YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED BY CHRISTINE
Blighted toms, infected roses and mysterious plants
Q My rose flowers are looking different after I sprayed them with insecticide. Should I be worried? Shannon Taylor(via email)
A The flowers have probably been affected by the insecticide, as flower petals are made of a different and more delicate material to leaves and don’t have the same protective coating.
This makes them more vulnerable to chemicals and to the weather. That doesn’t mean you can’t use chemicals to tackle pest problems, just be careful not to spray the flowers. They are much shorter-lived than the leaves, so any aphids on the petals will be removed when the plant is dead-headed.
If you have to spray again, try and avoid getting chemicals on the open flowers. Most roses produce their flowers over a period of time, with new buds developing as older flowers open and then fade.
The new buds will open in due course and probably, quite naturally, their older neighbours will already have started to fade so you can snip them off.
Leave both the open flower and the bud for now, removing the older flower as the petals start to fall.