By Mark Farnham, Northeast Technical Sales Manager

My travels during this past forty-five days talking to growers regarding pansies and mums could be filtered down to a common word -- STRESS! 

I am not talking about the clogged highways and airport terminals bulging with the added traffic of vacationers. I am talking about the added stress of heat, drought, or too much water to which these two crops are often subjected, that can cause a lot of stress on crops and growers alike.

Pansies with RootShield protection

For example, today I met with a grower who had not used BioWorks products. He showed me his crop of mums that was suffering and dying off. Weeks of high heat led to over-watering, causing plants to fail, leading the grower to treat with chemicals which stressed plants 

even more! I believe that if this grower had used RootShield®, the crop would have been in far better shape today because of it. The healthy pansy roots you see here are from another grower who does use RootShield!

Check Garden Mum Roots for Stress 

In this related Greenhouse Management article, Univ. of Mass. floriculture extension specialists Tina Smith and Paul Lopes, and Univ. of Conn. extension horticulture and greenhouse IPM specialist Leanne Pundt advise growers of garden mums to monitor the root health of their plants. The article states that the pathogen causing Pythium root rot (the most common cause of root rot losses to mums in recent years), thrives in hot, summer weather. Any root stress may open the plant up to Pythium attack.  Click Here for full article.

Keep in mind, just one application of RootShield prevents root diseases caused by Pythium and other pathogens for up to 12 weeks, and costs less than 1¢ per 6-in pot!

For further information take a look at this helpful Technical Bulletin on Disease and Insect Management of Mums and Pansies and take some stress out of your life!