I bought a ton of daylilies before I learned about rust. I then did research on every single plant and threw out the ones that were susceptible to rust in the fall last year and in spring this year, I continued to get rid of any and every daylily that could cause me a problem. In the early fall of this year I noticed that almost every single daylily had rust!! I threw out at least a hundred daylilies to make sure this did not happen!! I knew that the weather conditions in my area would become a breeding ground for rust. All my daylilies are rust resistant yet they still have it!!
You can look in the data base for rust resistance for most daylilies also certain nurseries like Maryott's will point out the ones with good or bad resistance but I think most say nothing and I did not know why. Anyway I learned a valuable lesson, just buy what you like and cross these bridges when you get to them because you will not be able to enjoy them otherwise. The nurseries have a spraying program so I do not know how much residue would be on the daylilies when you get them if any. I know for sure that they wash the mess out of them because you can hardly tell they were ever in dirt. LOL.
I have read different articles and one said just cut off the foliage and another said, 'never cut off the foliage'. Not cutting the foliage is a good option if you have a spray program but what about the rest of us?? Most foliage dyes in the winter anyway so maybe a good time to use this to your advantage and whack it off and do a good clean-up because the spores will hide and spread from plant to plant. I live in zone 8 and have mostly evergreen daylilies and I can tell you most are laying on the ground and the foliage is very sick looking where it has been frozen and thawed several times. Is this foliage going to heal itself in spring or grow new foliage from inside the damaged stuff. Yeah, it grows new foliage also just like the dormants.
I did purchase a systematic product that is in a granular form and I will sprinkle around in the spring. I am not sure about using the spray that I bought I wanted to try other more organic things first. I found a good article in 'Fine Gardening' where a lady had good results with 'Aspirin Spray'. People do add an aspirin to their water jug for different things like boosting the immune system in plants, and extending the life of cut flowers. But if you add more aspirin it will help the plants immune system to rust. You will have to read it for your self I think you will like it.
Scroll down and you will see it. Here is the link.
http://www.finegardening.com/h...
http://www.finegardening.com/h...
