MADONNA LILIES

Evening Star, Issue 23497, 10 February 1940, Page 6

MADONNA LILIES

REMEDY FDR THE STEM ROT DISEASE For sheer beauty and! freedom of flowering, few lilies can compete with the favourite Madonna Lily—Lilium candidum. This, if it is to be grown to perfection, should be given plenty of lime. The one fault of this other-, wise perfect lily is its tendency to contract stem rot disease. Its immunity on limestone soils may be due to the free drainage, for the trouble is mors frequently found when heavy soils have been rendered even more moisture-re-taining by top-dressings of manure. Moving the bulbs in February to fresh ground will sometimes provide a remedy.

The fungus spores appear to lie dormant in the soil, waiting to attack - the rising flower stems. Even in badly attacked specimens the actual bulbs are healthy. One old-fashioned remedy which has given good results is to pub plenty of wood ashes in the holes, in fact, surround the bulbs with the ashes when replanting. Spraying with .• a solution of Bordeaux powder, one ounce to One gallon of water, will check the disease, but will not cure it. The lily appears to resent disturbance of the soil, and much better results are obtained! if only flat hoeing to keep down the weeds is practised. Newly-purchased bulbs should be planted now, just before the new foliage appears. As this lily does not form stem roots, the tops of the bulbs should be just below the surface of the soil. In heavy soils, small stones and lime rubble should be dug in the planting sites and covered with a layer of soil on which the bulbs will rest. The bulbs of Madonna lilies have , a .very brief resting period, new. growth appearing above the soil a few weeks after Iho flowering stems have been cut down . If early planting is adopted, strong new growth will be. made before winter. When ample room is givCn at planting time, very large clumps develop, and, unless the quality of the blooms suffers, it is best to.leave them undisturbed.— ‘ Auckland Herald.’,