We are into the right temperature and moisture conditions for lots of fungus issues to attack our plants.
For roses, black spot is a serious disease that shows up first as a black spot on the rose leaf. The leaf then turns yellow and falls off. This fungus normally starts on the lower leaves where the foliage is fuller, thus restricting air movement so the leaves stay wet longer when we have heavy dew, which is about every morning. Left untreated, this disease can defoliate a plant is just a week or two, thereby weakening the plant and certainly making it look unsightly.
Select a fungicide labeled for black spot and spray the bush now to prevent your roses from becoming infected. Prevention is always much easier than trying to stop the progression of the fungus once it’s present. Also, remember that an application of fungicide doesn’t make the disease go away; it can only stop the progression by protecting the new foliage.
Flowering crab trees and certain apple varieties are susceptible to a disease called apple scab. This fungus causes spots on the leaves and a sooty black “scab-looking” blotch on the fruit. Once the foliage is infected, it falls, so unless you spray to prevent it, you can have an ongoing mess of dead leaves on your lawn for most of the summer if you have a variety that is not resistant to scab. Again, use a fungicide labeled for apple scab and get that done before the symptoms appear.
Blights on tomatoes will also become apparent soon if you didn’t plant a variety that is resistant. I recommend Daconil to prevent the blights because it’s a broad spectrum fungicide. It is labeled for black spot on roses and scab on crabapples, but not labeled for trees with edible fruit.
Yeah, I know, we hate that chore of the spray thing, but we live where we live and the weather conditions are what gives us all these challenges. That being said, we have soil that gives the potential of the most productive gardens and beautiful flowers of anywhere in the country, so we just deal with the issues and appreciate the results.
So I am attempting to encourage you by giving you the information you need to know to meet the challenges because success is its own reward.