Stagonospora infection - collected threads

[Carolyn Walker]

Do you grow miniature Hostas also?

Stag infections can be simply paler leaves with kinks usually to one side. The kink may turn reddish or the leaf tips turn red

Is this a symptom? - flowers can abort and turn greyish in the spathe.

Yes, I am growing more and more miniature hostas as that is the way that I think hostas are going.  My customers simply do not have the room in their gardens for the really large hostas.  I am particularly like the "Mouse Ears Series" but have many varieties.  Carolyn

[mark smyth]

I have all the Mouse/Mouses. Over here in N Iireland we a Hosta Specialist. I try not to visit too often

[annew]

With regards to stripping off the infected outer layers of bulbs, my stocks had this forced upon them last year. The damage by the hard winter, coupled with the freeze-thaw on uncovered baskets (only got the covers on the frames this winter) meant that most of the bulbs' outer scales had died and looked black and soggy when lifted dormant in the summer. Rubbing off the soggy layers under running water left lovely shiny white bulbs in most cases. But I did dose them with trichoderma before planting, and put the granules in the compost as well. There is little sign of stag on them so far, even the ones in the hospital bed which were isolated because they showed symptoms the previous year. I'm crossing my fingers as I type this.
see www.srgc.org.uk/forum/index.php?topic=6697.0

[Carolyn Walker]

I have all the Mouse/Mouses. Over here in N Iireland we a Hosta Specialist. I try not to visit too often

If you like miniature hosta you might be interested in this: http://carolynsshadegardens.com/2011/05/09/miniature-small-hostas/.  It is my most popular blog post ever.  Now back to snowdrops....  Carolyn

[Maggi Young]

Carolyn, thank you:  I have thoroughly enjoyed reading that Hosta blog.... I have posted the link in the Miniature Hosta thread so the hosta lovers cannot miss it. 

[JohnLonsdale]

I was recently researching some broad spectrum fungicides and came across one that includes protective and curative action against Stagonospora, at least the species that infect wheat and barley.  Prosaro is a combination of tebuconazole and prothioconazole - http://www.bayercropscience.us/products/fungicides/prosaro/?WT.srch=1&WT.mc_id=g2004404a13. The individual active ingredients will also be active, as will other members of the generic azole class, to varying degrees.  There are many brands other than Prosaro that contain either of these active ingredients, especially tebuconazole, and they are unrestricted chemicals as far as use in Pennsylvania goes.

Best,

John

[kentish_lass]

Yesterday I was attempting to take photographs when I noticed some tell-tale signs of stag on a few sunken lattice pots.  Today I lifted the pots and about 10 other pots in the vicinity.  The trouble is that this raised bed I made is about 100ft plus long interplanted with Ferns, Hellebores and Cyclamen.  Some snowdrops are in lattice pots and others planted directly into the ground.

I have inspected one potful of David Shackleton and it did indeed have stag.  I have peeled back the bulbs dramatically and they are now soaking in fungicide.  Tomorrow I will check the others.  This is the bed where I plant all my special snowdrops so its a bit of a nightmare.

I have scooped out at least a wheelbarrow of soil from the area but feel a bit out of my depth on what I should do?

I am cleaning all the tools with Jeyes Fluid, using disposable gloves, washing my clothes and keeping the victims in a greenhouse where there are no snowdrops.  I do not want to drench the soil with Carbendazim as I do not have enough and it kills the worms.

Is anyone having any luck with Trichoderma with stag?  I also found this one which could be mixed with potting soil - any views on this one?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/381160755229

How much soil should I take out of the bed?  How fast does stag spread in the soil?

Any help and advice most gratefully accepted - thank you.

[Alan_b]

I had stag. on some plants in a raised bed in 2009 which caused me to move all snowdrops in that bed into pots with fresh potting compost.  I subsequently treated the bed and the compost in the pots with Trichoderma but did not remove any soil from the bed.  I began repopulating the bed with snowdrops in 2013, adding more in 2014.  So far the stag. has not recurred.  But a number of the bulbs I had moved into pots did not ultimately survive.  Quite a few seedlings arose in the bed whilst it was nominally empty.  I moved these to pots and they remained healthy.

The only stag. I have had since is on a bulb I got last year (and only obvious this year).  Since I kept the bulb in a pot and placed the pot in 'quarantine', I'm hopeful it will not spread.   

[kentish_lass]

Thanks for your comments Alan.  It is good to hear that you managed to salvage some of your bulbs from the epidemic.  I will  not plant snowdrops back in that spot but will refresh the soil and plant several Ferns or Hellebores.

I have been wondering what happens to the Trichoderma and/or Mycorrhizal fungi when the snowdrops shed their roots?  Does the Trichoderma continue to live in the soil or does it die?

Does anyone know what temperature it needs to be for the Trichoderma to become active?

[Alan_b]

The other thing I should have mentioned is that I repot anything that arrives in a pot towards the end of the season or whilst dormant.  It then has to pass the following year in a pot and before the bulbs go in the ground.  I clean off any dead outer casing and the bulbs must look pristine white to qualify for the garden.

The one that has stag. this year looked in poor shape when I repotted it last year so went straight into my sickbay area.

   

[Alan_b]

And don't forget the Trichoderma topic here: http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=6697.0

[annew]

Definitely worth trying trichoderma, but it needs about 10C before it can survive, and will die if it dries out. You'll need to apply it later on when the soil temp is higher, and reapply each year. I will be ordering some this spring if you want to share.

[ChrisD]

Oh dear Jennie, you really have had a run of terrible luck in the past few years. I hope you manage to salvage most of your specials. As I am sure you know but the link was to mychorriza and not Trichoderma. They are very different and are probably best not mixed, it is the Trichoderma that you want.

Fingers crossed for you.

Chris

[mark smyth]

stag is on some new bulbs purchased in England last week. Bulbs but not the leaves

[kentish_lass]

I have spent most of today washing, peeling back bulbs and fungiciding.  I don't like peeling the bulb layers back when they are soft like they are at the moment - they seem too vulnerable.

Tomorrow they will be potted and quarantined in the greenhouse for now until I can think of somewhere to put them??!  I will spray the foliage with fungicide too and then give weak feeds until they die down.

Some cultivars in the area seemed unaffected by the stag but many were munched away to the core by presumably swift moth larvae - they are a mess.  But, so far no signs of Narcissus Fly damage.  This new bed looks so lovely above ground and all my 'single' bulbs were finally making clumps......but below the surface is another story 

Thanks for your comments and assistance everyone and I am sure many people are learning from this too.