Posts Tagged ‘plant care’
Rooting Plants Simplified – Layering
Layering is a safe, sure, simple way to increase many types of plants, and particularly the climbers and danglers with which this book is concerned. The first requirement is that the plant have long, lax or drooping stems – which vining plants do. The rest is easy, because the stem is not severed from the parent until the new plant is well rooted and can survive on its own. Humidifying devices, bottom heat, and close protection are seldom called for.
Garden plants layer readily, sometimes even spontaneously. And layering is equally easy for indoor or greenhouse vines. A wandering stem or runner is simply pinned down on the soil in a nearby pot, and severed when it is securely rooted.
Ground layering in the garden takes place at the base of the parent plant. Loosen and lighten a small section of soil, and mix in some peat or other humus to help hold moisture. Select a firm, semiwoody stem, and open the thick skin in one of several ways to speed up rooting. The stem can be nicked underneath with a sharp knife, or split and held open by a small piece of toothpick or match, or simply twisted just enough to break the outside skin and separate a few of the inside tissues. Some plants insist on rooting at or near a node, others don’t care where. And some softer stems don’t even need to be nicked.
Now, bend down the long branch and bury the portion to be rooted in the prepared soil, leaving the tip section of the branch sticking up. Anchor it with a stone, clothespin, or crossed sticks. When the buried stem is well rooted, cut the old branch between new and parent plant, and transplant or pot the offspring.
Simple ground-layering can be modified or embroidered so that more than one plant is produced from each operation. In serpentine layering the stems are covered with soil at intervals, with sections of the stem looping up in the air between. Multiple, or continuous, layering works on plants and vines that root readily all along the stem or branch. The entire stem is buried, except for the tip, and new plants that come up at intervals are cut apart and transplanted.
Air layering is a procedure for thick, upright, canelike stems. The stem is nicked or opened near a node or not, depending on the plant; and that section of the stem is enclosed in a ball of moist sphagnum moss. This is held in place by a firm bandage of polyethylene, a plastic that permits passage of air but holds in moisture, tied to the stem at each end of the ball with soft cord. Check occasionally to make sure the sphagnum has not dried out. When you see roots inside the plastic, cut off the stem just below that point and pot up the new plant, its root ball intact in the moss.
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Start Protecting Your Vine With Root Moisture
Young or newly transplanted vines are more likely to survive their first winter in a cold climate if they receive some special protection. Questionably hardy vines, or those planted in exposed areas, may need protection every year of their life. In any case, a vigorous, well-grown plant has the greatest chance to resist winter damage.
All vines in general, and evergreens in particular, need plentiful moisture in the soil until it freezes. This is your best insurance against late winter and early spring “burning,” in which warmth and sunlight draw moisture from the leaves before the soil is thawed and the roots are ready to send up moisture from below.
For extra protection, mulch the soil over the vine’s roots with several inches of buckwheat or cottonseed hulls, salt hay or straw, ground corncobs or sugar cane, or similar material. Snow is an excellent mulch, while it lasts.
Or make an eight-inch mound of soil over the roots and around the base of the stems, and wrap the rest of the stems in burlap. In extreme climates, loosen the roots on one side of a deciduous vine, lay its trunk or stems down in a trench dug out from the other side, and cover the whole with soil until early spring.
Don’t plant vines and kentia palm in open areas where gusty winter winds can whip them loose from their supports. After a sticky snowstorm. gently push or shake off heavy drifts caught by upper branches. Or provide a windbreak of trees or shrubs, or a screen of burlap or evergreen boughs.
In any climate, keep in mind that plants can stand a gradual drop in temperature more readily than a sudden frost or freeze, particularly if it occurs very early or very late in the dormant season. When unseasonal cold threatens, the simple expedient of covering the top of a vine with a tent of newspaper or plastic overnight may often save its life.
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The Fragrance Of Scented Geraniums
Ideal plants for those value fragrance rather than color, are the scented-leaved geraniums.
These offer a combination of pleasant perfumes and a wide variety of foliage form and texture. Since they are plants that are comparatively easy of culture, maintaining a collection is relatively simple.
Scented geraniums can be grown as house plants, in a greenhouse or as garden subjects left out all year in the more temperate south and southwestern parts of the country. They demand only ordinary care. Give them good garden loam, sunshine, moderate water, a reasonable amount of feeding, as well as occasional pinching, and they will thrive happily.
The scented varieties never become dormant. During dark, winter days, to be sure, they do not grow as fast as in spring and summer, but they always remain in full leaf, their hidden fragrance awaiting the slightest touch. As house plants, they are excellent, where they succeed in any sunny window. They are also not excessively sensitive to house conditions, such as dry atmosphere, high temperatures and the occasional presence of minute amounts of gas.
When to Water
Water these geraniums only when the soil begins to dry, but then do it thoroughly. One way to determine the moisture of the soil is to feel it with the fingers. Another is to tap the pot lightly with a stick. The quality and pitch of the tapping sound indicates the degree of saturation. A dull, heavy sound means the soil is moist, while a sharp, ringing sound that it is dry. Some growers, after a little practice, can determine the amount of moisture by the weight of the pot. Always, however, take care to avoid the easy method of watering plants by a set schedule. The condition of the plants themselves should be the only guide for watering.
Pinching plants is necessary to induce branching. The blind -grower finds out when to do this by feeling their shape. Only the growing tips should he removed gently with the fingers. Since the scented varieties are naturally more bushy than the zonals, they require less pinching.
Repotting plants like the butterfly bush is needed only a couple of times a year. When the pot becomes full of roots, move to a larger container. At any time, the root ball can be gently removed from the pot and the roots felt with the fingers to determine if repotting is necessary. The “scenteds” will be healthier, however, if kept slightly pot bound to maintain firm, woody growth. Plants grown from cuttings taken in late summer are satisfactory for house plants and do not require so much room as older, larger specimens.
Fertilizing is scarcely a problem. Newly-potted cuttings do not need feeding for several months. After that give a light sprinkling of ammonium sulphate or a balanced chemical fertilizer. The root ball should be moist before feeding to avoid burning the tender roots. Fertilizing during the period of slow growth is not advisable.
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Growing A French Flavor Roses
For those who maintain that roses will not thrive in southern lands, because the mild climate allows them too little rest, have never visited the “Cote d’ Azurr” in southern France.
Varieties grown there are more fragrant, more beautiful in form and larger in size than when grown in colder climes. Acres of sun-kissed yellow, fields of velvety red thrive out of doors. Bathed in sunshine, these beauties have all the light and air they need.
Of course, northern and mountain varieties are not so happy here. They sadly lack a free-flowering and disease-resistant white rose which will stand hot and dry conditions.
With a light, sandy soil, requiring manure to retain moisture. They line the bottom of planting-holes with a generous foot of manure. For the French, only sheep manure will do. Poultry manure is too strong (calling for careful handling) and pig manure, mixed with sawdust, can be poisonous. What a pity that silkworms are no longer raised in southern France! Boiled alive to prevent them from piercing and thus spoiling their cocoons, they used to provide all the nitrogen the roses needed.
They leave manure to “weather-in” at the bottom of the planting holes for a full month before planting. Then to feed the surface roots, the holes are filled up with organic material like dried blood, bone and horn and hoof meal, bulked up with peat.
When the roses start to bloom about six months after planting, and stronger branches are required, each plant is given a little quick-acting fertilizer, usually Chilean nitrate (1/3 to 1/2 ounce). Plants which are getting along well are not fertilized. Crude chemicals are never applied alone, only a balanced fertilizer (made of sulphate of ammonia, potash and phosphoric acid) at the rate of two pounds per square yard. Sickly plants, attacked by chlorosis, are given a pinch of iron to pep them up.
Their methods of cultivation differ in many ways from those prevailing in colder climes. Because of the mild conditions, pruning is done in February and more lightly. Amateurs usually remove all the dead wood and cut their rose plants down to 20 inches in order to obtain exhibition size blooms. To encourage the growth of many flowers, nurserymen retain nearly all the young wood, pruning no lower than 32 inches.
Rose growers also plant their bushes only 12 inches apart, in rows 24 inches apart, so that each bush covers a surface area of only 10 square inches. This saves valuable greenhouse space, besides cutting down on the amount of fertilizers needed and helping to keep weeds in check.
A routine spraying of sulphur easily curbs mildew. This is applied in the summer, since the heat favors the development of spores. Rust, attacking the undersides of leaves and stems, is kept in check with a fungicide. They avoid commercial insecticides with a phosphoric ether basis because they seem to provoke an eczema on the stems.
Weeds are kept down by hoeing between bushes like the dwarf lilac bush and rows. Done lightly, this does not disturb the surface roots, but does help to retain moisture in the soil. Plus growers give their roses all the water they need (but not a single drop more) in thorough but not too frequent soakings.
Frost, of course, is hardly a problem. Seldom does the temperature fall below 45 degrees F.
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Vines As Garden Accents
Walls and fences of all dimensions are erected for any of many reasons – to define property boundaries, to create a center of privacy, to connect two areas or levels, even to break up small areas and make gardens seem larger. Fences can be used in place of trees and shrubs as background for a flower border, with spectacular vines as accent or subdued varieties for subordinate effect. And, of course, there’s nothing like a good-looking fence or wall to obscure unattractive outbuildings, or necessary atrocities like the compost heap.
For fences and walls, again, vines are selected according to available sunlight, moisture, and other cultural considerations – and then according to decorative purpose. If the fence is in itself decorative, the vine should enhance, not smother it. Avoid rampant-growing types and choose, instead, restrained vines with delicacy and charm, and those that can be pruned and trained to shape. For ugly or tottering fences, select a fast, thick covering vine.
On low dividing or retaining walls, let the vine run along the top and tumble down the side – a climbing rose kept trimmed to one cane is extremely effective. Or select a slow creeper, like euonymous, and let it climb the side. Over old country stone walls, native vines – like the native clematis – are in harmony. A brick wall enclosing a formal garden calls for treillage. On small areas, use short-stemmed vines; for large areas, plant long-stemmed scramblers.
Vines as Ground Covers
Many vining or trailing plants will cover banks and keep soil from washing away; or will spread and carpet the ground in shady and other difficult areas. And vines are often the least costly and fastest growing plants for these purposes. But they should be used with caution and kept under control. Some types become serious garden pests. Most efficient for fixing sliding soil and covering steep or rocky banks are the varieties that hug closest to the ground and root at the leaf joints as they spread. Some annual vines can be used as ground covers for quick but temporary effect.
Vines as Garden Accents
These vines are selected for their specimen value – their brilliant, breath-taking flower display, even if only once a year. They are grown on pillars or other uprights in the border, or carefully trained against a background fence or wall.
Accents attract attention to the garden area and to themselves. They should be used sparingly and with regard for their fitness in their surroundings. Selected and placed without plan and design, they can be monstrosities. One accent vine – or two at the most – is plenty for a small or informal garden. A row of pillars can be used in larger, formal landscapes.
Pillars and posts should be in pleasing scale with their surroundings and the vines that cover them. Nonvigorous vines are most appropriate and easiest to control. There are climbing roses, for example, of restrained or “pillar” height; large-flowering clematis and mandevilla trellis plant can be combined with them to prolong the flowering season.
Properly placed and proportioned tree trunks can also be decorated with accent vines. On living trees, however, twiners may circle and strangle branches. Root-clingers are usually harmless and add interest to tall, unbranched trunks. If it has not been treated with creosote, an unsightly telephone pole becomes less offensive with a softening vine.
The majority of garden vines can be used as accent or specimen, if the selection is made with discretion and if careful attention is given to training and pruning.
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Bottle-Brush The Intrigueof Full Bloom
Local laws affecting planting of trees around the home – Before planting trees in a new development, one should become familiar with municipal restrictions on the types of trees that may be used and where they may be planted. Some recent regulations stipulate that trees of certain species must not be planted within a specified distance of the property line. Also, in planting street trees choose slow-growing species if interference with overhead wires is likely. If your community is served by a forester, he should be consulted.
Some good flowering shrubs – During the hot dry days of late July, August and September I was impressed with the beauty and dependability of several shrubs that were in flower. In addition to our indispensable crape: myrtle, 1 especially liked flowering senna and Daubentonia Tripeti.
Flowering senna – This shrub is treelike with a single stem or trunk, has a well-shaped crown and grows only about 8 feet high. It is evergreen and lovely the year through. Its greatest virtue, however, is the great profusion of small yellow flowers which appears in late summer and covers the plants until late fall. Flowering senna can be propagated from seed.
Daubentonia – Another shrub that can also be grown from seed is Daubentonia Tripeti (I wish there were a simpler name for this shrub, but I know of none). The first year it will send up 5- to 6-foot branchless stems. Last year we cut back our young plant to about 2 feet, forcing the growth of several branches. In May, when the new growth was 3 or 4 feet high, there were ‘many showy, orange, pea-shaped blooms; in early August, after another spurt of new growth, the plant was again covered with flowers. This is an interesting shrub that you’ll be happy to have in your garden.
Rose of Sharon Effie Reigel – Another good summer- and fall-flowering shrub is the double white althea, Effie Reigel, which I think is the best of all white altheas. The flowers, which are produced for weeks and weeks, very closely resemble huge white carnations.
Bottle-brush – I am always intrigued by a huge bottle-brush (callistemon) in full bloom. In Florida and along the Gulf Coast they grow into small trees but in the Mid-South they are frequently killed back by freezes and thus kept down to shrub size. The leaves are small and leathery, and the yellow or red flowers appear in dense spikes resembling a bottle-brush.
This shrub is difficult to transplant just like the corn plant flower, so container-grown specimens should be obtained, if possible. In the Mid-South very small plants should be protected for the first winter or two. Bottle-brush may be propagated by either seeds or cuttings.
Ligustrum Suwannee River – I have been pleased with the new dwarf ligustrum Suwannee River. My plant, good landscape size when planted, has not grown more than 3 or 4 inches in two years. So far it seems to be free of white flies, which so frequently attack this genus.
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The Tool For Controlling Weeds, Nematodes And Fungi
The age of “temporary soil sterilization” or “soil fumigants” which can be safely used by the home gardener has long passed. These chemicals were designed to make your gardening easier and more enjoyable by killing weed seeds, certain plant disease organisms and nematodes in the soil. However, this does not mean we cannot learn about the pests soil fumigants controlled.
Fungi
About 70 per cent of all plant diseases are caused by fungi. Fungi cause a large number of destructive diseases of roots, stems, leaves, bulbs, tubers, flowers and fruits of our garden plants and lawn grasses. Plant diseases caused by fungi are estimated to cost Americans over a billion dollars yearly. Many of these organisms live in the soil – free, or attacking decaying roots, leaves and other plant debris.
Fungi are generally microscopic, filament-like organisms that usually reproduce by spores (seeds) which are commonly blown or splashed about. Fungi lack chlorophyll, the green coloring matter in higher plants, and are hence unable to make their own food. Fungi, like animals and man, are dependent on green plants – either living or dead – for their food. When conditions of temperature and moisture are favorable, fungi attack living plants and cause disease.
The spores of fungi produce germ tubes that may penetrate directly into a plant through natural openings or through wounds, causing infection. These organisms are present everywhere. In the old days applying a soil fumigant as a pre-planting treatment would help considerably in preventing such common diseases as damping-off, root rots, crown rots and certain leaf blights to garden plants and lawn grasses, by killing the causal fungi in the soil before infection occurs.
Nematodes
Nematodes are minute, generally microscopic, eel-shaped organisms that inhabit the soil in tremendous numbers. Water is required for them to move around. Nematodes have been estimated to cause a yearly loss of at least ten per cent of the farmer’s gross income. Very few home gardens or house plant pots in mid-America are entirely free of these pests, although in many cases populations are not large enough to cause severe injury.
Most nematode problems are caused by their feeding in or on the surface of roots, stems, bulbs and tubers but some leaf nematodes can infect the upper part of the plant. They reproduce by eggs or living young. Nematodes are not commonly transported by wind as are the spores of fungi. Numerous species have been shown to be parasitic on roots or other underground parts of all common flower and vegetable garden plants as well as lawn grasses. Nematode injury can easily be confused with drouth or fertilizer injury, a soil deficiency, disease, insect and possibly other types of injury.
Parasitic nematodes on plants like the zz plant can only be identified by taking the soil from several pots or areas in the garden or lawn containing suspected plants and subjecting the samples to a rather complicated laboratory soil examination. Proper care of zz plant and to other plant is needed in order to avoid parasitic nematodes.
A great many garden sites in the southern states have been abandoned and many others have become almost unproductive because the soil has become so heavily infested with the root knot nematode.
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Soil – The Plants Support System
Soil for foliage plants falls into three chief types. Ordinary potting soil should be porous and well drained. It contains approximately equal parts of good topsoil, coarse sand and organic matter (leafmold, humus or peatmoss) with about an eighth part by bulk of dried cow manure and bonemeal – a pint to each bushel of the mixture. Woodsy soils, for plants that need more organic matter, are similar but contain about twice as much leafmold, humus or peat-moss. Very porous soils that are useful for snake plants and other semi-succulent and succulent plants are simply the ordinary soil mixture with the addition of half-inch pieces of broken brick or flower pots equal to the amount of sand used.
Potting and repotting should be done, if needed, at the beginning of the growing season, which is usually late winter or early spring. Many plants need this attention once a year. Large specimens and smaller examples of slow-growing plants may go several years without repotting. In intervening years they are top-dressed by removing as much of the surface soil as can be taken off without damaging the roots and replacing it with a new, rich mixture. Small-sized, young plants of fast-growing kinds may need a second potting in summer, early enough for them to fill their new containers with roots before winter.
Increase of foliage plants is secured in several ways. The division of large specimens into two or more smaller ones at potting time is a simple and obvious method in some cases. Certain kinds produce baby plants as offsets which can be detached and started as separate individuals. Stem cuttings and, in a few cases, leaf cuttings, usually planted in sand or vermiculite in a terrarium or under an inverted Mason jar, allow for the simple propagation of many plants. Spring and summer are the seasons most suitable for inserting cuttings.
Air-layering is an easy way of securing young plants from tall-stemmed specimens that have become too “leggy” to be attractive. A good example is the gold dust plant. This consists of injuring a stem some distance below its leafy tip, either by removing a narrow circle of bark around it or by making a cut into it in an upward direction and almost halfway through the stem, then pegging the cut open with a sliver of wood. Next, a generous bundle of moist sphagnum moss is bound around the cut and the moss wrapped securely in polyethylene plastic film.
After the injured stem has rooted well into the moss, the upper portion with roots attached is cut off. After the plastic film has been removed, the rooted portion is planted in a pot to establish itself as a new young plant.
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Temperature An Obvious House Plant Matter To Consider
Factors other than light affect the well-being of foliage plants grown in pots, tubs and other containers. To insure success you must make every effort to make the whole environment agreeable. Attention to one factor will not do.
Temperature is an obvious matter to consider. Here you must differentiate between natural temperatures and those obtained by artificial heating. High temperature levels of summer (which is the natural growing season of most plants) are ordinarily accompanied by long days, superior light and favorable atmospheric humidity. Such temperatures are not harmful to most house plants we discuss. Even the “cool room” kinds thrive in temperatures of 70 to 90 in summer.
But high temperatures maintained artificially in winter as well are an entirely different matter. The only plants that ordinarily stand these well are natives of the low-level tropics – the Amazon basin, tropical west Africa and similar regions. These kinds get along well without any winter season of rest. Some find the low relative humidity of the atmosphere that is induced by artificial heating difficult to stand; others do not seem to mind the dry air of American homes and apartments.
When referring to temperatures in general, we are concerned with those that prevail during the period of the year when artificial heating is ordinarily used, and, unless otherwise stated, with night temperatures. Daytime temperatures may be five to ten degrees higher than those recommended for nighttime.
Cool-room plants succeed best when the night temperatures are between 40 and 50. They are useful in sunrooms and similar locations. Many may be stored over winter in light cellars and be used outdoors in summer on porches, terraces or patios.
Medium-cool-room or intermediate-temperature plants appreciate a 50 to 58 night temperature and are useful for many indoor locations that are not excessively warm or cold. Temperatures such as these often prevail near windows of ordinary living rooms. It is considerably warmer away from the windows, of course. It is wise to test the proposed location for the plants with a thermometer, as this often reveals a temperature range much different from that expected. It is important to know the temperature of the indoor location if you are bringing plants indoors.
Ordinary room temperatures of 60 to 70 at night are best suited for really tropical plants. Such kinds are useful for rooms and parts of rooms where normal living-room temperatures obtain.
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Plant Quarantine Laws
At several keys ports in these United States groups of devoted federal employees put in long hours of detective work to protect American gardeners, nurserymen, florists and farmers from insect pests and diseases coming from foreign lands. Their job is to keep any undesirable plant pests from entering this country.
Until early’00’s, no attempt was made to prevent the entry of plant pests into this country. Once American scientists and agriculturists realized that insects and diseases which had been troublesome in other countries were becoming problems in this country, the necessary forces were set in motion, resulting in the enactment of the Foreign Plant Quarantine Act of’12.
Following are a few reasons for the passage of this very comprehensive law to prevent the unlimited importation of plants from abroad:
1. The discovery that large numbers of white pine seedlings infested with blister rust, a highly fatal fungus disease, were being imported into the United States;
2. The observation that a great deal of nursery stock imported from Europe harbored egg masses of the gypsy moth, the worm stage of which could defoliate a whole forest in just a few days;
3. The discovery and rapid spread of the chestnut blight disease, and the introduction of the highly destructive potato wart disease from Europe.
Advocates of a federal law to restrict the unlimited importation of plants therefore had many sound arguments for the enactment of the Plant Quarantine Act.
Plant pests can enter this country via three main avenues: in commercial shipments; in baggage and in mail; and as “free riders,” either as stowaways or with plant material in stores or furnishings of ships and planes.
Although the greatest amount of plant material enters this country via commercial shipments, there is less chance of introducing harmful pests by this means than through the other avenues for several reasons. Such plant materials come from a known source and are grown by standard commercial methods. Moreover, they are inspected and certified by the country of origin and require a permit before entering. Lastly, the plant materials are carefully inspected upon arrival in this country and treated chemically, if necessary, before being released to the trade.
Material arriving via travelers’ baggage or in mail shipments is far more difficult to detect. Such material usually comes from the back yards of persons in all parts of the world and naturally is not grown and harvested with any idea of plant sanitation. Pest interception records show that a greater number and variety of dangerous pests arrive by this channel than by any other.
The “free riders” entering with plant materials in stores and furnishings of ships and planes do not present too much of a problem.
Most plant materials imported for growing in this country come under Quarantine 37 and are thus subject to inspection on the piers upon arrival. In the fall, huge quantities of flower bulbs including tulips, narcissi, lilies, hyacinths and crocuses arrive from Holland, Belgium, France, Italy, Bermuda and Japan. Not only must representative samples of each shipment be inspected but any packing materials must also be carefully examined. If any soil, forest litter or willow ties are used, the shipment is destroyed because these materials are known to harbor harmful organisms.
In order to ease the rush at this end, bulbs grown in Belgium and Holland are inspected and cleared in those countries by a team of American plant quarantine inspectors.
The inspection work at the port of New York is typical of that done at several other ports in this country. It is divided into three phases. The first is the Import and Permits Headquarters at Hoboken, New Jersey, where import permits are issued and the inspection (and treatment if required) of propagative plant materials exclusive of seeds and bulbs is carried out. In a typical year a staff of twenty-five, including seven scientists, handle more than a million woody ornamental plants and over two million perennials.
Second is the Port Inspection Section, which inspects bulbs and seeds and non-propagative materials such as fresh fruits and vegetables in ships’ cargoes, stores and passengers’ baggage.
The third, known as the Post-Entry Quarantine Section, is responsible for the restricted growing in this country of plants imported from abroad, in order to be sure that such plants are free from any serious diseases or insect pests before they are released for sale or for general propagation. This section acts as the parole board of the plant world. Recently more than three million plants were under post-quarantine surveillance.
A ship arriving from a foreign country is boarded as soon as possible by a plant quarantine inspector. Fresh stores are examined and any suspicious material is taken ashore for more careful examination. If the material is found to harbor any pests or diseases considered dangerous to our vegetation, it is confiscated and destroyed.
As thousands of passengers each day arrive in New York, only a small percentage actually carry plant materials, a quarantine inspector must be present. About ninety-nine per cent of the persons arriving are subject to customs examination, and the plant inspector must stand by to intercept or permit the entrance of plant material.
With the increase of air travel in recent years, airports have become, quite naturally, important ports of entry and must be adequately policed to intercept harmful pests. New York International Airport is the largest and most important in the New York area, handling over ninety-five per cent of the overseas air travel. At this airport alone a dozen or so inspectors are kept busy.
A large amount of plant material is confiscated from the baggage of incoming travelers. Some figures are typical. In October in’52, more than a thousand interceptions of contraband plant material were made from ship passengers arriving from thirty-seven different countries.
The quarantine authorities realize that a parasitic fungus or bacterium regarded abroad as of trivial or minor importance may become a formidable and destructive enemy when it becomes established in the United States.
So if you are one of the thousands of travelers returning from foreign countries, please leave any plant materials in those countries, or at least declare them upon arrival. The quarantine inspector will decide whether they can be brought in. Commercial growers, botanical gardens and agricultural experimental agencies are allowed to import certain plants, but such materials are placed in quarantine under jurisdiction of the Post-Quarantine section until it is ascertained that they are free from undesirable alien pests or house plant pests.
Americans should realize that the movement of plant pests into a country works both ways. Some notorious pests have reached foreign shores in materials shipped from this country. Two early and famous ones, which almost wiped out the French wine industry about a century ago, were the downy mildew fungus and the aphid known as the grape phylloxera.
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