More rust today, ugh... I'm yanking one of my older (unbloomed) volunteer seedlings (I am waiting for proof-positive pustules to appear on a couple of others), and will probably get rid of at least two of the newer cultivars, at a minimum. (I should be getting rid of at least five... but I haven't seen bloom on two of these, and I like the third. )

I'm also probably going to have to cut the foliage on 'Polly Wolly Doodle' (which first got rust last year), and maybe also on the (cheek-by-jowl and probably will catch it) 'Hip to Be Square'. I hate to cut H2BS this close to bloom season, though - I make a LOT of crosses on that plant. (Yes, it does have resistance...)

One of my (older, unbloomed) seedlings has sketchy looking foliage, but as a part of that, there are some spotty (paler foliage) areas with a dark green center. Someone refresh my memory, because my brain is trying to tell me that indicates rust resistance... That can't possibly be right, can it?

Polymerous said:

One of my (older, unbloomed) seedlings has sketchy looking foliage, but as a part of that, there are some spotty (paler foliage) areas with a dark green center. Someone refresh my memory, because my brain is trying to tell me that indicates rust resistance... That can't possibly be right, can it?

When the leaf is dying the areas around the pustules can stay green, is that what you're seeing, as in the "green islands" pictures (scroll down the page in the link):

http://web.ncf.ca/ah748/FAQ.ht...

I think there is some debate about what causes this, one theory is that the fungus is able to keep the area it is feeding from inside the leaf alive so as to survive longer. I forget what the alternate theory was now but I'm pretty sure it wasn't resistance.

Where you see brown areas around a pustule instead of green, that is believed to be an indication of resistance, maybe that's what you're thinking of? Some daylilies, like 'Chicago Apache' in my tests (and I think others) just gets brown spots without even any pustules erupting in the middle. Where you get minimal brown around the pustules then that would indicate more susceptibility.

I ordered plants last year that were unknowingly infected with rust. It broke out in full force in several spots of my garden before I realized what it was.

I read many articles about treating it, but finally decided to just cut everything that was affected. I dug up the rusty plants (in my naivety, I did not quarantine them before planting into the regular bed area) that started it, and put them in pots away from all other plants. Before potting, I carefully stripped each leaf away from the crown, then cut the rest of the nub right at the crown. I cut these off a second time several weeks later when they exhibited rust again, but not as severe of a cut.

For my older, established plants, I just took shears and cut them off down to the ground. I only cut the ones that were affected, so the garden looked quite weird and awful. Since it was the fall of the year, this was enough to stop it from spreading before it got out of hand.

I have been on the lookout for it this year, and thankfully it hasn't shown up.

Regina, do you expect those plants to bloom that have been cut down multiple times? I threw out plants in 2003 when I first got rust. Now .... I spray when I want and if that doesn't do it, I'll remove plants.

I've heard of cutting plants for years, but why have them if they give you that much grief.

Arlene,
When the rust broke out, it was already August and for the most part, past blooming time (the plants arrived here in late July). So the first cut on them was in August, as well as the cuts I made on my established clumps. I considered it a pre-fall cleanup.

At the point I cut the newer arrivals the second time, it was late fall (October) so I figured I didn't have much to lose with winter right around the corner. I didn't recut every single plant a second time, only 3 of them that were still much affected by rust.

They are all coming up great this spring, and I don't think it had an ill effect. I will update as it gets warmer to let you know if their bloom season was affected.

Believe me, I am prepared this year should it show up again. I had just been very diligent up to that one order about not ordering from rust prone areas...my buying had been limited to local farms where there is no rust and northern buyers. This order came from CA and I was just not expecting it.

I agree that plants shouldn't give me grief, they should make me smile...if they continue to be rust buckets, they will be finding a new home in the compost pile!

Thanks for the link, Sue.

My sketchy looking foliage seedling doesn't have rust pustules, but I'm not sure what is going on with it. I did notice a large snail in there with the seedlings (which got dispatched)... maybe what I am seeing (on that one) is some sort of slug/snail damage (short of shredding the leaf)....

Elsewhere in the garden... yeah, rust pustules on some plants. I'll have to be on the lookout for those brown spot areas...

More and more plants showing rust, don't know how long I can keep pulling leaves.

I discovered a few more (relatively new, have not yet seen maiden bloom) rusty plants yesterday....

On the other hand, I noticed that 'Coming Up Roses', which has spent two winters in a pot adjacent to a rusty 'Coyote Moon', still does not have rust. Hmm... can it be, that it has resistance?



'Coming Up Roses' is a diploid, and thus far other diploids here seem to have escaped the rust. (I don't have many diploids, but just saying...) It seems to me that I recalled reading somewhere, someone's opinion that the diploids were overall better at rust resistance than the tets. (Yes, I know there are diploids that are susceptible, such as Siloam Ralph Henry and Siloam David Kirchhoff.) Either I have been very lucky in my choice of diploid cultivars here, or maybe there is something to that...

This is a photo of the NOID I cut down to about an inch of the ground because of rust back on April 12th. I just noticed it this morning and could not believe how much it had already grown. So far no rust.
I have not sprayed it yet with anything. I did spray some of the more heavily rusted plants yesterday, but that was mostly because I was noticing some slugs and snail in the garden. So I made a combination of dish detergent for the rust and ammonia for the slugs and snails.

I need to be cutting back some plants. The problem is that I have scapes coming up (and some things are already in bloom).

Someone over on the irises forum mentioned Serenade as an organic spray, which she uses for daylily rust. (It is a bacteria, not a chemical spray.) I might try that instead of the dishwashing detergent (which keeps clogging my hand sprayer).

I found two pustules on a seedling about 2 weeks ago. I quickly cut the leaves and began a spray program. So far no more rust found. I don't usually spray for rust because I want to know what plants get it but I'm shipping plants this year so I don't want to take the chance of sending rust on to another garden. I'm also dipping the plants I'm shipping in fungicide as an added layer of protection. None have shown any rust but I want to do everything I can.

Pam and Becky, I'm sorry you're having such a hard time. It makes me a teeny bit less jealous that you can go from seed to bloom in 9 months.

There are times that I wish that we lived someplace where rust would winter kill.... But then that would wipe out any possibility of hiking or long dog walks all year round, which means that I would be even heavier than I am now!

My big concern is not for any neighbors (almost nobody around here grows daylilies, and there are hills and a lot of distance between my garden and the nearest other daylilies here), or for my own garden (which now has mostly resistant (to one degree or another) cultivars), but the big What If. By which I mean, What If, by some miracle, I get some beautiful tet polymerous (or other desirable) daylily which simply has to be introduced to the daylily world? With some level of rust present in the garden, how can one sell (even if I were to jump through the hoops and rigamarole and whatnot to get the proper business license and nursery certificates and all of that)? It's not like spraying is going to KILL any rust here... And I do not want to use chemical sprays, period (though I use cutting and detergent sprays, and am going to try Serenade).

(And for that matter, IS it even legal to sell plants without a nursery license, and can you get one without "them" (TPTB) mandating a regular routine of chemical spraying? )

I hate rust with a passion. I truly, truly, do. Not only is it a blight on our gardens, it's a blight on my hybridizing dreams.

Hello everyone,

I am brand new at daylily and just wonder about rust, is it the worst thing that can happened to daylilies ? When you said sprayed it, if not dish soap what do you recommend using (I don't have rust, but would like to prepare just in case, since it's been raining like crazy here). If not treated what worst can happens to daylily infected ? Will it kill it...
What about insect ? Is thrips and aphids are the worst ? I notice that some stuff on the leaves, firstI thought it was just dirts or pollen fell into my daililies leaves (Kwanzo has been growing pretty big leaves) and today I saw a some kind of white stuff and my Lilies look damaged from bugs too, so I sprayed them with Insect Killer Spray..
What should I do to avoid/treat this problem (bugs)...
Thank you so much !

I am hoping that I read that wrong, did you mean you sprayed the bugs with Insect Killer Spray or the daylilies themselves. I certainly hope not the daylilies, if you did I would think there would be a good chance you really did them great harm and could even possibly kill them. I don't know for sure because I have never actually heard of anyone actually spraying their daylilies with bug spray!

I sprayed the leaves with insectidal soap, I didn't know that would be bad for them...

Insecticidal soap is ok, "Insect Killer Spray" sounded more like an aerosol bug spray!

pardon my English...it is actually Garden Safe houseplant & insect killer....
what do you think the bugs (what is it) that look likes dirts on the daylilies leaves Larry ?

Any way to get a photo?

This year I am finding many more issues with thrips, aphids (briefly this Spring), and leaf-streak than rust. I have seen rust on some of my plants, but overall .... the problems with the plants seems to be pests and leaf-streak. Rust has not become a major problem in my garden this Spring at all. That's good news. Bad news is everything else is attacking many of my daylilies.