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keanaz5a

Is this normal?

17 years ago

I've got a Sum and Substance that I suspected had crown rot. The leaves were dying, so I pulled a bit on them and they broke off pretty easily and had a whitish something on the end. It lost about half it's leaves. I just planted it last year, so it only had about 12 leaves to begin with. I rushed out and bought the Bayer 3 in 1 Rose stuff and treated it about 3 weeks ago. Today it's putting out new shoots, but I noticed another leaf yellowing, so pulled on it and same thing, that whitish stuff on the end of the stalk.

Luckily, it's planted in one of those spin-out bags quite a ways from any other hosta because I was allowing lots of room expecting it to get big. Haven't seen anything on any others.

Would it be doing this if it really had crown rot? And, if it doesn't, what is it? I don't see any brown anything on the stalk, just the white. Would it put out new shoots if it was crown rot?

Comments (13)

  • 17 years ago

    Yes, and yes! It would be losing the leaves at the ground level, and it very well can put out new growth
    despite the rot or Southern Blight! Being in the spin-out type of pot, may keep it fairly moist at ground
    level, which can make it more susceptible to the fungus! You DO NOT have to throw out the hosta, but you
    DO have to control the rot. Keep trying the Bayer products, but if you can, switch to the 'All-in-One' version!
    That one specifically states it addresses 'Southern Blight', which may be where you are headed!

    It looks like there may be up to $6 in rebate available for the advanced line, which this is!

    Bayer Rebate

    Here is a link that might be useful: All-In-One Rose & Flower Care Concentrate

  • 17 years ago

    hey_j,

    I have a question about the Bayer All-in-One Rose & Flower Care. Have you used it? Do you have pets that go into your gardens? I followed your link and read the label information but there was nothing about keeping away from animals, just that it was dangerous to all animals.

    I can keep my grandchildren out of the gardens, but my dog is used to lying on the bench in the garden and I don't want to use anything that would hurt her.

    What do you think?

    christine

  • 17 years ago

    Oh dear--no, I did not read that!!!! I just followed advice given here!! Thankfully, all the hosta
    I've had to treat are in barrels, pots or raised beds!! I hope my chips and squirrels stay clear
    while the stuff is wet. Hopefully, it's not as dangerous once dry!!!

    I can surely understand your concern!!!

  • 17 years ago

    z5... eh???

    SOUTHERN BLIGHT .... is NOT all that common up here in the great white north .... ARE YOU SURE OF THE DIAGNOSIS????

    do you know the difference between it.. and summer dormancy from lack of water.. in the august ????

    you mention planting in bags.. i suspect you already have the dreaded maples .... so you started with extremely weak plants.. or you wouldnt have moved towards bags ...

    did you bury the bag.. or use it properly??? i never used them.. so i cant define such ...

    what is your soil???

    how dry is it ... or the opposite.. has it been extremely wet???

    FROM WHAT I KNOW ... ABOUT A PROBLEM THAT IS NOT IN MY Z5 ... is that SB is a function of damp ground.. with high night temps .... which doesnt seem reasonable .. under trees that were making your hosta decline .... do you see what i am getting at???

    a hosta going into summer dormancy.. from lack of water.. can look exactly like SB .... but solving the SB.. does not solve the problem .... based on the variables above ...

    i am not arguing with your dx .... or what you did.. i am just playing the advocate.. and asking if you are addressing all the variables ..... and if not for you.. for others who are peeking in ..

    ken

  • 17 years ago

    Hmmmm, not being argumentative, ken, cause you know more about hosta, for sure, than I do,
    but--would the summer dormancy, etc. create the "whitish stuff on the end of the stalk" she's
    describing?

  • 17 years ago

    rot is the result..

    i am asking what is the cause????

    if the cause was blight.. then treat the blight..

    if the cause was lack of water.. then treating the blight does NOT solve the water issue...

    improperly watered hosta .. can rot ...

    you might add water in treating the blight.. and it will recover.. but next year.. you may end up with it all again.. and again the issue might be your watering protocol.. rather than blight ...

    any clearer??

    ken

  • 17 years ago

    If it is blight, and you want to save your plant (I have been there):
    -Get your S&S out of the ground
    -Rinse off all the soil from the roots
    -Soak your S&S 30 min in a 10% Chlorine solution
    -Emerge your S&S for 30 min in clean water
    -Rinse your S&S using the garden hose
    -Plant your S&S in sterile potting soil
    -Check daily for signs of rot
    -Spray once a week with Fungonil or Deconil
    -Dump all of the remaining Chlorine solution into the hole
    -use small pine bark nuggets as mulch
    -after 4 weeks of quarantine plant your S&S in a different location
    Manfred

  • 17 years ago

    Ahhh--yes, ken--it is!! Thank you, sir!!:o) As one who has dealt with the dreaded SD,
    I want to understand all I can about it, especially the cause of it! So far--this year,
    no reocurrence in previous areas! I DID do what DonR has suggested doing--you know the stuff
    that scared the pajeebers out of me, in trying to use it 'safely'! Not 'pa-jammers', pa-jeebers !!
    Just want to be clear on that point! ;o)

    Manfred--good stuff--I'm saving your posting! :o)

    BTW--Don is not nearly as wary as I am about what he recommends! Here's his comment on a previous
    thread when I teased about the 'scariness' of the product, 'Prostar':

    "I'm not so sure that the Prostar fungicide is any more hazardous than many of the other fungicides that are commonly used by gardeners.
    Otherwise, it wouldn't be packaged and marketed for homeowner use and would require a hazmat permit to purchase. The safety data sheet
    can be found on-line if anyone wants to read it. Anyways, it's great to hear that you've had good success. I suspect that you will eventually find a plant
    or two still affected by the blight, but it will probably be because your treatment this spring missed those areas. Keep a vigilant eye! I think you'll
    agree that all of the hostas you've saved is well worth the $80 you spent on the Prostar, and you've got enough left for several more treatments
    if necessary."

    He was right--I did find it crop up in a barrel across the yard from the previous sites, which were,
    in fact, across the yard from each other, too!

    So--I do recommend the Prostar, based on my success, to date, but be prepared to pay the $80 for it--anywhere I looked!!!
    But--as Don suggested--it's not a bad 'investment' if you find you will need it in subsequent years, and I used so little of it,
    for the few places I needed it!

  • 17 years ago

    No, I'm not sure that it is southern blight. I've never encountered it before. This S&S was purchased late last year from a local garden center. So, I don't think it was stressed. I planted it in the largest spin out bag using 1/3 my native soil (which is slightly clay, but not too bad), 1/3 peat, and 1/3 composted manure in the bag. It gets some morning sun. This started happening in the beginning of July, so didn't think it was summer dormancy. Even though I wasn't sure it was southern blight, I thought the whitish stuff on the end of the petiole was a sign of a fungus and the Bayer couldn't hurt. It hasn't been either too wet or too dry and I water frequently because they don't get much water under the heavy tree canopy. Could I be watering too much? I water every 2-3 days, soaking each hosta in the bag with the hose, no overhead watering. The bags are water permeable and there is no water sitting in the tops of the bags after watering. It soaks in pretty readily. All the others are doing fine. Is it possible that this S&S was purchased with southern blight fungus and it is just now showing up?

  • 17 years ago

    Again, more a novice than anything else, but I do believe you could have purchased it with
    the fungus. That is how I believe it got started in my garden. I purchased from a very
    reputable mail order source--and have ordered many from them with never a problem before.
    But, the initial instance of it in my garden was in a pot within a pot sitting on a stump beside
    a raised bed which put the hosta above the secondary instance of the blight.

    I spoke with the owner, this year (not accusing them of passing along the blight) but stating I lost one of
    the ones I had loved and gotten from them last year--to the 'blight', as well as others and asked him
    what they do to deal with S.B. when it occurs. He acknowledged that they did have a particularly wet
    and humid season last year but did not say they had any instances of it--he just kept saying the best
    thing to do is to avoid getting it in the first place. Hmmm!!

    This source, is in S.W. Missouri so I don't know how that factors in! It happens! I have purchased
    hosta from them again, and so far, as most usual no problems, but the one last year! I will continue with
    them but will always watch for any further evidence that will need to be addressed aggresively with the Prostar!

  • 17 years ago

    lets refocus here..

    80 bucks IN CHEMICALS for a 10 dollar hosta..

    DIG IT UP

    THROW IT AWAY ..

    GO BUY ANOTHER ..

    TEN BUCKS TOTAL ...

    what the heck ...

    I WONDER IF YOU SHOULD SOAK THE BAG IN 10% BLEACH ....

    ken

    PS: really manfred.. SOUTHERN blight in your zone.. hmmm.. my pure yellow sand must be mysterious ... maybe its a clay thing ....

  • 17 years ago

    Keanaz, I believe in the attached document, petiole rot and Southern Blight are the same thing. There are some good close up photos to help you ID the problem.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Hosta Diseases and Pests

  • 17 years ago

    Once upon a time, Butch Ragland sent me this link...

    Here is a link that might be useful: Crown Rot A Serious Disease of Hosta and Other Ornamentals