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> February tips Tips
for February
by Brad Thompson
1. FERTILIZING: You may
want to start fertilizing sometime this
month especially if it stays warm and your
plants are growing vigorously. I usually
don't start until a little later, say March,
mostly because I just have too much to do.
You can start this month if you'd like to.
2. CLEANUP: Make sure
you keep leaves picked up and remove damaged
leaves from your plants. This will go a long
way towards disease control. We haven’t had
much rain (ok none) but with colder
temperatures mildew and botrytis can still
be a problem if you don’t keep dead stuff
picked up.
3. PESTS: (besides me)
Now is the perfect time to inspect your
plants for any insect pests you have that
you just haven't gotten around to taking
care of. With all the dead leaves picked up
and very few leaves on the plants the bugs
are much easier to see and to get rid of. If
you have the time to go through each plant
methodically, one at a time, you can take
care of that number one nemesis of begonias,
the mealy bug, using a very safe method.
Take a cotton swab, or better yet a small
artist's brush, and paint all those little
mealies with pure alcohol, and they will die
instantly. The only drawback to this method
is that it is time consuming and you have to
make sure you inspect very carefully so you
don't miss any. For a really bad infestation
you'l l probably want to resort to a
pesticide, follow the directions on the
bottle, and make sure whatever you use is
safe for begonias. Safer’s Soap specifically
says on the bottle not to use it on
begonias. Also, this time of year you might
be starting to get aphids so make sure you
keep and eye out for them and keep them
under control.
4. MILDEW: I 'm sure
most of you have been fighting mildew since
last fall and probably still have some
plants with this problem. If you get it
under control now by spraying and keep it
under control until we get warm weather
you'll have a better chance of being mildew
free this summer. Everyone has their
favorite spray so ask around to find out
what other people use and find out for
yourself which one does the best at your
house. Usually just picking up the affected
stuff and warmer dryer weather will soon
take care of botrytis. Keep a close watch
because botrytis can cause much more damage
than mildew and can destroy entire plants
quickly if not kept in check.
5. PRUNING: This month
you can start pruning towards the end of the
month if you're careful about watering
afterwards and if it has stayed fairly warm
where you live. I usually prune everything
starting about the 15th of February but I
live 6 near the coast and I 've had plenty
of practice. If you are unsure about pruning
or inexperienced you should probably wait
until March when it's safe for everyone to
prune. Pruning instructions are in this
issue. You should root the cuttings indoors
because it won't be warm enough for them to
root well outdoors this time of year and
nothing will be gained by taking the early
cuttings. Don't take cuttings off of
rhizomatous or trailing begonias until after
they have bloomed or you may lose your
blooms for this year. Most of them only
bloom in spring on the tips of shoots. If
you really don't care about losing some
flowers you can root them indoors this time
of year though just like anything else.
6. WATER: This has
been a warm dry winter so it’s a little
harder to know when to water. Err on the
side of dry. I ’m missing our seasonal
watering break this year. Watch for plants
staying too wet or too dry. If you fix them
now you may save them from declining later.
If we should happen to get rain, then say
thanks for the help.
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