It is freakin’ HOT!
Most of the mums greened back up over the weekend and are looking better. Our biggest concern now is the extremely hot temperatures. When it gets hot, the roots at the edge of the pots literally cook or burn. When the roots burn, it makes the plants susceptible to diseases. Now our challenge is to make sure all the mums have enough water while not drowning them and causing more root damage. We applied a fungicide drench about 2 weeks ago that should still be protecting the plants. Some of the varieties were severely stunted by the iron deficiency which also affected the roots. When the extreme temperatures hit last week the most severely stunted plants did not have a chance and cooked.
All over the fields we are seeing inconsistencies in how the plants were affected by the iron deficiency. Some spots and varieties were less affected than others while other spots and varieties were a complete loss. In addition to that we are seeing inconsistencies among the same variety in different sizes. For example, in #6 Beth was the first variety to yellow then last week it started to green up before the iron was applied, but in #8 it looks like more than half of the Beth will be lost.
For now we will watch and water and check the EC to make sure we still have good nitrogen levels. I’ll get some pictures for you later in the week.
Stay cool.