Skilfully Using Sulfur Powder in Flower Cultivation
This article provides a core guide to common knowledge in flower cultivation: Skilfully Using Sulfur Powder, with detailed information as follows:
Sulfur powder is the powder form of the non-metallic element sulfur. According to recent experiments, it can be widely used in the cultivation of flowering plants, especially in preventing diseases,防腐, and promoting wound healing, achieving twice the result with half the effort when used skillfully.
1. Sulfur powder is highly effective in preventing powdery mildew. In high temperature, humidity, and poor ventilation conditions, plants like roses and crape myrtles are prone to powdery mildew. Fungicides like carbendazim, thiophanate-methyl, validamycin, and Bordeaux mixture have poor control effects, but sulfur powder is highly effective. The method is: first spray the affected plants with a sprayer to make them wet (to help the sulfur powder adhere), then use a powder sprayer to focus on spraying sulfur powder on the diseased branches and leaves, and spray less on the healthy ones (for preventive purposes). A few days later, the powdery mildew will disappear. For potted flowers with powdery mildew, you can wash and dry an original packaging of Guilin Watermelon Rind Powder (a medicine for oral ulcer) and fill it with sulfur powder to spray. You can also use a thick paper rolled into a cone shape with one end larger than the other, put a small amount of sulfur powder into the large end, aim at the affected area, and blow from the small end, causing the sulfur powder to disperse evenly.
2. Sulfur powder is highly effective in treating root rot. Flowering plants are prone to root rot, which can lead to plant death, and many drugs are ineffective. Sulfur powder can be used for treatment. For example, clivia miniata often rots due to excessive watering or unclean potting soil. You can remove it from the pot, remove the potting soil, cut off the rotten roots, wash the roots clean, let them dry a bit, and then, while the roots are slightly moist, spray sulfur powder on them, and then plant them in sterilized potting soil. New roots can grow in about a month; if all the roots are rotten, after spraying sulfur powder, you can plant them in coarse sand, regularly spray water on the leaves, and after new roots grow, use sterilized potting soil for cultivation.
3. Sulfur powder is highly effective in treating juice-oozing腐烂 wounds. After cutting off the old and yellow leaves of cycads, they will continuously secrete胶汁; after pruning figs and banyans, they will secrete white liquid, which is easily infected. After cutting off the flower spikes of clivia miniata, juice may flow, and even cause腐烂. In these cases, you can sprinkle sulfur powder after cutting. According to experiments, these plants stop oozing juice upon contact with sulfur powder and heal quickly. After cutting the root of a newly planted tree stake, sprinkling sulfur powder on the cut surface can also prevent infection and decay, enhance resistance, and promote root growth.
4. Sulfur powder is highly effective in preventing decay during cutting propagation of flowering plants. Cuttings are usually first planted in coarse sand, and then transferred to potting soil after roots have formed. If planted directly in potting soil, they are prone to decay and have a low survival rate. But if you dip the cuttings in sulfur powder immediately after cutting and then plant them in potting soil, it can effectively prevent decay, resulting in a higher survival rate and healthier seedlings. For example, dipping the cuttings of camellias and azaleas in sulfur powder and then planting them directly in松叶腐殖土 sterilized with potassium permanganate can achieve a survival rate of over 90%.
5. Sulfur powder is highly effective in improving the survival rate of grafting. The grafting joint is most susceptible to infection, which can be sterilized with sulfur powder. For example, after grafting a cactus or orchid onto a zygocactus or epiphyllum, immediately spray sulfur powder on the grafting joint, keep it shaded and protected from rain for 3 days, and even without using a plastic bag, it will not become infected or decay, achieving a survival rate of over 95%.
The above experience and knowledge of using sulfur powder skillfully in flower cultivation are shared. I hope this article can bring you some help!