thinking outside the box ....

by this time of year ... they are all looking ratty ...

i never really did anything about them ...

unless you are a seller.. or trader.. whats the point???

ken, devils advocate ...

Glad to hear that Jo! I moved Piedmont Gold to more shade thinking that was its problem, now it seems to have nematodes, too. Oh well, I'll pull off some leaves and hope for the best.

Thanks, Kathy! Here's hoping for the best for your PG, Kathy! Pulling off and disposing of the affected leaves is definitely a quick fix - "out-of-sight, out-of-mind" mentality that works for me in this case. Mind you, if I ever had an infestation of nems (cringe).... I would certainly have to adjust my lackadaisical attitude, lol! ;-)

How do you know you have nematodes?

This sure looks like nems to me. If not what might it be ?

yes that is... might not be there next fall ... ken

The brown splotches or the little holes? Just want to learn more, as my collection is growing...

It's the brown splotches. Nematodes show themselves between the veining of the leaf. The browning should further continue following these veins.

You can get rid of them with Nemakill, if you're willing to spend a hundred dollars to do it. Not sure why it's so expensive, since it's (I think) cinnamon and clove oil. Two spice oils, anyhow.

I bought some plants at a convention in Dubuque Iowa that had them, and they spread before I noticed. Also found one bad leaf on a recently acquired and highly coveted Five O'clock Somewhere. No idea if it came infected or got it here, but got rid if the leaf. If the leaf treatment doesn't work, might be shelling out for Nemakill.

MadPlanter, you'd be wise tocheck out the following thread on another forum with a rather heated discussion with respect to the actual efficacy of the product in question. Certainly doesn't sound as if it's all that's cracked up to be, BUT, I have no personal experience with the product. I do however have experience with foliar nematodes and have successfully eliminated them with a bleach bath of the plants involved. My experiences are detailed here and let me just say for the record that of the varieties involved in the experiment back in 2007 the only ones I still have are 'Ice Age Trail' and 'Ray of Hope', RoH is the better grower by far and has established itself as a favourite of mine, as is IAT but it is a much slower grower. Having said that, IAT was finally divided this year when there were a couple of shoots that showed full medio variegation, cannot wait to see how that develops of the next couple of years. Neither one of these have shown any recurrence of foliar nematodes.

Thanks for the heads up, Pieter. We go to great lengths to protect our assorted frogs and toads, and if Nemakill is toxic to amphibians, I'll have to try leaf removal and beach instead. Also intend to remove and burn all the hosta leaves once they die back.

Too bad about Ice Age Trail. I had to divide Galaxy this year. It had wonderful variegation last year. All of this year's new eyes were barely streaked - hoping division helps them color back up. The original eye was still well marked and is planted on its own. Those streaked hosta can be hard to maintain.