two
page growing information sheet to help you grow perfect daylilies.
So,
I rang Shirley and we had a very interesting chat. I
discovered several things about her garden and these
could account for the problems she is having. In her
letter she didn' t mention about the shade, how
everything takes so long to establish, and the
condition of the soil. The land they bought eight years
ago was the last one in a residential area and had had
lots of sub-soil dumped on it by the next- door
neighbour when he built his inground swimming pool.
Shirley also mentioned that there used to be creek
running through their block many years ago and the
council had dumped a lot of material onto the block to
divert it. All this adds up to a very unsatisfactory
state of affairs - particularly if you want to grow
anything. I frequently hear similar stories from people
who are having trouble developing a garden. In some
cases there is no top-soil because it was scraped off
and sold when the sub-division was created. It is very
difficult to establish a garden on compacted, lifeless,
sticky clay subsoil. Another problem soil can be found
where housing sub-divisions were made on land that was
once cane fields or market gardening areas. Because of
the heavy use of chemical fertilisers, herbicides,
insecticides, nematicides, fungicides and soil
sterilizers by the farmers over the years, the soils
are almost sterile and often full of soil pathogens.
So what is Shirley' s main problem? She is trying to
garden in a mixture of soils of varying quality - topsoil,
subsoil, clay, sand, and soil from well below the
surface, all mixed up and in different parts of the
property. There would be areas with no soil structure,
no humus, compacted soil, and most likely a complete
lack of beneficial soil organisms.
I often read and
hear about this same problem on TV garden shows and in gardening magazines -
particularly where houses are built on concrete slabs
after the land has been " cut & filled." Where it
has been "cut" it is usually rock-hard compacted clay,
and in front of the house there is a mixture of clays
and topsoil. What can be done about it? Remediation of
this problem is long-term - unless you know someone who
would sell you their precious topsoil! For best
results, organic fertilisers and organic matter (animal
manures and compost) have to be added, the beds mulched
and then left for 6 to 12 months. During this time the
four major groups of soil micro-organisms - bacteria,
fungi, protozoa, and nematodes, should begin to
inhabit the soil and multiply. These will attract the
larger soil creatures - worms, springtails, centipedes
etc and together they will begin to create a favourable
environment. The process of breaking down the organic
matter and creating good soil structure can be speeded
up by applying compost teas, liquid seaweed and fish,
molasses, and humic and fulvic acids.
The second problem that Shirley had with her
daylilies was to do with the lack of sunlight.
Daylilies need at least six hours of sunlight but will
grow in less than that providing the soil is very good.
However, they will produce less blooms, and they will not re-bloom.
Until Shirley can find some sunny, fertile spots in her
garden, she will have to grow daylilies in large pots
on her sunny patio. My advice to anyone doing this:-
Use 30 cm plastic pots with a dish, put 5 cm of gravel
at the bottom, fill it with a mixture of half potting
mix, and the other half made up of the best soil you
can scratch up from your garden, and compost (this will
add valuable soil organisms to your mix). After
planting, add a handful of organic fertiliser to the
surface and water weekly. Apply a little liquid seaweed
and fish fort nightly and your soil organisms will be
happy and you will grow fantastic daylilies in
pots.
Client's Daylilies are Dying of a Terrible
Disease!!!
I received a phone call from Merle who
was really worried because she had just lost six plants
and there were many of the other 110 cultivars which
were looking very sick. She had heard " how terrible"
daylily rust was and was sure she had it !! Please
note : Rust
does not kill daylilies -
so I asked her about her
garden, her soil, and what fertilisers she uses. To cut
a long story short, I discovered that the 'culprit'
may have been her husband spreading Summit 89
chemical fertiliser with his big hands. I don' t know
the recommended application rates, but with an analysis
of 14.9% Nitrogen, 3.83% Potassium and 4.30%
phosphorus, I reckon a tablespoon per square metre
wouldn' t do too much damage to the soil
micro-organism, but a handful would be deadly!!
Chemical fertilisers are made from salts. If you put
the equivalent amount of salts in your bath that Merle's husband had put on the soil, after 15 minutes in the
bath you' d look like a prune. The salts would have
drawn lots of moisture from your skin. What do you
think those fertiliser salts would do to the millions
of soil organisms in the soil? Kill them--that's
what!! In nature, who feeds the grasses and the huge
trees--someone running around with bags of fertiliser?
Please, please,
everybody, get rid of those
chemical fertilisers and take a good look at what
happens in nature !! To put it very simply, what would
have happened in Merle's soil is this. The beneficial
microbes which feed the plants' roots and also protect
them could be wiped out, and so the predators of the 'bad
microbes' are now dead and the baddies have a ball!
They get into the roots and up into the crown and
deprive the daylilies of food. The plant gets stressed
and then dies (some people call this "crown rot"
).
My recommendations: Merle lives near the
Nutri-Tech Solutions factory so I suggested she buysome
Nutri-Store Gold fertiliser, & fish and kelp. Also, buy a
bag of Searle's compost from her local nursery and
lucerne hay. Drench the soil with the fish and kelp,
apply the NTS Gold at 1 kg per 3 square metres., cover with 2 cm of
compost, and mulch with lucerne hay. Also, get rid of
the Summit 89 and the Charlie Carp. I do not know of
any liquid fish fertiliser in the world which has 9%
nitrogen in it. Can you guess how the manufacturers
managed to get 9% ??
From "dirty concrete rubble" to rich, dark soil!
Here's a letter from Jill on Magnetic Island. She
had been in touch with me earlier in the year about the
state of her soil prior to ordering.
"Hi Scott, I hope you had a great time in
Melbourne (I spent a couple of days at the Melbourne
International Flower and Garden Show + golfing) While
you were away I have been carefully nurturing a bed for
my daylilies. We were lucky enough to have a big storm
here which washed up tons of seaweed. After rinsing the
salt out, we dug in lots of that as well as our rotted
leaves and duck manure, and what once looked like
rather dirty concrete rubble is now rich and dark and
full of worms. An interesting thing has been happening
over the building of the daylily bed: my husband, who
has always claimed to have a black thumb, instead of
green fingers, and has left the garden to me, had to do
the initial digging as the arthritis in my knees just
couldn't compete with decomposing granite. Over the
weeks, he has become fascinated with what is now "his"
daylily bed (though the lilies which will go in it
continue to be referred to as mine) and could
frequently be found having a little poke to see if the
worms had arrived yet, or tucking in some particularly
succulent organic matter, such as last year's zebra
finch nests."
My Comments:
Jill is very fortunate to have one of the best natural
fertilisers right next door! I reckon she will have a
fantastic display of flowers in October. Seaweed has
been used for as long as people have been growing
plants. There are 70 different minerals in seaweed
(soil tests only consider 17 of them as important) plus
natural hormones and antibiotics. The soil
micro-organisms love it and plants take it in easily
through the leaves when it is applied as a foliar
spray. Some of the benefits of using seaweed are -
increased frost resistance, increased insect
resistance, increased nematode resistance, and
increased shelf life of flowers, fruit and vegies.
When I had a cut-flower business way back in 1977, I
used a seaweed product called SM3 on the roses and I
can vouch for all those benefits mentioned above. It
was recommended to me by a fellow remedial teacher from
Mundubberra who was using it on many acres of citrus.
He said that he could see the difference between his
trees and his neighbours when looking down on the
orchard from the house. His trees were greener and they
produced far more fruit than his neighbour's trees.
SM3 (now called SM6) is made from kelp harvested from
the seas above Northern Ireland and this cold-water
kelp is supposed to be the best.
Warning! I haven't checked on this but is it
OK to take seaweed from the shoreline? I know that in
South Africa, people have to get a license to take
anything from the seashore.
Compost Teas:
Gardeners and horticulturalists have been making
compost teas of some form or other since early Roman
and Egyptian times, but it is only in recent years that
compost tea making has become a lot more scientific,
and that the liquid produced from the tea maker has
been more beneficial to the soil and the plants than
with earlier efforts.
After reading about compost teas a few years back, I
attended a seminar in 1999 about compost and compost
tea making. The guest speaker was Elaine Ingham, a
well-known soil microbiologist at Oregon State
University. She was involved with the testing of soil
samples sent to her by American farmers who were
worried about the condition of their crops and soils.
These weren't only tests of the minerals in the soils,
but also assays of the soil microbes present (or not
present!) The farmers were finding that crop production
was decreasing and pests and diseases were increasing.
The assays Elaine looked at usually showed that the
soil contained very low numbers of beneficial
micro-organisms and excessive numbers of the "baddies"
which I have often referred to in the past - fungal
pathogens and the worst kinds of nematodes - the root
and crown feeding nematodes. She was able to show the
farmers that the only way to restore the soil to some
semblance of its original condition and fertility, and
to prevent soil borne diseases, was to stop using many
of the chemical fertilisers they were using and apply
compost, at about five centimeters deep, over the whole
farm. Well-made compost would add trillions of
beneficial bacteria, fungi, protozoa and nematodes per
square metre, but can you imagine how much compost the
farmers would have had to make to cover a 500 hectare
farm? Mountains of it!
Elaine began to experiment with the brewing of
compost teas and spraying it over pastures and
broad-acre crop lands and the results were amazing. It
was found that teas could restore damaged soils and
depleted soil life and the costs of doing so were very
low. It wasn't long before farmers using these teas
soon began to operate productive farms again.
I have been using a microbe product, Nutri-life 4/20
Soil Microbes for many years (we now sell this
product). These microbes are brewed up and sprayed over
freshly cultivated ground prior to planting. I make
three-monthly applications after that over the whole
farm through the irrigation system. Each time, I also
add liquid seaweed, fish, molasses, liquid worm
castings, humic and fulvic acids to the brew before
applying it. Those additives are known to be excellent
plant nutrients and foods for the microbes. I am
convinced that the health of my soil and plants, and
the tremendous multiplication rates I achieve is
greatly aided by these organic inputs. Nutri-life
4/20 has been successfully used to prevent the
disease called "crown rot" which is caused by fungal
pathogens in the soil. The predatory fungi in 4/20
devour and out-compete most pathogens. I have sold
this product (@ $US13.00) to a daylily grower in the
USA and he thinks that it has helped reduce the
incidence of crown rot.
Last year I made a large compost heap and the
resulting compost was tested to be very good for making
the kind of compost teas Elaine recommends. I was
motivated to do all this after hearing about the
success of some melon and potato farmers in the Lockyer
Valley and Darling Downs areas who were using compost
teas to feed their soils as well as to prevent and
control various foliar pathogens such as powdery and
downy mildew, and various blights and moulds. Elaine
Ingham had been doing research with applications of
compost teas on the leaves of various diseased crops in
the USA and had discovered that correctly made teas
were able to suppress about 20 different fungal and
bacterial leaf diseases.
How do the microbes from the teas protect the leaves
(and the roots) from disease? You are aware that we
have millions of micro-organisms per square
centimetre on our skins (your BO lets you know when you
have an excess of them!). Leaf surfaces are also
covered with millions of organisms per square
centimetre. These organisms feed off the leaf exudates
and they perform many different functions-- some
protect the leaf and some feed it. Leaf exudates are
simple sugars, proteins, carbohydrates, hormones etc
Sometimes the leaves are not covered with large enough
colonies of beneficial organisms, and so disease
organisms are able to find a place to land and to
colonise the surface eg. powdery mildew. Other diseases
like rust, land on the surface and if there are not
sufficient antagonistic microbes on the leaf surface
they then enter the leaf tissue. By applying compost
teas as a mist over the plants, it is possible to cover
the entire leaf with beneficial organisms and the "
baddies" won't be able to find a place to take
hold.
You Can Easily Brew Your Own Compost
Tea
It is very simple. You will need the following
equipment and "ingredients":
A 20 litre (5 gallons) bucket.
An aquarium aerator and stones (about $25 at most pet
shops) and aquarium heater.
Hessian or shade cloth.
1 kg (2 lbs) of compost (use only high grade compost
made by you) OR high grade vermi-compost from a local
worm farmer.
50 ml (1/4 cup) liquid seaweed,
50 ml fish (or 100 ml of Searles Fish &
Kelp),
50 ml stock grade molasses (or brown sugar),
50 ml humic acid.
Tablespoon Aloe vera gel.
1 kg of Organic lucerne (alfalfa) or hay.
2 crushed comfrey leaves.
Add 15 litres (4 gallons) of clean water to the
bucket, warm it to about 28 Celsius (75 F), place the
aerator stones on the bottom and aerate for an hour.
If you are on town water supply aeration gets rid of
the chlorine. Put the compost in a " tea-bag" made of
hessian or shade-cloth and suspend it in the water
above the aerators. Add the other " ingredients" and
brew for two days. It may froth a little during the
second day but that's OK.
Strain the tea through hessian to remove the hay and
any compost particles. Don't use a very fine strainer
because you could be removing some of the fungi which
have been extracted from the compost. Dilute the
finished tea at the rate of one litre of tea to 4
litres of water (or use it undiluted on your roses or
on badly diseased foliage). Spray at sunrise or late in
the afternoon and preferably just before and after a
full moon. Try to spray on both sides of the foliage if
you are able to (very difficult to do with daylilies
but much easier with roses!) Cover your mouth and nose
and wear gloves. There is a re- mote possibility that
there may be harmful bacteria in the tea which could
make you ill (but I never heard of it happening).
NB-- stick to the amounts I have given you for
each ingredient at the beginning of the brew. More is
definitely detrimental to the making of good compost
tea. You can add more fish, seaweed, humic acid etc
after you have diluted the tea if you want to. Any of
the strained tea not used can be kept in a clean bucket
for four to five days but you must aerate the mixture
and give the microbes a teaspoon of the above foods at
the beginning of the third day. If at any time, the
mixture becomes very smelly, that would indicate that
something has gone wrong and it should not be used as a
foliar spray on any of your valuable plants. Most
important -- you must clean your equipment properly
(bleach is OK) and leave it in the sun for a few days.
This will kill any organisms which could harm your
next brew.
The key component in making a great compost tea
is of course the compost. It should have been made
by you so that you know what has gone into it. Do not
use that smelly stuff I often see come out of plastic
bins, or any cow manure. Pure compost should smell
sweet like good soil, and is black and crumbly - not
smelly, slimy gunk! There are plenty of articles to be
found about how to make good compost. The method which
I believe makes the most perfect compost for use in a
compost tea is one where the gardener collects all the
materials first and builds his compost heap on the
ground by adding layer upon layer of the materials and
then covering it. Space does not permit me to go into
any detail here in this newsletter but I'm sure you
will be able to find details in garden books or
magazines.
What Happens in the Compost Tea Maker?
Good compost has huge numbers of beneficial
bacteria, fungi, protozoa and nematodes in it and when
the compost is soaking in the warm, aerated water which
has the molasses, humic acid, fish and kelp added to
it, these organisms are extracted from the compost.
They then begin multiplying up into incredible numbers.
To give you some idea of numbers - in a handful of
healthy soil there are approximately 6 billion
micro-organisms made up of several thousand different
species of bacteria, fungi etc. In a well-made compost
tea there could be in excess of 250 billion bacteria
alone in a coffee mug! Add to that the other species of
organisms present in the compost which also multiplied
in the tea . . . and we are talking about trillions per
mug!!!
What are the Benefits of using Compost
teas?
- Soil and wind-borne pathogens cannot infect the
plant tissues because the infection sites are taken
up by the beneficial organisms.
- Huge numbers of microorganisms are added to the
soil and these convert the nutrients into
plant-available forms. These organisms also decompose
organic matter, plant materials and toxins.
- The nutrients in the tea are easily taken up by
the plant.
- The nutritional quality of food crops is
enhanced, and plant growth is improved. ("I recall
that one plot of celery received 450 litres of
compost tea per acre, and they packed out an extra
200 boxes of celery per acre in comparison to the
control plot. That's a lot of food production." wrote
a farmer)
- Diseases can be controlled by user-friendly and
worker-friendly products-- not toxic chemicals.
- These microorganisms are environmentally friendly
compared to the chemical inputs frequently used.
Can Compost Teas Control Daylily Rust?
Before I answer that, I should answer another
question that is sure to be asked by daylily growers:
"Will chemical fungicides control rust?" The answer is
yes - they will control it but at a cost to the plant,
to the environment and to your own health and pocket.
Many collectors in the USA have reported to me that
their plants have been affected by the cutting and
spraying regimes which have been recommended for the
control of rust.
So . . . could compost teas control rust? I think
so, particularly if it is applied to both sides of the
leaves before rust is established. As I write, it is
8 months since rust was discovered and I have been
applying compost teas monthly. I have sprayed 200
litres of an undiluted mixture over a fully planted one
acre trial area To the rest of the 6 acre farm, the tea
was applied at a very diluted rate through the overhead
sprinkler system. I've seen no rust at all on the
majority of daylilies in the trial area. In some cases
I've seen it slowly disappear from cultivars which were
initially infected. But one cultivar, WITCH STITCHERY,
is one of the least resistant daylilies, and compost
teas seem to have had no effect at all on it so
far.
However, it is too early to be certain about what is
happening. There are no simple answers when working
with biological controls. I'll continue with the
monthly applications through winter and early spring
and hopefully I'll never see a major outbreak again.
If there is one, I shall start applying the tea
fortnightly. I enjoy the challenge of making the tea
and spraying it over the farm, knowing that it is
really safe to use, knowing that the plants and soil
organisms love it, and believing that it has some
effect on the disease.
If you would like to see my 450 litre system in
action please ring me and I'll let you know when I'll
be making my next brew.
My Large Homemade Compost Tea Maker
I use a 1000 litre (approx 200 gallons) tank, a
spa-pool blower to aerate the tea and an immersion
heater. The aerator gives me excellent oxygen levels in
the tank and also circulates the tea around the tank
past the hanging bags. I have made my circular aerator
manifold out of 1 1/4" black irrigation poly pipe. I
have drilled 120 X 1/8" holes in the inside of the poly
and it is held at the bottom of the tank by a couple of
heavy stones. Air from the blower is taken to the
manifold via a 1 1/2" pipe.
The 5 kg (10 lbs) of compost I begin with is held in
a large "tea bag" made from shade-cloth and this hangs
down in the moving water. My compost is made up of my
own compost, vermi-compost from my two worm farms (each
has a slightly different diet, therefore the microbe
numbers and species will be slightly different), and
vermi-compost from a huge commercial operation. There
are three other bags-- one contains 4 kg of a special
rock dust which I buy from a local quarry and it
contains excellent minerals. The other contains 2 kg of
organic hay and lucerne hay. The third contains a 3 kg
mixture of old wood-chips from a pile of mulch (the
fungal threads are visible), and soil and litter from a
nearby forest floor (this organic matter should contain
lots of beneficial fungi because fungi break down the
woody-type organic matter in natural settings). I also
add a vigorously growing daylily plant and the soil
from around their roots. My reasoning for this? If the
plant is growing really well it is because of the
beneficial soil life around the plant so lets extract,
feed and multiply them up into greater numbers.
The nutrients for the microbes are the same as
mentioned in the small domestic brewer PLUS other
ingredients. The spa pool blower is new and I am still
experimenting with the quantities of the
ingredients.
During the tea-making process, the microbes are
extracted from the bags and then they feed on molasses,
humic and fulvic acid, aloe vera gel, liquid fish and
seaweed and multiply into huge numbers. The beneficial
bacteria feed on the molasses and fish, and the fungi
feed on the humic acid and seaweed. There are hundreds
(maybe thousands?) of other species of soil organisms
in the compost as well (some of these are beneficial
protozoa and beneficial nematode species) and these
also feed and multiply in the warm, well-aerated mixture in the tank.
For the Scientifically minded:
This quote was taken from the IPM Practitioner Sept
2000:- Compost tea produces its effect through a
combination of actions. According to Brinton (1985),
"the modes of effects of compost ex- tracts against
pathogens is not simple to decipher, and range the
entire gamut from living to chemical interactions."
Standard models of microbial bio-control include
competition for space and nutrients, antagonism,
hyper-parasitism, and secretion of antibiotic
substances (Cook and Baker 1983)
Another possibility is induced resistance (Look up
SYSTEMIC ACTIVATED RESISTANCE and SYSTEMIC INDUCED
RESISTANCE in Google-- a search engine on the
Internet for more information because I'm sure a
mechanism like that is happening in the daylilies).
Sprays of chemicals or microbial's have been shown to
increase plant resistance to disease by stimulating the
production of phytoalexins and other plant protectant
substances.
An E-Mail from a gardener:-
"Last year (after hearing Elaine a couple of times,
fortuitously) while awaiting an affordable small brewer
to appear in the market (still waiting) I made tea in a
plastic barrel using an aquarium air pump with air
stones. I used the tea indiscriminately without any
controls and stopped mildew on phlox, stopped black
spot on roses, and had the absolute best tomato crop in the
25+ years we have tried here."
Want to Find Out More?
Go to Elaine Ingham's website www.soilfoodweb.com.
Send for her Compost Tea Brewing Manual it will
tell you all you need to know.
In the next website you will find photos to help you
set up a bucket brewer. They mention only molasses as
food for the microbes. Please refer back to my notes
for the best ingredients to use.
http://www.dep.state.pa.us/dep/deputate/airwaste/wm/recycle/Tea/tea1.htm
Want to Buy One?
I am a distributor of a very large commercially-made
Australian compost tea maker. At a price of $1650 you
get all the components-- pump, pipes, aerator and
heater (postage is extra) plus you get free advice to
get you started.
A home system for Americans/Canadians etc can be
bought from:-
http://www.alaskagiant.com/
This looks to be an excellent system and they can
provide you with the ingredients and composts too.
Go to Freedom Organic's website. They are a New York
company.
http://www.freedom-organic.com/
For information about the spa pool blower I use
contact www.spa-quip.co.nz (I use
model 5552). I believe they have distributors all
around the world. The Aussie distributor is Spa-Quip
Australia Pty Ltd Ph 02 96344500. They will tell you
who your local distributor is.
If any of my Australian readers are wanting to build
a system like mine, or want to discuss compost teas,
please contact me by phone 07 5494 2346 during working
hours or between 78 pm at home 07 5494 2665
(overseas callers-- dial 61 754 942346) OR email me at
daylily@bigpond.com
If you live near to Maleny and would like to see my
system in action please ring me and I'll let you know
when I'll be making my next brew.
Daylily Rust:
In recent years there has been a large number of farm
crops, bulbs, perennials, shrubs and trees with rusts
which have arrived in the country without being
detected by growers or AQIS until it is too late. Some
of these rusts can cause very unsightly foliage, for
example the rust on canna lilies, chrysanthemums,
gladioli, and frangipani just to mention a few. Many
gardeners have got rid of these plants because of this.
I have good news for you-- this rust is not so terrible
that you have to get rid of your daylilies! In fact, in
my opinion and experience, the hysteria about daylily
rust has to be the greatest 'storm in a teacup' I've
ever witnessed.
Puccinia Hemerocallidae is the name of the
new leaf disease in daylilies and, from my experience
with it so far, and from observations by some keen
gardeners nearby, it is nowhere near as unsightly as
the rust on the plants mentioned above. But, if you are
a daylily fanatic, this rust is not seen in the same
light! One would think that a plague had descended on
the planet!
Daylily rust was first identified during the 19th
century in the species daylilies growing in the wild in
Northern China and Siberia, and it later slowly made
its way into Japan and Costa Rica and arrived in the
USA in mid 2000. Once in the USA, it spread throughout the country in less than two years. Like all rusts,
it can spread rapidly in the wind and therefore it can
travel many hundreds of kilometres in a short time.
When a spore comes into contact with a daylily it can
enter the leaf through the stomata, and then the
parasitic growth stage can spread throughout the
above-ground parts of the plant.
A few commercial growers and breeders, and daylily
collectors in the USA have noted that some daylilies
are very resistant to this disease and barely show any
effects from it, while others are easily infected and
their outer one or two pairs of leaves become discoloured. Under the older, outer leaves, tiny raised
yellowy orange pustules about the size of a pinhead
develop and the leaf could also develop yellow and
brown streaks and dead tissue on the tips (a leaf
disease already in existence -- called Leaf Streak
also looks like this too). Some leaves may have
pustules on both sides of the leaf. To check if you
have rust, one of the easiest ways to do this is to
wipe a white tissue over the suspect leaves and if it
is there, you will see an orange powdery smudge.
If you have an Internet connection go to
here or here and
you will see examples of badly rust affected leaves and
also leaf-streak diseased leaves as well.
If you think that you have rust in your daylilies,
you could contact your local Department of Primary
Industries and they will confirm it. Some gardeners are
just removing the outer leaves, others are cutting back
the foliage to the ground and spraying the foliage with
the fungicide they use on their roses, and some are
trying alternative organic sprays.
According to the plant pathologists I have been in
contact with in Japan and the USA who have been
carrying out research into daylily rust, the conditions
which appear to be most favourable for pustules to
develop on an infected plant are:- 24 to 28 Celsius and
85% humidity. Many days of heavy morning dew is also
believed to be conducive to pustule development as
well. Very high temperatures and very low humidity do
not seem to favour rust development. I think there may
be many areas in Australia which may not be troubled
with it.
Reports are now coming in from the USA from
gardeners who, in 2001, initially panicked when they
saw rust and cut back their plants to the ground
and sprayed with fungicides. Many of these people
decided not to spray in Spring and to wait and see what
develops. The good news from many of them in the colder
northern States is that rust has not reappeared . Curt
Hanson, who visited Australia and spoke to several
daylily groups in 1998, has reported no rust so far and
nor has Steve Moldovan, 60 km away.
Rust Resistant Daylilies:
Are there any
resistant daylilies amongst the thousands of daylilies
in existence? Could resistant daylilies be bred? With
only eight months of observations and experiments behind
me, I'm sure that I have resistant cultivars here
already. There are some cultivars which appear to have
no immunity at all but there also appears to be many
which are showing remarkable resistance. There are some
daylilies which have never produced any rust pustules
and have had beautiful lush green foliage ever since
the outbreak . Then there are a few which
are neither resistant to rust nor to leaf-streak
disease and begin to show discoloured leaves quite
early in summer.
The challenge for me then is to breed resistance
into a new range of daylilies like scientists have done
in wheat for example. Or is this an impossible dream?
It would take the next twelve months for me to identify
these cultivars and then another year or two to confirm that they have resistance in all the weather
conditions that Maleny experiences.
Then I would have
to see if they are more or less resistant in the many climatic conditions which
exist throughout Australia. Once that is known, perhaps
a breeding programme can be commenced and some
extremely resistant seedlings be identified. But what
if the resulting hybrids are yellows, gold's or purples
and look quite ordinary when compared with the likes of
Strawberry Fields Forever or Spacecoast Starburst? Will
the keen collectors be even slightly interested in
them? In my opinion, they won't but landscapers and
retail nurserymen may be. Will the daylily lover continue to buy the most exotic daylilies from the
specialist breeders overseas and spray their plants
regularly so that they'll never see rusty foliage? Yes
-- of course they will! From what I have seen and heard,
many of the top hybridisers in the USA do not appear
interested in or involved in breeding for resistance at
the moment. Why should they, when most of their
clients, the 12000 members of the AHS, are spraying
regularly with fungicides. I have made suggestions
regarding rust suppression for some of them to try but
they do not appear to be the slightest bit interested.
Perhaps that will change. One hybridiser has seen for
himself that the foliage of his daylilies in a huge
area on a separate property which has never been
sprayed since the outbreak in the USA mid 2001, looks
no worse than leaf-streak disease! What does this tell
you about the disease?
There is another factor to consider , perhaps the
cultivars which I have identified as being very
resistant will only be resistant in my nursery and in
gardens where plants are grown organically. But in a
garden or nursery in which the growers use chemical
fertilisers, pre emergent herbicides and insecticides,
they may not be at all resistant?
Several plant pathologists in Japan and the USA who
have been carrying out research are of the opinion that
if the plants receive proper nutrition from a
well-balanced fertile soil, there is every possibility
that the effects of rust on the plant will be
minimised. So far, I have not seen rusty foliage
anywhere near as bad in my daylilies as I have heard
described, or seen in photos from the USA on the
Internet.
There is one thing for certain-- the debate about
daylily rust will go on and on for many years to come
and the participants' experience, knowledge (and
prejudice) in this debate will vary tremendously. I can
see the same thing happening with rust as it did when
the daylily aphid found its way into the country in the
mid-1980's and then spread very quickly throughout
Australia. Many growers attacked the aphids with
deadly insecticides while others ignored them and let
nature take its course. Unfortunately, there are still
a lot of people who continue to spray toxic
insecticides even after all these years. They know that
once they stop, the aphids will appear again and do a
lot of damage to the plants simply because the aphids'
predators will not be in sufficient numbers to control
them.
I think there will be many daylily growers who WILL
spray their daylilies regularly to suppress the rust
and in so doing, will do untold damage to the
micro-organisms on their plants and in the soil, and at
the same time possibly damage their own health! But, I'm optimistic there will be many keen gardeners and
environmentalists who will either give nature a chance
to keep the disease under control, or look for
alternative organic methods. Earlier in the year I gave
a talk to over one hundred people at a nearby garden
club about rust, and plant nutrition. I showed them two
large daylily clumps-- one that had leaf-streak damage
and the other rust (both had been dipped in fungicide
first!) and the consensus of opinion was that there
appeared to be very little to worry about. Most
gardeners said they would continue to do what they
always did and remove the outer discoloured and oldest
leaves. What will you do?
E-Mail from the USA to the E-Mail Robin The writer
did not want me to mention his name (so I'll call him
Fred) and wanted me to re-write it in my own words ) as
much as possible)
In July 2001 rust became evident in Fred's garden.
He was not going to follow the practices followed by
most growers at that time (which was the spraying of a
cocktail of fungicides over every daylily) In fact he
set about spreading it all over his garden to see the
effects of rust on all the daylilies he had. As you
can imagine, many thought his actions were foolish and
irresponsible.
By late October 2001, rust had devastated Fred's
garden. It especially hard hit were the Tetraploids--
the near whites and the Avante Garde type daylilies. He
composted AVANTE GARDE and STREET URCHIN. KEY LIME ICE
and NORDIC MIST were so hard hit that clumps reduced
significantly in number of fans once good growth was
resumed in late March and April. He saw no reason to
waste commercial fertilizers on sickly plants, and
since last August 2001, his daylilies had not been
sprayed, trimmed, irrigated, or fertilized. They are
"the carefree perennial" aren' t they, he asks?
In December 2001, a cold front knocked the
temperature down into the low teens (32 Fahrenheit is
freezing, minus ?? Celsius) one morning and the
"lilies" were reduced to a mush. Fred left them to
their mushiness, and a repeat performance happened
again in February 2002, and March. Each time, the
plants were frozen to the ground, and each time, he did
nothing to clean them up. The plants are mulched with
lawn trimmings.
Fred reports that since December 2001, there has
been NO EVIDENCE OF RUST IN HIS GARDEN. He added no new
plants and applied no chemicals and the daylilies
remained rust-free. He felt that it had been a great
learning experience to see which daylilies retain their
ruggedness in a neglected garden. Many had withered
away without lots of nitrogen and some had far less
bud-count and branching than usual and did not increase
either. but the vast majority of them grew quite
well.
Fred destroyed about sixty percent of his daylilies
and will continue culling until he gets down to the
fifty or so best cultivars for his garden. He
observed that since going chemical free, reducing the
daylily numbers, and maintaining a weed free garden, it
was the first year he hasn't had slug, earwig, or
grasshopper problems, and nor did he have a thrip
problem either. He noted that he lost only two
daylilies to crown rot this year
He doesn't know why his garden appears to be free of
daylily rust for nine consecutive months and hopes that
his approach offers encouragement for those who
struggle to come to terms with what to do about the
disease. He says that in his case, letting nature take
its course seemed to be a God-send.
My Comments:
I'm not that sure that he has rust resistant
daylilies left in his garden. I think that the infected
foliage has been "zapped" so badly by the freezing
conditions that the rust disease has been destroyed. As
rust is not supposed to spread into the underground
parts, he should be free of the disease-- until
airborne spores re-infect his plants. Then he would
know whether the remaining fifty cultivars are
resistant. It is a pity that he destroyed about sixty
percent of his daylilies. I would have liked to know
how many of those would have been rust free after the
severe weather conditions finished and more conducive
conditions arrived. I hope he posts more information to
the Daylily Robin in the future. He used to lose a lot
of daylilies to crown rot but now that he doesn't use
chemicals he reports that he has lost only two.
Early in 2001, I recommended to the people in the
Robin who were not nurserymen to let Nature take its
course and to closely observe not only their own
daylilies but those in mass plantings in highway medium
strips and also the " wild ditch daylily" along the
country roadsides. Many of the replies I received were
strongly against my suggestion but there were a few who
decided not to spray. I'll keep you informed.
Drought is Predicted -- Another El Nino Event on
the Way?
As I write we have just had ten days of cold winds and
rain, and the very last thing that comes to mind is
another drought! But I heard on TV recently that most
of the eastern half of Australia is going to be
affected by an El Nino event this year and many areas
will be affected by a serious drought. Gardeners in the
rural areas could find it very difficult to obtain
water for their plants and, in the towns and cities,
many councils are already putting restrictions and bans
on sprinklers so it is going to be tough to maintain a
garden. It is therefore essential that you attend to
your soil so that your plants can survive the ravages
of drought. The advice given to Mrs. S T and Mrs. A G
should be followed whether there is a drought or
not.
Aussie soils are very ancient and very weathered
and, in many areas, almost devoid of humus. There have
probably been hundreds of severe droughts and El Nino
occurrences throughout the thousands of years since the
last Ice-Age, and wind and water have removed so much
of the valuable topsoil and humus in the inland areas.
There is a need to build up the organic matter in the
soils and this will help to conserve what humus is
already in the soil and, over time, also add to it. As
I've mentioned before, organic matter is an essential
food source and habitat for soil organisms and once
they are present in the soil and a healthy soil food
web is created, fertility returns to your soil and
moisture is easily retained. Consequently, a gardener
does not need to water the garden as often.
Hardy Plants for Your Garden:
Daylilies, Agapanthus, & Kniphofias
Daylilies would have to be one of the hardiest and
most colourful of all the perennials in existence. As
one gardener in Kilkiven said last time there was a
severe drought in their area - " We've had three
months drought and frosts every morning and the only
plants left alive in my garden are the daylilies." How
do they survive in such conditions or being left out of
the ground for so long? Their tuberous roots hold
moisture for many months and when that has been used up
and the roots and leaves die back, the crown, even
after six to eight weeks without moisture, will still
sprout roots and foliage when given the right
conditions. In the 1950's and early 1960's imported
plants came from the USA in a ship's hold and that
journey took up to two months on occasions.
Many growers " out west" say that the old ones are
hardier than the new ones and in some circumstances and
conditions, they may be right. We've got lots of these
old ones and we've had them for a long time so its
time they were given another home. I carried out a big
cull when I moved the nursery to Policeman's Spur Rd
from McCarthy's Rd in 1988 and then a much smaller
cull when the plants were moved to the Denning Farm 10
years later. Its time to cull again.
Other Hardy Plants available from Mountain
View:
Kniphofias originated in the hot dry parts of South
Africa and I saw plenty of them growing in the wild
when I was there last year. They are very hardy and
flower for a long time. The one I've listed below is a
seedling which I discovered growing amongst the
daylilies at Policeman's Spur Rd just before we moved.
It is a tall lime yellow with huge flower spikes - you
can see a photo of it in the Mixed Kniphofia photo on
page 29 of the catalogue. Just for this newsletter, I'll call it Lime Poker.
Kniphofia Lime Poker Introductory price $8.00
Shining Sceptre $5.00
Note:- Mixed Kniphofia are Sold Out
Agapanthus are undoubtedly the toughest
perennial around and I don't think anything will eat
them! You see them lining country driveways where they
never get watered or fertilized, and yet they always look magnificent.
Dutch Giant, the tallest and bluest Aggie, just loved the move to the farm and
has exploded into growth because it got fed and
watered the same time as the daylilies. Now we have
hundreds of them, and, if we don' t dig them up now,
we'll need to get a bob-cat in to do the job for us!
The little dwarf variety - I called it Dwarf
Blue in the catalogue, has also multiplied like
crazy and we have that at a special price now
too.
Agapanthus praecox Guilfoyle (New) David Glenn
at Lambley Nursery raves about this new one. He
describes it as having "waxy midnight-blue flowers,
flowers for 6-8 weeks and secondary flower stems in
autumn"
Streamline A new intro. from NZ where it is
rated the best dwarf blue evergreen variety. Reputed to
flower for six months although I have not checked this
out.
$4.50. 5 for $20.00. 10 for $37.50
Dutch Giant
-
now only $5.50 for huge flowering sized plants
5 plants for $20.00, 10 plants for $35.00, 50 plants
for $150.00.
Wavy Navy - now $6.00, 5 plants for $25.00, 10
plants for $40.00.
Dwarf Blue - now $3.00 (twin crowns), 5 plants
for $12.50, 10 plants for $20.00
Guilfoyle - now $12.50.
Hardy Daylilies available
at bulk disocount prices:
Perfect for massed plantings, to line the driveway, or
to sell at the weekend markets
Large single divisions - 10 of one variety
(labelled) for $27.50, 25 for $55.00, 50 for $95.00, 100
for $175.00
A mixture of all varieties, not labelled - 200
or more -- $300.00
Prices include GST. Postage is extra - ask for a quotewhen
ordering.
Select from this List:
Gold, Apricot and Orange Tones
Butterscotch Ruffles, Cosmic Humming Bird, Double
Butterscotch, Dwarf King,
Jean Wooten, Look Away, Nuka, Playboy, Pojo, Reverend
Traub.
Near-whites, Creams & Pastels
Cheryl Guidry, French Frosting, Gracecup, Jake Nicols,
Kallista, Pagoda Goddess, Precious Princess, Sugar
Cookie Pink and Rose
Goya, Island Calm, Palace Jewel
Red Jeune Tom Karmic Treasure Majestic Red
Yellow & Lemon
Dan Tau, Fabulous Secret, Hazel, Immortal Love, Mary
Helen, Ono, Pass Me Not
Nutri-Tech Solution's Organic Products for your
Flower and Vegie Garden now Available:
After using Nutri-tech Solutions products for many
years of I have now become a distributor (for selected
items only). I have used all these products (plus many
others) and can guarantee everyone of them. I have
pointed so many farmers, gardeners and daylily growers
in their direction over the years and have had lots of
feedback about the wonderful results they have been
getting.
Equipment for making Compost Tea:
Double outlet aerator and stones $25.00
Aquarium heater (with thermostat) $66.00
Ingredients for your Compost Teas and your
garden:
Liquid Fish 1-litre
$10.00
This fish fertiliser has the highest natural nitrogen
of any fish product (5.5%) and 5 times higher trace
element levels than other products.
Liquid Seaweed 1-litre $12.00
This is the highest analysis kelp product in Oz.
Liquid Humic Acid 1-litre $8.00
A stimulant for micro-organism growth in CT's, in the
soil and on leaves.
Vermi-compost 3-kg $3.00
I use this vermi-compost from a huge worm farm in
Warwick to fertilise the daylily beds containing our
newest imports. This stuff really gets them
multiplying!
Molasses --organic 1-litre $3.50
Nutri-Store 180 3-kg $3.00
180 is a high carbon fertiliser-- the ultimate soil
food (the beneficial microbes love it). Some D/L
growers report reduced disease after using it. Half a
cup can be used in CT's . Use 1 kg per 4 mē four
times a year.
Bond-Tech Spray Oil 1-litre $12.50
An organic wetter/sticker to add to your foliar sprays
to make them stick and improve the performance of the
foliar fertilisers. Worm-Works 1-litre
$11.00
A fully organic, microbe rich liquid fertiliser
containing the potent secretions of natures miraculous
" colloid mill" - the earthworm. High levels of natural
N-P-K, colloidal minerals, beneficial bacteria and
enzymes. Use 10 ml to 1 litre as a foliar spray (and
add 20 ml to your CT bucket)
Nutri-Life 4/20 Soil Microbes
$26.00
4/20 is a blend of soil friendly bacteria and fungi
which devour and out-compete many soil pathogens
including fusarium, pythium, phytopthora, &
rhizoctonia (these live in unhealthy soils & can
cause daylilies to rot). You will need the compost tea
equipment to brew these for 24 hours.
Nutri-tech Black Gold 1 litre
$15.00
A blend of fish, kelp, humic acid, and triacontanol.
Increases fruit and nut size & yields, disease
resistance.
Directions and how to use the
products, the analysis and benefits are all fully
described on the containers.
Postage -- this is extra so I will give
you a quote when you order these products. Approx. cost
per kg is 80 cents. 1 Litre is approx 1 kg
Foliar Fertilising:
This is the most efficient and easiest way to feed
your plants. After preparing our huge beds with dry
organic fertilisers and lime, we then keep the
nutrition up to our plants during the next 2 to 3 years
with foliar fertilisers. We Apply very early in the
morning of a cloudy humid day around the time of full
moon as a very fine mist. I try to direct some of the
spray under the leaves but this is not very easy to do
on daylilies.
Visits to the Farm:
We no longer carry public liability insurance, daylily
rust is on some of our daylilies, and because of our
much reduced staff numbers, ALL VISITS TO THE FARM
WILL BE BY APPOINTMENT ONLY AND AT YOUR OWN RISK
.
PHONE BOOKINGS
- We need to know if you wish to
visit. You may phone 07 5494 2346 anytime and leave a
message or write to us beforehand. Please do not
turn up and hope for the best because we may not be
here!
DIRECTIONS
- From Maleny town centre turn left
at Myrtle St (just past Police Station), travel 5.5 km
and turn into Aplin Rd on the right. Turn left
immediately, over the cattle grid, and down to the
office.
