Growing Daylilies Together

Daniel, I hope you will come back and report on your results. Crown rot is something that I have struggled with in my garden, so much so, that I began keeping an informal record of the plants, and have combed the internet and robin archives looking for information. From what I read, Banrot is probably the most successful treatment, but as John noted, it's pricey, especially for a home gardener like me. I have had it in the garden as well as in potted daylilies. The "rotted potted" ones sat alongside perfectly healthy potted ones, in the same potting mix and same type of pots. The rotting garden plants are often root to root with healthy plants. I have seen it when the ground is saturated and when it is as dry as a bone--this occurred during really, really hot weather. I have had a couple of plants that have shown rot for several years running and somehow a fan or a few, would survive and the plant would rejuvenate, only to succumb again--sometimes not until a couple years later. I had kept them around just to observe. Why did these plants get rot, yet continue to survive? Was it something in their genetic makeup that was prompting a response that allowed them to make a comeback each time? These 2, and a few seedlings were the only ones that exhibited the hateful stuff this past summer. I suspect that there is some genetic component to susceptibility, but that's just a theory. I cull all seedlings that show any inclination for rot, and I am suspicious of any siblings. I grow too few seedlings to draw any conclusions, but I have decided not to use anything that has shown the possibility of disease susceptibility because there appear to be so many that are perfectly hardy and healthy. Ron Reimer, from the AHS email robin, is working toward rust resistance, but early on, culled for rot as well. His work has been detailed by Brian Reeder in an excellent blog.

I can't tell if this is posting as a link, so you may have to cut/paste. Thanks for those who have posted a few remedies that I haven't tried yet. I will try them the next time rot comes around!
Sharon, just south of you in VA.

Okay, I see nothing at all posted for the link, so I'll try again.

daylilybreeder.blogspot.ca/

Thank you all for your very interesting posts.

Judy... You have analyzed my problem better than I did! Thank you for pointing out that my compost soil might be too dense and hold too much water without enough air, thus creating the climate for rot. Hmm
And to think I have bags of vermiculite and something else used for air. Just didn't think of it.

And then my soapy spray for aphids might have done it. I had put a drop of dish soap in about 8 oz of filtered water, then put it in a mist hand sprayer like a hair spray bottle sprayer. Daily sprays were one shot of mist that saturated the surface of the leaves.

About decorative pots: I think they come in two kinds, the ceramic glazed pots and the pots with other kinds of paint decorations. The first reminds me of my hand made coffee mugs, where the glaze seals in the color, etc.

I would think that the glazed pots should not cause a problem. One of mine is clearly painted and the paint is soft and falling off on the top. I am throwing it out.

Now about my results: All died.

Now I know about corn meal and other recipes. Thank you, everyone!

It might just be my analytical thinking, but it makes more sense to me, labor and cost-wise, to amend the viability and aeration of the soil to a depth of a foot ONCE than to add chemicals yearly in the hopes of avoiding and preventing rot. Rot comes from a combination of too much moisture and too little air. Since plants require moisture, it only makes sense to fix the soil issue.
The only place I've ever had a rot issue (and its been years ago) was on the shady side of my house where the clay-based soil had not been amended. It only gets about 4 hours of sun in the early evenings. It was the last bed I totally re-vamped. I removed all my plantings from that side, double dug the whole 25' long bed with a shovel, mixed in 4" of peat moss and 3" of vermiculite, and re-planted all the plants. Took me a good two weeks to do it all but I've not had a rot problem there since and I've never had a rot problem anywhere else in my garden.

Crown rot is a disease which affects many different types of plants. Plants afflicted with this disease experience rot around their stems, in the area where the stem joins the root. Typically, crown rot is fatal, although it can be treated in some cases if a gardener is willing to put in some extensive efforts. As with many other plant diseases, prevention is easier than curing.

Several different organisms can cause crown rot. One of the most famous is Phytophthora, an organism which is often mistakenly referred to as a fungus, although it is actually a protist. These nasty garden visitors were responsible for the infamous Irish Potato Famine, and they continue to wreak havoc on plants all over the world.Fusarium fungi can also cause crown rot, as can several other fungal species, and sometimes the condition is linked to bacteria or nematodes.

When crown rot starts to develop, the best thing to do is to discard the plant and the soil around it. If the plant is valuable or particularly beloved, treatment can be attempted by removing the plant from the soil, washing the plant and its roots, trimming away obviously dead material, and replanting it in sterile soil. Applying a fungicide may sometimes work, if a fungus is causing the crown rot. The plant should also be isolated so that it cannot infect other plants.

Prevention of crown rot starts with using good quality, sterile soil for new plantings, so that plant pathogens cannot be passed around the garden. Plants should also be given a stable supply of water which meets their needs, and gardeners should avoid over watering or allowing plants to dry out totally, as these conditions can both promote the growth of unwanted organisms in the soil. Maintaining healthy soil and keeping plants unstressed will also help to prevent crown rot and other diseases.