Stark Bro's Plant Manual for Cityline® Rio Hydrangea

If your plant has been grown in a greenhouse, here are a few steps we recommend you follow:

• After purchasing your plant, place it outside in a sheltered, shady spot or on your back porch.
• Leave it there for 3-4 hours and gradually increase the time spent outside by 1-2 hours per day.
• Bring the plants back indoors each night.
• Water it regularly to keep the plant moist.
• Occasionally spray the leaves with water.
• After 2-3 days, move the plants from their shady spot into morning sun, returning them to the shade in the afternoon.
• After 7 days, the plants should be able to handle the outdoor temperatures, if they stay around 50 degrees F.
• After 7-10 days, your plant is ready to be planted in its permanent location. Try to do this on a cloudy day and be sure to water the plant well.
• Observe foliage daily. If any type of leaf discoloration occurs, put the plant back into filtered light and attempt this step at a later date.
• Special care must be taken to avoid burning the leaves.

These are general guide recommendations. Some plants take longer than others to acclimate.

Sun and Good Soil

Your plant would love a sunny place with well-drained, fertile soil. But it will be quite satisfied with six to eight hours of sunlight. Good drainage is required to keep your plant “happy.” If your soil has high clay content, use our Coco-Fiber Potting Medium or add one-third peat to the soil at planting time. We do not recommend planting in heavy, pure clay soils.

Space for Future Plantings

Once you’ve found out about fruit growing goodness firsthand, you’ll want to expand your home orchard. It’s important to plan so that the future growth areas will be ready when you are.

Planting Steps

• Before planting: soak roots in a tub or large trash can of water for one to two hours to keep them from drying while you dig. Do not soak more than six hours. DO NOT expose roots to freezing temperatures while planting. Your trees and plants may be planted even when temperatures are quite cool. Generally, as long as your soil is workable, it is fine to plant. If a hard frost is expected, it is advisable to delay planting for a while until temperatures become more moderate.
• Dig the hole deep and wide enough so the root system has plenty of room. (Keep the topsoil in a separate pile so you can put it in the bottom of the hole, where it’ll do the most good.)
• Roots grow better in soil that’s been loosened, so mix in our Coco-Fiber Potting Medium into your pile of topsoil. You can also use dehydrated cow mature, garden compost or peat moss (up to 1/3 concentration).
• Fill the hole, putting the topsoil back in first. You can avoid creating air pockets by working the soil carefully around the roots and tamping down firmly.
• Create a rim of soil around the planting hole 2” above ground level. This allows water to stand and soak in. (In the fall, spread soil evenly around tree to prevent damage from water freezing around the plant.)

Post-Planting

• Water your new shrub. Deep, thorough soaking is best, with a solution of Stark® Tre-Pep® Fertilizer. (If planting in the fall, wait to fertilize until spring for best results.) This effective starter fertilizer helps trees and plants grow quickly and vigorously. After watering, if soil compacts, be sure to add enough soil to fill the hole to ground level.

Potted Shrubs

• Make sure the pot is well watered and nicely moist to ease the stress of transplanting.
• Dig a hole larger than the size of the root-ball to thoroughly loosen the surrounding soil.
• Backfill the hole until it is large enough to accommodate the root-ball.
• Shrubs should be planted at the same depth they grew in the pot.
• Potted shrubs generally do not need such pruning at transplant time. In later years, your shrub may be trimmed to keep it in bounds.

One final point: Please be sure to remove the nametag from your plant. As the plant grows, this small piece of plastic can choke off the circulation, damaging or killing it. If you’d like to keep the tag on your plant, retie it loosely with soft twine.

When To Prepare Your Soil

Soil preparation can be done at any time that the ground is not too wet or frozen. Your trees may be planted even when temperatures are quite cool. If a hard frost is expected, it is advisable to delay planting for a while until temperatures become more moderate. Generally, as long as your soil is workable, it is fine to plant.

How To Prepare Your Soil

• Roots grow faster when they’re spread out. Dig the hole deep and wide enough so the root system has plenty of room to easily expand. Keep the topsoil in a separate pile so you can put it in the bottom of the hole, where it’ll do the most good.

• To loosen the soil, mix dehydrated cow manure, garden compost or peat moss (up to 1/3 concentration) into your pile of topsoil. Make sure the peat moss you get is either baled sphagnum or granular peat. You can also add our Coco-Fiber Potting Medium or 2 or more inches of organic material and work in evenly with the existing soil.

Your lawn can provide you with ideal organic materials such as grass clippings and shredded leaves. Not only will the grass and leaves break down to provide soil nutrients, but they will help loosen the soil as well. You can gather these in the fall with spring planting in mind.

Common soil amendments:

• compost
• sand
• manure
• lime
• peat moss
• sawdust

Adding organic materials, such as our Coco-Fiber Potting Medium and compost will improve most every soil type. Organic materials bind sandy soil particles so they retain moisture and nutrients better. They also break apart clay and silt particles, so that water can infiltrate and roots can spread.

Soil Types

• Clay and silt soils are made of very small particles. They feel slick and sticky when wet. Clay and silt hold moisture well, but resist water infiltration, especially when they are dry. Often puddles form on clay or silt soils, and they easily become compacted.

• Loam soil is a mix of sand, silt or clay, and organic matter. Loam soils are loose and look rich. When squeezed in your fist, moist loam will form a ball, which crumbles when poked with a finger. Loam soils normally absorb water and store moisture well. Loam soils can be sandy or clay based, and will vary in moisture absorption and retention accordingly.

• Sandy soils contain large particles that are visible to the unaided eye, and are usually light in color. Sand feels coarse when wet or dry, and will not form a ball when squeezed in your fist. Sandy soils stay loose and allow moisture to penetrate easily, but do not retain it for long-term use.

Fertilizing Tips

• The amount of fertilizer should not exceed 1 tablespoon per foot of height.
• Apply fertilizer when the foliage is dry so it does not stick and cause burning.
• Sprinkle fertilizer evenly on top of the soil, over the root zone.
• Keep the fertilizer 4-6 inches away from the stem.
• Water lightly.

Aphids

They are the size of a pinhead and vary in color depending on the species. Cluster on stems and under leaves, sucking plant juices. Leaves then curl, thicken, yellow and die. Produce large amounts of a liquid waste called “honeydew”. Aphid sticky residue becomes growth media for sooty mold.

Natural Control

• Sometimes you can knock them off with a strong stream of water from your garden hose.

Chemical Control

• Bonide® Borer-Miner Killer
• GardenTech® Sevin® Concentrate Bug Killer
• Bayer Advanced™ Complete Insect Killer
• Bonide® Systemic Rose & Flower Care

Euonymous, Lilac, Nannyberry

• Bonide® Total Pest Control

Leaf Spot

Appears as black or brown spots on underside of leaves. Often the center falls out leaving a hole with a red halo. Leaves may turn yellow and fall.

Natural Control

• Serenade® Garden Disease Control

Flowering Shrubs

• Bonide® Copper Fungicide Spray or Dust

Chemical Control

Privet, Hydrangea

• Bonide® Fung-onil™ Fungicide

Leafroller

Pale yellow or ‘dirty’ green worms. Leaves are rolled and webbed together where insects feed. Eventually becomes ‘skeletonized’.

Chemical Control

Euonymus, Lilac, Nannyberry

• Bonide® Borer-Miner Killer
• GardenTech® Sevin® Concentrate Bug Killer
• Bayer Advanced™ Complete Insect Killer
• Bonide® Total Pest Control

Spider Mites

Pinpoint size, many different colors. Found on undersides of leaves. Severe infestations have some silken webbing. Sap feeding causes bronzing of leaves.

Natural Control Hardy Shrubs (thrives with minimal care) * Bonide® All Seasons® Horticultural & Dormant Spray Oil

Chemical Control

Euonymus, Lilac, Nannyberry

• Bonide® Borer-Miner Killer
• Bonide® Total Pest Control

Mealy Bugs

Adults are 1/4” long, flat, oval shaped with a white waxy covering. Yellow to orange eggs are laid within an egg sac. Crawlers are yellow to brown in color. Over winters as an egg or very immature young in or near a white, cottony egg sac, under loose bark or in branch crotches, mostly found on north side. Damage is by contamination of fruit clusters with egg sacs, larvae, adults and honeydew, which promotes growth of black sooty mold.

Natural Control

Hardy Shrubs (thrives with minimal care)

• Bonide® All Seasons® Horticultural & Dormant Spray Oil

Chemical Control

• Bonide® Systemic Rose & Flower Care

Euonymus, Lilac, Nannyberry

• Bonide® Borer-Miner Killer
• GardenTech® Sevin® Concentrate Bug Killer
• Bayer Advanced™ Complete Insect Killer
• Bonide® Total Pest Control

White Fly

Adults are tiny, white winged insects found mainly on the underside of leaves. Nymph emerge as white, flat, oval shapes. Larvae are the size of a pinhead. Suck plant juices from leaves causing them to turn yellow, appear to dry or fall off plants.

Natural Control

Hardy Shrubs (thrives with minimal care)

• Bonide® All Seasons® Horticultural & Dormant Spray Oil
• Traps

Chemical Control

• Bonide® Systemic Rose & Flower Care

Euonymus, Lilac, Nannyberry

• Bonide® Borer-Miner Killer
• Bonide® Total Pest Control

Bagworm

Bagworms are the larvae of moths. Brown bags up to 2 inches long and composed of bits of dead foliage, twigs and silk are often seen attached to twigs and inside is a dark brown or black caterpillar. Adult female moth is wingless and the male has wings. Severe infestations can defoliate an entire plant often killing evergreens such as arborvitae and cedar but may only slow the growth of a deciduous plant.

Natural Control

Ornamentals

• Bonide® Thuricide® Bacillus Thuringiensis (BT)

Chemical Control

Euonymus, Lilac, Nannyberry

• Bonide® Borer-Miner Killer
• GardenTech® Sevin® Concentrate Bug Killer
• Bayer Advanced™ Complete Insect Killer
• Bonide® Total Pest Control

Tent Caterpillar

Hairy caterpillars that enclose large areas in webbing and feed on enclosed leaves. Remove web with rake and burn. Caterpillars are pulled out with webs.

Natural Control

Ornamentals

• Bonide® Thuricide® Bacillus Thuringiensis (BT)

Chemical Control

Euonymus, Lilac

• Bonide® Borer-Miner Killer
• Bonide® Total Pest Control
• GardenTech® Sevin® Concentrate Bug Killer
• Bayer Advanced™ Complete Insect Killer

Anthracnose

Very small, round, brown spots appear first on lower, older leaves. Plants gradually lose leaves from bottom upwards. Other symptoms may include black, sunken spots on leaf stalks, light brown to pale yellow lesions on cane, black fly speck-like spots on green berries.

Natural Control

• Serenade® Garden Disease Control
• Fall clean up of fallen leaves and other debris, pruning out infected twigs.

Chemical Control

Euonymus

• Bonide® Fung-onil™ Fungicide

Powdery Mildew

Whitish-gray powdery mold or felt-like patches on leaves and green twigs. Leaves may crinkle and cup upward. Over winters in fallen leaves.

Natural Control

• Serenade® Garden Disease Control

Chemical Control

Viburnum

• Bonide® Fung-onil™ Fungicide

Botrytis Gray Mold

The fungus thrives in cool, moist conditions. Usually begins on plant debris, weak or inactive plant tissue, than invades healthy plant tissue. Causes spotting and decay of flowers and foliage, tissue becomes soft and watery. Affected parts of plant could wilt and collapse. If humidity remains high a grayish-brown coating and spores develops over the surface of the collapsed tissue.

Natural Control

• Serenade® Garden Disease Control
• Good sanitation will help avoid the problem.
• Remove and destroy dead leaves, flowers and dead plants.
• Water the plants at soil level and not on foliage.

Black Spot

Disease causing defoliation and black spots on leaves and thrives in moist conditions. Twigs may also be infected. Black spots are circular with fringed margins, if severe, spots can combine to cause a large black mass, can weaken and kill plants.

Natural Control

• Remove and destroy dead leaves, flowers and dead plants.
• Water the plants at soil level and not on foliage.

Chemical Control

Euonymus, Privet, Spirea, Hydrangea (foliage only)

• Bonide® Fung-onil™ Fungicide

Downey Mildew

Yellow spots on leaves with downy spots on underside of foliage. Older leaves in center of vine are infected first. Can infect fruits, become soft, grayish, wither, may or may not have downy symptom. Over-winters on fallen leaves, so fall clean up is vital.

Natural Control

• Serenade® Garden Disease Control
• Remove and destroy dead leaves, flowers and dead plants.
• Water the plants at soil level and not on foliage.

Rust

Most common on fern growth after harvest. Infection begins in spring and produces orange stage of disease and is occasionally found on new spears. Yellow or pale orange pustules in concentric ring pattern. Spores are airborne to new fern growth where brick red pustules are formed on all parts of the fern. Ferns may turn yellow or brown, defoliate and die back. In fall the spores turn black and will over winter. Rust causes reduced plant vigor and reduced yields.

Natural Control

• Serenade® Garden Disease Control
• Remove infected plant parts and destroy.

Chemical Control

Hydrangea (foliage only)

• Bonide® Fung-onil™ Fungicide

Thrips

Tiny, slender, fringed wing insects ranging from 1/25 to 1/8” long. Nymphs are pale yellow and highly active and adults are usually black or yellow-brown, but may have red, black or white markings. Feed on large variety of plants by puncturing them and sucking up the contents.

Chemical Control

• Bonide® Systemic Rose & Flower Care

Euonlymus, Lilac, Nannyberry

• Bonide® Borer-Miner Killer
• GardenTech® Sevin® Concentrate Bug Killer (exposed)
• Bayer Advanced™ Complete Insect Killer (exposed)
• Bonide® Total Pest Control (exposed)

Fall Webworm

Damage the leaves by both feeding and web building. Webworms over-winter within cocoons located in protected places, such as crevices in bark or under debris and fences. Adult moths emerge in summer. They have a wingspan of about 1 1/4" and vary from pure satiny white to white thickly spotted with small dark brown dots. Females lay white masses of 400-500 eggs on the undersides of the leaves. The caterpillars hatch in 10 days and all from the same egg mass live together as a colony. They spin webs that enclose the leaves, usually at the end of a branch, to feed upon them. After they have defoliated a branch, they extend their nest to include additional foliage.
When caterpillars are mature, they leave the nest to seek a place to spin gray cocoons. The mature caterpillars are about 1 1/4" long with a broad dark brown stripe along the back, and yellowish sides thickly peppered with small blackish dots. Each segment is crossed by a row of tubercles with long light brown hairs.

Natural Control

• Prune webbing as it appears.

Ornamentals

• Bonide® Thuricide® Bacillus Thuringiensis (BT)

Chemical Control

Nannyberry, Lilac

• Bonide® Borer-Miner Killer

Japanese Beetle

Adult is metallic green beetle, which skeletonizes leaves. Larvae are a grub, which feeds on turf roots. This is more of a problem east of the Mississippi River.

Chemical Control

• Bonide® Systemic Rose & Flower Care (adult)

Euonymus, Lilac, Nannyberry

• Bonide® Borer-Miner Killer
• GardenTech® Sevin® Concentrate Bug Killer
• Bayer Advanced™ Complete Insect Killer

Locust

Large (up to 1½ inches long) dark bodied insects with wings. Young insects hatch and enter the soil, where they burrow to the roots. Immature locust suck sap from roots and adults may suck sap from young twigs. Female lays eggs in the sapwood of twigs, causing the leaves on damaged twigs to turn brown. Twigs may break and fall to the ground eventually.

Natural Control

• Cut off and destroy injured twigs.
• Maintain good tree vigor by watering and fertilizing plants.

Chemical Control

Euonymus, Lilac, Nannyberry

• Bonide® Borer-Miner Killer
• Bonide® Total Pest Control

Cutworm

Large (vary from ½ -2” long) fleshy, hairless caterpillars. Adult cutworms are dark, night flying moths with bands or stripes on their forewings and lighter color hind wings. Some feed on the stems, others feed on new tender growth. Cutworms feed at night and can destroy a new plant over night.

Chemical Control

Nannyberry, Lilac

• Bonide® Borer-Miner Killer

Armyworm

Newly hatched worms are white with black heads. Mature worms are light tan or dark brown with dark or orange back and side stripes. They feed on the leaves of plants.

Chemical Control

Lilac, Nannyberry

• Bonide® Borer-Miner Killer
• GardenTech® Sevin® Concentrate Bug Killer
• Bayer Advanced™ Complete Insect Killer

Pruning Tips

• Always be mindful of your pruning cuts; choose to prune just above a bud that is pointing in the direction you would like your growth to continue. This will allow your flowering shrub to internally grow in the shape you want, whether it is a more compact, upright shrub or an open, spreading shrub.

Spring-flowering shrubs:

• These produce flowers on last year’s growth (what had budded the summer prior) and require early spring pruning before the shrub begins to grow. This is generally recommended while the shrubs are still dormant and before they begin to spring to life again. After the shrubs have flowered and the flowers begin to fade, you will want to then cleanly prune these flowers from the shrub (this is called “deadheading”) which allows for energy conservation and also allows for an aesthetically pleasing appearance of your flowering shrub.

Summer-flowering shrubs:

• These tend to produce their flowers on what grew that season (typically in the spring) and also require pruning in early spring before they start growing. In this case, you will be pruning out old wood to open your flowering shrub up to receive more light and to cut back on the chance at harboring disease. Flowers have a tendency to form and thrive where they receive the most light, so the more light that is accessible to your flowering shrub the more flowers it may produce overall.

Before you begin, read and follow all instructions on labels.

General Guidelines

Natural Control

• Serenade® Garden Disease Control for powdery mildew and leaf spot.

At the First Sign of:

• Bonide® Systemic Rose & Flower Care for aphids, mealy bugs, white flies, thrips, Japanese beetles and more.

Before Bud Swell

• Hi-Yield® Lime Sulfur Spray for San Jose scale, nectria canker, maple gall, and leaf blotch and olive scale. DO NOT APPLY TO EVERGREENS, EUONYMUS OR RHODODENDRONS.

All Season

• Hi-Yield® Lime Sulfur Spray for powdery mildew and anthracnose. DO NOT APPLY TO EVERGREENS, EUONYMUS OR RHODODENDRONS.

Combination Winter Spray (Dormant & Deciduous only)

• Hi-Yield® Lime Sulfur Spray and Bonide® All Seasons® Horticultural & Dormant Spray Oil for San Jose scale, rose scale, oyster shell scale, brown apricot scale, black scale, overwintering insect eggs, and many overwintering fungus spores of plant disease.

By Shrub

Flowering/Ornamental Shrubs

New spring growth:

• Bonide® Copper Fungicide Spray or Dust for leaf spot.

New spring growth:

• Liquid Copper Fungicide for black spot, downy mildew, gray mold, leaf spots, powdery mildew and rust.

Ornamental Shrubs

Green tip through delayed dormant stages:

• Bonide® All Seasons® Horticultural & Dormant Spray Oil for scale insects, certain aphids, gall, whitefly larvae, mealy bugs and adelgids.

Growing season:

• Bonide® All Seasons® Horticultural & Dormant Spray Oil for scale insects, red spider mites, mealy bugs and whitefly larvae.

At first sign of insects:

• Bonide® Thuricide® Bacillus Thuringiensis (BT) for bagworms, tent caterpillars and fall webworms.

Euonymus, Lilac

At first sign of insects:

• Bonide® Borer-Miner Killer for aphids, bagworms, exposed thrips, fall cankerworms, inchworms, leaf miners, leaf rollers, locust, mealy bugs, spider mites, whiteflies, gypsy moth, tent caterpillar and Japanese beetles.
• Bonide® Total Pest Control for aphids, leafrollers, spider mites, mealy bugs, whitefly, bagworm, thrips and locust.

Spring bud break:

• Bonide® Fung-onil™ Fungicide for anthracnose.

Nannyberry, Lilac

At first sign of insects:

• Bonide® Borer-Miner Killer for aphids, armyworms, bagworms, cutworms, exposed thrips, fall cankerworms, fall webworms, fungus gnats, inchworms, Japanese Rotenone beetles, leaf miners, leaf rollers, locusts, mealy bugs, scale crawlers, spring cankerworms, spider mites, whiteflies, psyllids and scale insects.
• Bonide® Total Pest Control for aphids, leafrollers, spider mites, mealy bugs, whitefly, bagworm, thrips and locust.

Privet

Prolonged wet conditions:

• Bonide® Fung-onil™ Fungicide for cercospora leaf spot.

Viburnum

Mid-summer:

• Bonide® Fung-onil™ Fungicide for powdery mildew.

Hydrangea (foliage only)

Early propagation:

• Bonide® Fung-onil™ Fungicide for cercospora, septoria leaf spot and rust.

Lily

Pre-bloom:

• Bonide® Fung-onil™ Fungicide for botrytis gray mold (foliar phase) and phytophthora blight.

Hardy Shrub (Thrives with minimal care such as lilac, viburnum, privet, spirea, etc.)

• Bonide® All Seasons® Horticultural & Dormant Spray Oil for scale insects, European red spider mites, mealy bugs and whitefly larvae.