My heuchera has crown rot. The tube is okay, just the crown. Is there anything I can do to save it?
Thanks,
Flimsy ....Linda

Linda

how far down is the crown rot? If you remove the rotted part, is there enough of the plant left to come back?

Linda

I googled crown rot with heuchera. If you are going to try to save the plant, I would put it in a pot. This way you can monitor how wet or dry the soil is. You want to keep it on the dry side. Also, from what I read, you want to get it out of the soil that it is in, as 'Sclerotium crown rot' can remain in the soil and continue to cause problems. Also, what I read said you should destroy the plant - in my mind, if you have it in a pot, there is no harm in trying to save it.

Carolyn

Carolyn.....Thanks so much for responding quickly. I have taken it out of the dirt and cleaned if off by spraying peroxide water on it. I guess it's obvious that I am new to growing heuchera. Once I saw all the beautiful colors and varieties, I'm determined to get them to grow for me. We've had so much rain that it couldn't dry out after I planted it.

I searched for how to deal with crown rot on heuchera's and I couldn't find anything that told exactly how to handle it. I guess I didn't search correctly.

I cut off about half and inch of the crown. I cut on it until I was past any of the rotted area. I have put it in a pot of new potting soil. I don't know how deep to plant it? How much do I leave out, since I cut all the crown out of it? There's still a lot of the main root.

Linda

Linda

Not sure if all of the crown is gone if it will come back, but you really have nothing to lose. I would have some of the center above the soil level.

One other thing - I have not dealt with crown rot myself with these plants, but this is something I would try as you never know..... good luck and let us know what happens. Oh, I was wondering - do you know what kind of heuchera you have?

It is Plum Pudding that I purchased this year. It was in a gallon size pot, so it was large. I'll let you know how it does.

I hope I posted this correctly. I wasn't sure whether to add on the welcome or start this topic.

Have a great afternoon and thanks!

I'm sorry, it's Melting Fire, not Plum Pudding.

Flimsy

I felt Melting Fire to be a hard one to get going. Once I did get it going though, it was really nice.

Hi Linda, and welcome to the Heuchera Cubit!

Sorry to hear about the crown rot. My Melting Fire is awfully slow starting too. Hopefully you'll be able to save it. If not, don't give up - you'll find lots of them that are tough little plants!

I've been babying it, but I think it's a loss. I recently took it out of the pot to cut off more rot. I may be crazy, but I soaked it in a clorox mix this time and then replanted in a pot, again. I have a few irises and I was told to do that to them when they would get tubular rot and it worked most of the time. I figure it probably can't hurt it at this point.

I use to garden a lot and then my job was taking too much time, so I let the garden go. Now I'm home all the time and back to gardening when I'm not spending time with my grandson's.

At the start of this spring, I tried to recover a 'Palace Purple' (only heuchera I had) from underneath a tree that blew over. It had been growing in the same place for about years. Surprised it was still living, but I took care of that....lol. I dug it up and replanted it and of course it died. I bought two more heuchera's, 'Melting Fire' and 'Plum Pudding' and I think it's over for them now too.

So, I bought two more, 'Stormy Seas' and 'Mocha'. This time I did not put them in the ground. I potted them in nice large pots and they are looking good (knock-on-wood).

In May we had a major flood here and now it's 102 degrees, not heat index, but actual 102.
I think the weather has had something to do with all my plants this year.

Pic of 'Mocha' below. Well, that's my plant stories....lol.

Linda

Mocha looks a tad dry, however, he seems to be putting out new growth. What type of shade/sun is he in? Also, what zone are you in? 102 is really up there in temp. I know we have been in the 90's most of the summer.

I'm in Zone 6b....the heat index today of 111 degrees broke all records here. On May 1st, we broke all records of rain/flooding, so it's been a very unusual year for us. I am in Middle TN.

It is on my deck in the shade, but it's a bright shady area. I've tried not to over water them since I had the rot problem.

Are you very dry now? I know that we are very, very dry. My heuchs and brunnera are wilty and the ground is so dry. I have lost more heuchs this year with the constant dryness. When you water mocha, do his leaves perk up a bit?

Everybody has crazy weather this year. We had nothing but rain until a week ago, and now the ground is so dry because of the high temps that its cracking. Flimsy, that is some brutal heat. Hopefully your new heurchs will fare well in the pots.

Update....I lost Plum Pudding and Melting Fire. I have purchased another Plum Pudding and so far, it's doing great.

Melting Fire was a hard one to get going for me.

I won't really know what I have lost until next spring. We were so very dry this past summer, it was all I could do to keep things alive.

It hasn't came a good rain here in over 6 weeks. We're extremely dry. We just recently dropped below the 90's. Last week we had 99 one day. I thought we would never cool down. Wonder what winter is going to bring....

And we're just the opposite. Had so much rain this summer it was ridiculous. But then it did get really hot with no rain for quite a while. It was a brutal summer for all my plants. Will just hope for the best in the Spring.