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Flowers

Carnation Growing Guide: Planting, Care & Harvest

A clove-scented perennial grown for cut flowers, needing sun, good drainage and regular deadheading in home beds.

Carnation

Dianthus caryophyllus

Growing calendar

Typical timing for central Japan (Kanto region). Shift it for your own climate, and record your actual dates.

GrowingFlowering

Guides

Common problems

Start from what you can see on the plant.

Pests and diseases (36)

Problems recorded for this plant, most serious first.

Fusarium Wilt

Disease

Lower leaves wilt during the day and recover morning and evening, and this cycle repeats as the plant dies back. Cutting the stem reveals characteristic browning of the vascular tissue.

Powdery Mildew

Disease

White patches appear scattered on the upper leaf surface at first, then the whole leaf is coated in a white powder. Leaves later yellow, brown and die back, and reduced photosynthesis cuts growth and yield.

Late Blight

Disease

Dark green water-soaked lesions appear on the leaves and expand quickly into brown dead tissue. White mold forms on the underside and at the lesion edge, and dark brown lesions spread to stems and fruit.

Brown Leaf Spot

Disease

Small light brown to gray-brown spots form on the leaves and enlarge into irregular lesions. When they merge the whole leaf dies and plant vigor drops sharply.

Sclerotinia Rot

Disease

The crown, stem or head rots in a water-soaked way and is covered in white cottony mycelium. Black sclerotia later form inside and on the surface, and the plant wilts and dies.

Citrus Melanose

Disease

Tiny dark brown specks are scattered over fruit and leaves, sometimes clustering into tear-streaks or a sandpaper texture. Heavy infection makes the rind rough and badly cuts appearance value.

Crown Gall

Disease

Irregular galls form at the crown and on the roots, gradually enlarging and turning woody. They block the flow of water and nutrients, so the plant loses vigor and may die.

Rust

Disease

Small raised orange-yellow to red-brown pustules form on both leaf surfaces, then rupture and release powdery spores. Heavy infection yellows the leaves and kills them early.

Southern Blight

Disease

The stem rots at soil level and white silky mycelium spreads over the crown and the surrounding soil surface. Brown sclerotia the size of rapeseed then form and the plant wilts and dies rapidly.

Anthracnose

Disease

Light brown to dark brown round lesions with sharp margins form on leaves and fruit, slightly sunken in the center. In wet weather salmon-pink slimy spore masses ooze out on the lesions.

Root Rot

Disease

Fine roots rot brown to blackish brown, growth stops and the lower leaves yellow. The plant wilts easily in the daytime and eventually dies outright.

Root-knot Nematode

Pest

The plant wilts in the daytime and does not recover with feeding or watering. Pull it up and the roots carry beaded chains of galls of varying size with few fine roots.

Gray Mold

Disease

Water-soaked brown lesions form on flowers, fruit and leaves, densely covered by a fuzzy gray mold. Fruit rots and drops, and decay continues in storage after harvest.

Bacterial Spot

Disease

Small water-soaked spots appear on the leaves, later turning brown with yellowing around them. Fruit develops water-soaked or scabby spots from which rot spreads.

Leaf Spot

Disease

Small round brown to gray-white lesions appear on the lower leaves, the centers turning gray with tiny black specks. As they multiply the leaf yellows and drops early.

Downy Mildew

Disease

Pale yellow to yellow-brown angular lesions form on the upper leaf surface with a gray-purple mold in the matching spot underneath. Lesions merge, the leaves die back and the plant declines early.

Calyx SplittingFlyspeckCurvularia Leaf BlightCyst NematodeMosaic DiseaseMild MosaicRoot GallPlant-parasitic NematodesSeptoria Leaf SpotFusarium Wilt and Damping-offBacterial Wilt and Stem RotPurple Seed StainBud RotStem RotBacterial WiltLeaf BlightBrown RustNeck RotBlack RustAlternaria Black Spot

Read next

Keep a growing history for Carnation

Type the plant name, add the planting date, and take photos as it grows. Next season you will have your own dates for sowing, flowering, and harvest instead of a generic calendar.

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