I stopped growing them for the same reason> butt ugly foliage. They're plagued by bugs and rust and the leaves look ugly. Mine grew huge and the blossoms were pretty but the ugly leaves turned me off.

Do you have them in full sun?

Karen

You probably didn't do anything wrong...any I've ever grown here just plain had rust, same as most bee balm will have mildew. It's not the gardnener, just the nature of the plant - or location of the garden :)

Looks like rust. That's why I stopped growing them too.

It's rust, but it can be treated in the same way you would treat for rust on roses. Use a rust fungicide next year and you'll have a better looking plant. The fungicide doesn't outright end the problems, but it will greatly reduce them.

T

No idea if this really works or if I just got lucky and something else kept the rust at bay on my hollyhocks this past year. I read somewhere online that if you sprinkle a good bit of corn meal around the base of the plant it will help control rust. I decided to give it a shot this year and my HHs were the cleanest they've ever been. Coincidence? Maybe. But it was a pretty inexpensive and easy thing to do and I will be doing it again in the spring when they come up!

Also, I try and pull of any leaves that look like they are infected before they get horrible looking. It helps keep it from spreading. HHs almost seem to do the best in poor soil with little to no help from the gardener - the more you mess with them, the more you compost and water and all that the weaker the plants seem to be. It is almost like they need bad conditions to get really hardy. I guess that is why they used to just be grown up along outhouses and you see them sprouting from seed naturally in all sorts of weird places that don't appear to be ideal.

They were in full sun; that's the south side of the house in the picture and it gets the sun for most of the day. They were planted in unamended clay.

Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), spraying is not an option for me... DH is severely allergic to pesticides, fungicides and chemicals in general.

I have one hollyhock plant left over from last year. I'll try the cornmeal and see if that helps.

Thanks!

Hello Lois,
I broad spread the ground with a mixture of Sulfur/the Charcoal. It wasn't even 2-week before the rust had disappeared. It's all natural.

http://www.buyactivatedcharcoal.com/