A few weeks ago I noticed something that met the description of powdery mildew on my Crassula 'Campfire.' Thursday I hit the plant with Bonide Captain Jack's Liquid Copper Fungicide. All the powdery stuff washed off, revealing the scars underneath. If the plant does survive, it needs to grow some new foliage.
Now the sickly afterthought that was in the same pot in the March 7 Ramsey's order is in the lead. It still isn't very big but it has turned the signature red with exposure to lots of light.
I'll leave the big one in the garage under grow lights to recuperate, if it can, and transport the small one to take its place in the greenhouse.
The Kalanchoe 'Desert Surprise' has been languishing lately and I suspected it also had powdery mildew, but wasn't sure. Out of an abundance of caution, I hit it with the fungicide on Thursday. It does not show the scarring that the 'Campfire' does. I believe it is more likely that the Kalanchoe had some farina that sort of resembled mildew, and the reason it hasn't been that vigorous is due to something else, unknown.
On a happier note, I wanted to get at least one hummingbird image today as I was puttering around the greenhouse. I only had my little Canon M100 camera with the 70-200mm Galapagos lens (so-called because I got this image with this lens in the Galapagos in 2004) attached with a converter. I got this image, and soon when the weather is better I will take better equipment and try to get this fellow on the salvia or butterfly mint. This is a male Calliope and I believe is the one I see 95% of the time. He was one flying around inside the greenhouse today for a minute, and after a few moments of confusion he escaped back through the open door.
