This year Wisconsin has seen a large amount of rain compared to the previous years. David Stevens, the curator of woody plants at the Madison arboretum, who also owns Four Elements Herbals in Baraboo, gave us a look into what this means for the plants.
Issues Being Seen
“The excessive spring and early summer rains has caused some issues in the woody plants, trees, and shrubs,” explains Stevens. “But all in all, it has been a great reprieve from the past four years of drought.”
Stevens say that many plants are putting on new growth and reflowering, but there are also many plants seeing growth of harmful fungal and bacterial diseases. One of the diseases being seen is lilac bacterial blight. This disease is brought on by wet weather and is causing defoliation in these plants.
Another disease being seen at the arboretum is powdery mildew. Stevens explains that this disease is not caused by rain, and in fact rain helps it wash away, but it is caused by high humidity. This is because the high heat after the rainfall creates perfect conditions for this powdery mildew to grow.
Apple scab is a disease that has become very prevalent in the apple trees this year. This is a disease caused by warm, rainy weather like that was seen in the spring. This is causing large amount of defoliation and is also growing on the fruit itself.
The final issue being seen on plants in the arboretum is chlorosis. This is caused by excessive amounts of rain at one time which fills the air pockets in the ground and essentially drowns the plants. This can be recognized by the yellowing of leaves in the plants. This issue affects the newly planted plants more as they do not have as developed of root systems.
Tips To Combat Issues
“Some of these problems can be combatted by mulching in dry years, and not mulching in wet years,” Says Stevens.
The mulch in dry years helps retain water so plants don’t dry out as much. While not mulching in wet years allows the ground to dry out more and open the air pockets back up so the roots can gain access to the necessary nutrients.
Stevens also says that for garden plants, especially those like onions and potatoes, planting them on a hill can be beneficial. This allows you to be able to control the amount of water that they are getting better. For these plants, he goes back to mulching depending on the weather to give a fruitful crop.
