The weather

How does the weather affect the Gerberas?

Quite a lot really. Although they are kept under a plastic tunnel, and consequently spared the ravages of wind and rain for the most part (some at either end may experience a little more of both than we'd prefer!), other weather patterns affect the Gerbera.

Humidity. Powdery mildew and Botrytis are two diseases that are brought on by humidity, and lack of fresh air circualting around the plants. It is our pattern to spray for botrytis on a regular basis. Once when we didn't spray often enough the whole crop of flowers had to be discarded. All had the tell-tale sign of the disease on the petals of the flower so were of no value to the florists.

Powdery mildew affects the leaves more than the flower. Once again, spraying when it appears is necessary. There are other ways, but we choose to spray.

Cloudy days. Now this makes a big difference, especially when the weather is cooler. Gerberas like warm, sunny days. The flowers just slow down so much when we have several cloudy days - and there is little we can do. Obviously production is down. Less flowers for the florists. Less money in the till.