It has been a strange winter with variable weather, but most pansies have survived and are now blooming very well. Despite the extended dry periods, which should reduce disease problems, we saw as much disease as last year and even more in some other places. We treated with control measure more than we have in the past.
Every year winter is challenging for pansies as the wet weather promotes disease. Our program includes two additional services to prevent these problems. When we plant pansies, we add fresh potting soil to the bed which is sterile and keeps the soil surface less infected with disease. We then treat our pansies with fungicides every few weeks throughout the winter and as needed to combat the disease pressure. There is no additional charge for these additional services as the are built into our fall pansy planting program and the cost is all inclusive. As we have promoted, our program is intensive and may cost a little bit more but it is well worth it. We do what it takes to ensure our customers' pansies survive and thrive. Year after year we see other contractors' flowers struggle and sometimes die while ours continue to thrive.
Although our annual addition of potting soil and fungicide treatment has been relatively effective, we are seeing increasing disease pressure the longer an area has been planted with pansies. We are now proposing that potting soil be removed every few years to start with fresh soil throughout the root zone instead of just the soil surface. This has proved to greatly reduce disease problems and the need for frequent fungicide treatments. you will likely see this proposed in the future.
