Tropicals & Tender Perennials: Rooting Experiment Results, 1 by JaxFlaGardener

JaxFlaGardener wrote:
Following up on the powdery mildew discussion: I brought my dogwood tree (which was here when I bought my property three years ago) back from the very brink of death due to what was probably a long standing infection with powdery mildew. I used copper sulfate solution sprayed on the leaves. It sounds like nasty stuff, but it is actually considered an "organic" method. Copper is a naturally occurring element in soil and I imagine even in the concentrated form of the solution it is not enough to throw the environment out of whack. I finally got one flower out of my dogwood last year and a full head of healthy leaves. I'm hoping it will bloom profusely in a few weeks. A very dilute copper sulfate solution might work for seedlings and other plants.

I can't claim credit for the 'Shelob Tolkein' moniker for the orchid I have, RJ. The name came with the plant, which was in a somewhat massive eBay purchase for orchids where I bid about $5 on about 25 orchids with a starting price of $.99 each and ended up winning most of them! Talk about a flower tizz! My head and my budget were both reeling for a while from the huge crate of orchids that came my way!

Below is 'Shelob Tolkein,' aptly named for the giant spider from the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.