Seedfork said:I am in zone 8B and it took me a while to realize just how big a problem rust is in our zone. I started off buying the highest rated rust resistant plants I could find, based on the limited information I could find on rust resistance. I have found in my area even the highest rated rust resistant plants often have rust, just not to the extent the more susceptible plants show it. You will learn that the weather and time of year have a lot to do with how prevalent rust is in your garden. Early spring and fall are the worst times for rust for zone 8B. Once the temperature raises in the summer rust seems to pretty much reduce the degree it is apparent in my garden.
But, what course of action should you take now? There are several options, cut back the foliage to just above the crown, spray with chemicals to block the rust, or a combination of the two, and lastly do nothing. You should isolate the new plants until you get the rust under control, then you can space them out among the other plants.
Seedfork said:Jason,
As much as I have read, as many people as I have listened to, as many different things I have tried, I have not found (in my experience) s specific chemical I would actually recommend. Most all of the treatments have worked to some degree, but nothing I have used has worked as good as I would like. I will say tops on my list to try is Azoxy 2SC Select Fungicide, active Ingredient: Azoxystrobin 22.9%.
The reason I have not tried a lot of the more effective (according to what I read) products has been the expense. Azoxy 2SC Select Fungicide is $124.99 a pint, the cheapest I have found it (if anyone has found it cheaper please let us know). Now this amount even in a pint size is more than I would use personally in years, and that is the problem. I feel after just a couple of years the product would began to lose it's strength. If it would stay effective for five or more years it would be worth it to me.
I have had decent results from the "contact" products, but not so much success with the systemic products. I say that because I had to spray more on a 7 to 10 day spray schedule with them, when I wanted to be more on a 15 day or more spray schedule.
Seedfork said:JasonT,
Thanks, so much.
One teaspoon per 2.5 gals.! That is great, guess I won't need a gal.
Now I would love to find that info for Azoxystrobin!