Hi, looking for suggestions for treating rust. I ordered some daylilies from Florida that are in quarantine and need to either compost or heal them. Any suggestions appreciated.

If your winters get cold enough to kill rust, I would not do anything. Just keep them separated until spring and then plant them out. If your winters are not cold enough to kill rust and you have not been spraying I would think you might already have rust in your garden. I am not much help on the spraying, I have not had much luck with anything I have tried, but I have not tried the more commercial sprays.

I have a friend in Hickory that grows figs and pomegranates so I doubt it's cold enough to kill rust. I think they are a solid zone 7a

Can you give us more information, have they actually developed visible rust? What does the quarantine consist of? How many plants are involved and have you already tried this:

http://web.ncf.ca/ah748/newpla...

I've had the best luck using Mancozeb to control rust in my daylilies. If the rust is severe, you may want to remove affected leaves (and burn them) before spraying.

I am in zone 6b, have gotten some nasty rust in trades years ago. After a winter they were fine. If these are potted, can you just leave them in pots overwinter? I would think that would give them the extra chill they they get here, if you don't get quite cold enough there.