Problem with Buds.

[davidwood]

Charlie I am reluctant to start a negative new topic on this cultivator  but I am having a problem with the buds on Bright Horizon so I put it here. The best way to describe the problem is they seem to be opening to soon, in fact they don't open, they get to about half way as shown in the photo and I then have to force it, I then have a 3 inch bloom with the thickest petals I have ever felt, shade sun or whatever makes no difference, I know it sounds silly but you can see it wants to develop more and be bigger, it looks and feels stunted.
The cv itself is growing very well [in fact growing quicker than every other cv I have], its already 3 feet high in a 9 inch pot in just 2 and a half months, very lush, ok with the sun and loads of buds. Is there anything I can do or have you any ideas.

[Charlie]

David, Bright Horizons is looking like one of those cvs that does best in spring and fall (winter, too, if indoors). The growth is fine year round but the flowers grow smaller and less colorful when temperatures go over 90F (32C). At even higher temperatures they can have trouble opening. I only discovered this recently and was hoping that the extremely hot and humid temperatures in the greenhouse were to blame and that most people would not see these extreme conditions where they grow it. The Gulf Coast of the US and Vietnam are probably too hot and humid in summer for this cv to bloom normally.

Charlie

[davidwood]

Oh well at least its not down to something I am doing, with everything else going so well I was scratching my head. I do have a shady spot in a draughty place, I will try it there.

[Darkhorse]

David, I noticed you posted pics of your Bright Horizon in bloom.  Was a shadier spot the solution?  I too have this cv and haven't really seen it bloom yet.  My problem was thrips.  Every single bud fell off last year. 

[davidwood]

David, I noticed you posted pics of your Bright Horizon in bloom.  Was a shadier spot the solution?  I too have this cv and haven't really seen it bloom yet.  My problem was thrips.  Every single bud fell off last year. 

Jordan the problem I have is not getting it to bloom, its quite prolific, its the fact I have to manually open each bloom, its made no difference where in the garden I have had it the result was the same.
Truth is if you where to ignore the bloom its by far and away the most sun tolerant and atractive cv I have, the leaves stay lush and very green in the strongest sun, it does like water mind, even on a mild day and little sun it drinks half a gallon.

[Darkhorse]

Ok thanks David.  So you're still having to open all its blooms by hand?  Hmm...  I ran into that with a couple of my cvs when I lived in the bay area (the nights there are cool, even in summer).  I wonder what the problem could be.

[davidwood]

Ok thanks David.  So you're still having to open all its blooms by hand?  Hmm...  I ran into that with a couple of my cvs when I lived in the bay area (the nights there are cool, even in summer).  I wonder what the problem could be.

Maybe its not whats generally thought and it need a lot of sun and heat to fully open, Charlie says it was fine in the greenhouse, well I will certainly have them conditions here outside in a few weeks so we will see.

[Darkhorse]

I think that may be the problem.  I had trouble with a few cvs not opening in cooler weather, but with warmer night temperatures these cvs don't have a problem.  If only I could keep these darn thrips away.

[Charlie]

Jordan, did you spray with spinosad? To break a thrips infestation it is best to spray with spinosad once a week for at least 3 weeks. Even better would be every 5 days but it is easier to remember to do it once a week, like every Sunday morning or whatever.

Charlie

[Darkhorse]

Oh yes, I was spraying with Spinosad every five days, then rotating to acephate (Ortho Rosepride that we talked about a few years ago) for the fourth spraying.  I continued this throughout the summer.  I was also picking up any dropped buds and sealing them in a plastic bag.

My efforts were making only a little headway.  I was still getting rather scratched up blooms; I went from almost every bud on every plant dropping to about 2/3 buds dropping.

I think they may be coming in from my neighbor's garden.  He has a variety of plants, but I doubt he does any pest maintenance.  That's the only thing I can come up with.

[davidwood]

Oh yes, I was spraying with Spinosad every five days, then rotating to acephate (Ortho Rosepride that we talked about a few years ago) for the fourth spraying.  I continued this throughout the summer.  I was also picking up any dropped buds and sealing them in a plastic bag.

My efforts were making only a little headway.  I was still getting rather scratched up blooms; I went from almost every bud on every plant dropping to about 2/3 buds dropping.

I think they may be coming in from my neighbor's garden.  He has a variety of plants, but I doubt he does any pest maintenance.  That's the only thing I can come up with.

You know Jordan I was wondering if maybe you where using the hose end bottle and it weren't mixing the Spinosad correctly or even that you had mixed the wrong amount doing it the normal way, I say the latter as one of the first ever questions I asked on this Forum was about ounces in a gallon and how to mix Spinosad, I hadn't got a clue, Spinosad certainly dont make it easy with there instruction label and it seems odd that you are doing everything so right and still getting all that bud drop.
I use 3 big tablespoons of Spinosad to 1 gallon of water then pour that in my smaller hand held water sprayer, it would be nice if it was a simple thing like that to stop your bud drop, its got to be one of the most frustrating things we face.

[Charlie]

Good thinking, David. The first thing to consider when a pesticide that is known to work does not work is if the dose is high enough. You can't go above the recommendations but should be sure that you are using the highest dose recommended.

Charlie

[Darkhorse]

Hmm, I suppose that's possible.  I did notice that the acephate made much more of a difference in the thrip population than did the Spinosad.  I used the hose end bottle of Spinosad, but I used two different bottles last summer.  I'm not sure what to think, as the likelihood of two defective bottles seems rare.

[Charlie]

Jordan, thrips do become resistant to spinosad. If that is the only thing someone uses it's possible to develop a local group that is resistant to spinosad. It's also possible that your thrips come from a farming operation nearby that has oversprayed with spinosad. The manufacturer quit selling it in Florida a while back because commercial operations were over using it.

What you could try is only spraying with acephate for a few months next summer and then go back to trying spinosad. I used this technique successfully many years ago when I was not aware that spinosad had this problem. There are other strategies you can try, too. Let us know if there seems to be a problem next summer and we can discuss them.

Charlie

[Darkhorse]

Ok, great.  That does sound like a likely scenario, as I live in an area that thrives on agriculture.  The first summer I was here wasn't so bad, but last summer...  I hardly saw blooms.  I'm crossing my fingers it isn't the same this year!