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Lime sulphur - another aspect

21 years ago

I am planning to spray LS in my Blue Mountains garden because the BS was particularly bad in the season just past. However, the received wisdom is that one should only spray when the roses are leafless because the LS would kill new shoots and leaves. So where does this leave the perennials growing under the roses? Will the lime sulphur kill them?

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Comments (7)

wattleblossom
21 years ago
Meryl, I've only used lime sulphur for the last couple of years, but my experience has been that it only damages the foliage but doesn't kill the new shoots. It's a bit difficult to tell at this time of the year whether it damages the perennials as they have either died down or been cut back, but I haven't had any deaths. I can say with certainty that it doesn't kill the weeds, so probably if you're careful, and maybe lift any perennials you're worried about, you should be able to spray with confidence. I'll be interested to read what others who have used LS for longer than I have have to say, as I too will be pruning and spraying in the next few weeks.
rosesforme
21 years ago
I just sprayed with LS and covered the perenials with some newspaper to protect them..First time I have done that .I sprayed very gently between them to get to the ground and kill the spores etc.
All ok so far.
Michelle
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You can order it on line from amazon or from the Ace Hardware superstore, and your local Ace hardware may be able to get it for you. An alternative is the pet dip version of calcium polysulfide which is 98% and comes in 16 oz. bottles versus the Hi Yield brand of Lime sulfur which is 29 % calcium polysulfide and comes in 32 oz. bottles. The price after dilution is similar. Calcium polysulfide when diluted is stinky, effective, and relatively safe for humans. Wear rubber gloves so your hands won't stink and wear eye protection, especially when diluting the concentrate. It is very caustic (pH = 11+) and could cause blindness if the concentrate was splashed into the eye. (It can denature protein in the cornea) Other than that, it is quite safe, assuming you are not planning to drink it. (Don't mix it with acids). In my experience it is a very effective dormant spray for roses and fruit trees and bramble berry crops, and has some nutrient value when washed by rain into soils.
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Go to weather underground, enter your zipcode, on the left side go down to weather history. The link below is to Buford Georgia. You'll see a choice of day, week, month, and year. Look the the yearly averages. (You may also have an option to copy last years temeperature history, which is really worth having.) What you need to know is when the historic warm spells happen and which are followed by serious cold. What you don't want to do (contrary to some comments above) is shock the roses into dormancy, only to have them hit by a January warm spell when new growth will happen, only to be killed by cold in February. Lime sulphuring now, will just kick the premature spring growth into the warm spell in early December, which is a total disaster. Try to understand what happens in your garden. In Jean's garden, in the heat island east of Nashville, her best use of LS is often the last two weeks of December. My garden is colder than hers by about 7 degrees + or -. My most effective uses of LS have been the first two weeks of January, which is often before buds begin to swell whether I want them to, or not. I look to LS to adding a couple of weeks of cold and maybe take the roses through the early Feb warm. This business of temperature swings happens every winter, sometimes I can hit with LS and get really good results. There have been winters that have been warmer and dormant strength LS just doesn't get applied those years. While I'm muttering: you can spray LS when it's below freezing. Just use hot water in the sprayer. The air makes sure that it doesn't hit the rose warm, but it keeps some of the sulfides in solution effectively. Here is a link that might be useful: Buford Georgia weather underground portal
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Extremely true! Here in Queensland, on the Gold Coast in particular we get all manner of fungal diseases and pests. I've only been growing roses for 4yrs now. I have learned many lessons in the process. I tried the frequent spraying. As pests can become immune to certain chemicals, even though I rotated them, I didn't find that was very successful. I joined the Qld Rose Society so I could purchase Neutrog fertilizers at a great discount. However, being a new rosarian, I under estimated how much Sudden Impact I would need for summer. Since I ran out in early Autumn I had some of "Vasili's Garden" Black Grit, and SuperFood, so I used that. To my surprise, my struggling rose bushes grew such brilliant new strong growth. Larger roses than any I had seen in the 4yrs I've had them, and much more resistant to disease. The roses have even lasted longer as cut flowers. There is so much new growth, it breaks my heart to prune them. But I will at the end of July, & I will use the lime sulphur. All the rose growers recommend it, and it only smells while you are applying it. Don't forget fungal spores remain on the surface of the soil and the rose bush. I will definitely continue to use Vasilis Black Grit and SuperFood too! By the way, it's available on his website, and delivered to your door. There
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Comments (6)
I believe Mr. Zimmerman does this for fungal diseases, but spraying only the bush, leaving it on for a brief period of time else it will defoliate. He sprays the plant (not sure if he drenches the soil, but I don't think so), leaves it on around 15 minutes (I'll have to research that exact time) and then washes it off using a hose-end sprayer for the whole thing. I've only ever used plain sulphur. Hopefully, someone will comment on using it for the soil only.
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BRODIE27
21 years ago
Hi Meryl2, Lime sulphur should be OK as long as you avoid the heat of the day. I have just sprayed my roses (see reply to wattleblossom) last weekend and they are all in new shoots and some have quite a lot of leaf and they were OK. I wait till late in the day. I have bedding begonias around the roses and they seemed unaffected by the LS spray.I only use LS at this time after pruning and believe it does make a difference to the dreaded BS starting off the year with a clean slate.
Daniel_Hanna
21 years ago
Lime sulphur can be sprayed any time of year at low concentrations for mildew and mites (if you can put up with the smell!)

At winter temperatures it won't harm new growth in my experience. And Meryl, in the chilly Blue Mountains I don't think your roses will notice at all!
femmeradsy
21 years ago
Good idea with the newspaper Michelle! I've found it doesn't HURT other plants, but it can leave a white dotty film over the leaves, which looks pretty poor especially on my gardenias.
waldon
21 years ago
Excuse my ignorance but I heard something about lime being good for black spot so I bought a bag of lime. Is this the wrong thing ? Do I have to get sulphur added ? Or is it already lime sulphur ?
Shaneqld
21 years ago
To answer the question re lime . The bag of lime is different to lime sulphur. Lime Sulphur is a liquid fungicide while lime is a soil conditioner, used to raise the ph level. Two entirely different products. Did you ask for lime or lime sulphur when you made your purchase ?

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