| Think you'll find it's thrips. Consider the following - Luise, You should never neglect Malmaison in Spring. It is not the fault of the rose that blooms can rot, but rather our neglect. Problem is thrips, which damage petal edges, causing petals not to reflex. So they sit closed and the damaged petals begin to rot. Be aware that early Summer is thrips time. They can be controlled to some extent by spraying with Orthene every 3 or 4 days. Don't spray directly onto the blooms, it also is not good for petals. The idea is to eradicate the thrips in the general area. In addition, and do this anyway to help the blooms, whether you use Orthene or not, take the bloom in both hands and ease the petals downwards slightly, thus breaking the seal caused by bleeding petal edges sticking to each other. To explain in more detail - the process goes like this. Spread your fingers under the bloom, and with the thumbs above, and on either side of the bloom, touch the outer petals with the thumbs and ease the petals downwards. For petals further inside the outer ones, press a little firmer and ease them down (you'll definitely hear the "crack" as the seal is broken). This separates the petals, spreads them, and allows one to spray the water between the petals, washing the thrips into the base of the petals. If you check next day, you'll find plenty of dead thrips down below, and for exhibition, remove with a fine paint brush. Then with your hand spray, flush the bloom out with water. Try and wash thrips down into the base of the flower where they will drown. That's really the only effective way to deal with thrips, and after Xmas (in Australia) they are largely gone anyway, and that's also why we get such great blooms of Malmaison into Winter, in the dampest conditions. The rose can handle that, but we must help it when it comes to thrips damage. The same practice works tor all rose blooms at that time of year (early Summer). |
