Does anyone mulch their peonies with limestone chips to prevent botrytis? I garden in Pacific Northwest and every year I have to deal with botrytis on my peonies. Few years ago during particularly wet Spring I lost all buds and most of the foliage on my plants to that nasty fungus. I'm asking now because after careful examination of my peony bed I already found signs of emerging buds especially on the very early woodland species. And in case of botrytis it is important to work fast before it really kicks in.
I used copper fungicide in the past with very little results. I think it is too wet here for it to be effective (washes off fast).
Any thoughts?