Nematodes are like tiny little worms that get into the leaf and suck all the "juices" out of the plant cells. Eventually you'll see the leaf go brown between the veins where they've been feeding. Very easily spread and very hard to get rid of. I accepted gift plants that were probably infected and to my regret I purchased plants from less than stellar backyard sellers when I first began collecting. These were the first to show infection. Now it's spread. You'll find good info in the pests and diseases section on Hosta library and also on Hallson's site.

Are you sure? It is easy to mix it up with bacterial stuff.

Bit early for

I'm quite sure, although it is a bit early for nematodes. I should have taken a picture. The dry area filled the space between the veins. To confirm, I put leaf segments in a glass,, waited for a while, back lit it and had a look with a magnifying glass. Could see them wiggling about. I've seen pictures of bacterial leaf streak and it really does look similar. But...If it were bacterial leaf streak I wouldn't have seen the wigglers. I would be so happy to be mistaken.

For anyone interested, there's an interesting article on bacterial leaf streak written by Bill Meyer found in the Articles section of Hosta Library. Many thanks to whoever has done all the work to give us Hosta Library.

Sorry to hear that, anything new out there to fight it?

I've only had foliar nematodes on two occasions. The first time, I had no clue what happened, as I grow in pots. I just trashed it. The second time, I blamed the grower. It was in a big gorgeous, very expensive hosta. I trashed it as well. Luckily, ken advised me not to mention it on the forum, as I was livid, having paid that for the hosta and it having nemadoes.

In retrospect, I'm sure they came from hanging baskets of fern. (I didn't know at the time that they were often infected with nematodes.) In the spring, every big box store and grocery store has cheap ones. I always buy several. On occasion, I have hung them over hosta.

So, that's how I think I got nematodes.

Lesson learned. I still buy them, but don't put them over my hosta.

bkay

Are nematodes native to .US or Canada or are they an introduced pest? Can they be found in natural vegetation? (by that I mean weeds ). I know they can be spread by splashing water...Are they spread by insects, chipmunks, voles... ?

Good point bkay about not specifically mentioning a seller ...would not want to assign blame unfairly. In my case, the first year I found nematodes, they were found only on gifted /backyard seller plants. Every single/ most leaves were infested. The plants from my fav. Specialty Nursery showed no sign ...until this year.

I read a couple of articles on them today. There are several different varieties of nematodes. The only one mentioned as imported was the one that effects rice.