Chemicals can be dangerous

The rain was pouring down, but as a true Germanic I knew my duty. My knees were sodden as I knelt down and planted out the collection into this suddenly wet garden, while the rain poured down. After I finished planting out, having added a handful of bonemeal underneath each plant, as a final solution, I went around with pellets of Growmore and scattered them around on the surface.

Next day I went to visit this wet setting and about 10 plants, out of the 150 I had planted, were in a desparate state, having leaves that were bent and which had given up. All tne others had survived the continous rain. So why had the others had their foliage destroyed at the stem?

It took a while to work it out, and all sorts of explanations provided red herrings before the solution. When I threw the Growmore capsules around, some had lodged in the joint between the stem and the leaf. Careless distribution, because Growmore has to be on the ground to have the effect it is used for.

As soon as the 20 hours of continous rain arrived the Growmore pellets lodged between the stem and the leaf began to dissolve. The volume that dissolved was too much for the stem, and it rapidly disintegrated.

So, when applying pellets to your young cannas, please be careful. Keep them on the ground and ensure that none lodge on the joint between the stem and the leaves, otherwise, when the rains arrive they will dissolve the concentrated feriliser and overwhelm the leaf joint.