MADONNA LILIES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 February 1940, Page 15

MADONNA LILIES

REMEDY FOR STEM ROT DISEASE. For sheer beauty and freedom of flowering, few lilies can compete with Ihe 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 otherwise 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 more frequently found when heavy soils have been rendered even more moisture retaining by top-dressings of manure. Moving the bulbs in February to fresh ground will sometimes pro fide 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 put 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 soil.s 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 the flowering stems have been cut down. If early planting is adopted, strong new growth will be made before winter. When ample room is given at planting time, very large clumps develop and, unless the quality of the blooms suffers, it is best to leave them undisturbed.