Growing Daylilies Together

Folks in the north are blessed in that a long winter freeze is said to kill rust. Those of us in the south are not so fortunate.

Daylily rust has been, and still, is a hotly debated subject with article upon article having been written about it. Here is the link to the AHS Rust page.

www.daylilies.org/ahs_dictionary/daylily_rust.html

Links that others may think useful are also most welcome.

Can rust be killed in the south or is it something that we will just have to live with forever? Can it be cured here or merely suppressed?

I have researched fungicides until my eyeballs are ready to fall out. I STILL don't know which ones work best, which fungicides are compatible, and so on and so on.

Let's talk about rust, what we know and what we don't know. What we do and what we don't do to try to get a handle on it.

Above all, let's respect each other's opinions.

Wow, only one post in this discussion? Amazing.

Judy,

In answer to your questions:

Will we ever be able to eradicate rust. I believe we will but it will be done purely accidentally with a chemical created to kill off food crop rusts! Hopefully, a farmer who also grows daylilies will accidentally spray his daylilies when spraying one of his crops for lets say Wheat Rust.

Unfortunately, Daylilies aren't a major "cash" group in the world so the chemical companies are probably turning away from doing something about it.

There are many chemicals that help suppress the rust, unfortunately none to eradicate it. Cabrio is a good one to use as it kills the spores, and I'm sure it kills some of the mycelia as if you hit your plants with it after an infestation has already started, you will have black spots all over the plants where the rust was visible and not visible. So I suggest using this very early spring before rust can get hold in the garden. Also, rotating systemics is a good idea, Banner Maxx, Heritage are two that work well.

Visit this site agri.nv.gov/PLANT_PlantPathology_DaylilyRust.htm

to see the active ingredients.

Others using different chemicals please let us know. Everyone is looking for a cheaper and better chemical to use.

Now breeding for resistance will help, but won't be the cure so long as we use plants from Northern Hybridizers as they can't evaluate for resistance. So when I buy a plant from Mick for instance, he can't tell me if it is resistant or not. Once I start using it in my program it may take 4-5 years to evaluate the children for resistance.

I am not going to quit breeding for resistance however, as I am poor daylily farmer and I want to quit spraying!

JP

Great topic Judy.
I've been searching for quite some time to find where it is scientifically proven that rust does not winter over in the north. I've searched through alot of articles but it just says "should not", "perhaps will not" etc etc. Can it winter over in leaf mulch, wood chips or in the foliage hidden underneath all the infected dead foliage

We haven't seen it here 'yet'. Bringing plants in during the fall or spring is best? Should plants be dipped/sprayed before replanting in our gardens?

I know it can't kill the plant ( I hope) but thinking to be prepared just in case it shows its ugly leaves here.

Juliany wrote:


Hi Julian,

I don't know why you can't find any scientific proof that rust can't survive winters without the alternative host patrinia, everything you read on the internet states this. The rust needs to reproduce sexually with both hosts present in the cold climates in order to spread or live.

Bringing plants in after bloom time is best if concerned about rust, as it will spread during the rainy season in your area.

Rust won't kill your plant if the plant is healthy to begin with although I have never heard of it killing a daylily.

Never dip your plants before contacting the shipper to find out if they have dipped/soaked them and if so with what. If you do, and they have already been dipped/soaked in a chemical you can burn the plants and kill them.

Once you determine if the shipper has/hasn't dipped/soaked the plants and with what chemicals (I will bet if it isn't showing signs of rust when receive it, it has been on a spray program) then I would suggest if they haven't that you most definitely dip/soak it in an anti-fungal to prevent it from spreading across your garden.

Hope this helps.

JP

John -

Daylily rust made its appearance what...nearly ten years ago? Don't you think there is still such a stigma attached to it that the great majority of folks that have rust just will not publicly talk about it? I mean, who wants to be branded with a big scarlet R?

Even today, nearly ten years later, gardens with rust, controlled or not, are badmouthed by others like those gardens have the plague. (Well, maybe they do in some folks' minds.)

It's my understanding that the USDA has downgraded rust to nusiance status. Can anyone who sells to the public confirm? Or is it on a state-by-state basis? Or does it vary from inspector to inspector?

In order to combat rust, us po' folks need to understand what we are dealing with in all aspects.

So many questions...so many variables... and then so many answers are confusing.

I'm hoping that we can discuss the rust issue freely. I feel it's the only way folks that have issues with rust can have a real shot at making headway in the fight against it.

One confusing thing I have found is converting application/mixing amounts from "per acre" to per gallon when mixing fungicides. I found a good conversion table from Alabama, but it does not list some fungicides such as Cabrio. It is in pdf format:

www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/A/ANR-0816/ANR-0816.pdf

I know I bookmarked a [fungicide] group table but I can not find it. I did find this group table on the net, and it does list some generics for the higher-priced name-brand fungicides.

plant-disease.ippc.orst.edu/articles.cfm?article_id=13

Do generic fungicides work as well as name brands?

For example, Honor Guard is generic Banner Maxx. The active and inert ingredients and their percentages are exactly the same.

Honor Guard is MUCH cheaper!

judydu2 wrote:

JP:
This was from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs under the Disease Management Section.

"In the autumn, cut plants back to remove all green foliage. Do not mulch as mulching infected plants may protect rust pustules that have gone unnoticed and possibly allow them to survive the winter".

Am I understanding this to mean it can winter over?


Julia

John, would you post the Cabrio mixture, please? And any other fungicide ratio mixtures that you are familiar with that may not be on that list. It certainly would be helpful to small-space gardeners that wish to spray.

Oh, and how about a spreader-sticker? I know that lots of folks use dishwashing liquid and that seems to work okay, but I think I read that some fungicides have built-in stickers.

Juliany wrote:


Hi Julia,

That is wrong, I believe that is outdated information. I don't know who would have written that recently, but it is wrong. I mulch every year and unless I have imports here, which I usually don't until fall, I don't get rust in August when it is most prolific.

The key word above is "may protect", they have no idea!

The alternate host must be present, which is Patrinia. The studies have all been done, as the rust has been in colder climates in Europe for many, many years if not centuries. And it simply doesn't survive without the alternate host. I can't send you to the scientific papers, but this is now accepted as fact.

JP