I have this sinking feeling....

Pieter · Post by **Pieter** » Sep 02, 2007 2:27 am

...that I have just come to the realization I have at least 4 plants with nematodes.....

These are all recent arrivals and were just starting to show signs of settling in. Should I do the hot water treatment now with the roots not terribly well established yet (they're all potted though) or should I isolate them and wait until next season?

baja220 · Post by **baja220** » Sep 02, 2007 3:01 am

Since they're not settled in yet and heat treating may damage them you could treat them with disulfoton. I'd have to check to be sure on the disulfoton I just got last month, but I think you use it every 6 weeks.

digs57 · Post by **digs57** » Sep 02, 2007 8:17 am

Pieter, since they're potted AND small, you probably have a good chance of eradicating the problem. Remove all the streaked leaves with their petioles, then treat the plants with a proper nematicide, for example Vydate, if you can find it in small quantities at an agricultural supply store. (google nematicide for other possibilities).

We know that hostas don't mind water, so you could submerge the entire plant, foliage, pot & all, in a solution, and that'll likely get rid of the lot of them.

I'm no expert on this subject, so I'm not sure that a general-purpose pesticide like Sevin would do the trick, but it might.

If you're opposed to using chemicals, it's probably best to pitch the lot of them - better not run the chance of Vancouver's plentiful liquid sunshine splashing the bugs into other parts of your garden.

digs57 · Post by **digs57** » Sep 02, 2007 8:39 am

PS - there's a nematode discussion on the other hosta forum,
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load ... 12.html?59,
so you might wish to take a peek.

To cut to the chase, Bruce Banyai recommends soaking divisions in 5-10% cold bleach solution overnight - he calls it the "grey" pesticide.

Good luck!
Digs.

HostaDesigner · Post by **HostaDesigner** » Sep 02, 2007 9:43 am

Personally, if these are the ONLY plants you have that have nems, I would just burn them and cut my losses. I wouldn't even take the risk of spreading them. Throwing them away far outweighs the risks.

If they are ones you absolutely can't live without, then I would do the hot water treatment and cook them.

Just my opinion.

barbara · Post by **barbara** » Sep 02, 2007 9:52 am

Well, since you got those plants from me, I just went out to look at my Ray of Hope, and it doesn't show any signs. Its a new plant I got last yr., planted in a new bed, along with other new plants. As far as Tattoo goes, can't make a comment, cause the small piece I kept from that clump is now all dried up. Sorry

My sister borrowed my camera, so I can't even take a picture to show you. Up to you what you do with them.

Pieter · Post by **Pieter** » Sep 02, 2007 10:39 am

Barbara,

I know you would never knowingly ship plants that have disease issues, certainly do not blame you and you're not off my Christmas card list

. I only referred to them as recent arrivals and did not wish to start pointing fingers as that serves no purpose. I just wanted a couple of other opinions and confirmation of my fears. My concern is these plants and trying to save them and in the posting process make you aware that there might be an issue with some of your plants. If you say your 'Ray Of Hope' shows no signs I'm not overly surprised. The picture I show above is the only affected area, but I'm taking no chances and humbly suggest you do not either. I just took a closer look at the pictures I took of them the day after they arrived and upon close scrutiny I can see the first signs of the infestation on a Tattoo leaf. The ROH incidentally is putting out 2 new shoots and is about to start flowering.

The link that Digs posted contains a few postings from Bruce Banyai and he recommends using a bleach bath soaking, something he has been doing for years by the sounds of it. He recommends dividing the plant -I rather suspect the freshly cut crown will allow for much faster absorption of the bleach solution- and I will try this today, document it, post it on my website and update it next year for future reference.

Mikky · Post by **Mikky** » Sep 02, 2007 10:50 am

Hi Pieter,

I agree with Debbie. Since your hostas are not yet established, hot water treatment is too risky. Cut off the infested leaves as much as possible and treat them with disulfoton. Disulfoton is included in Bayer's Rose & Flower Care (2 in 1 Systemic) which you can find in a garden center at Wal-Mart, Home Depot, etc.

Nematodes have been spread so much these days, and yet you can't see them when you purchase the plants. Don't toss the infested plants especially if they are in pots. They can be controlled easily. Several years ago, I found nematodes damage on my mature Blue Angel. I had no idea where they came from. (I was struggling with infested plants, but not around this Blue Angel) Being a big clump, chances are surrounding plants would be infested soon. I had to do something right away. I cut off "all" the leaves (I was crying while I was doing this). Then I treated it with Bayer's Rose & Flower Care. I didn't see Blue Angel that season, but it came back the next spring as if nothing had happened. I keep checking its leaves, but so far, this Blue Angel looks nematodes free. (They keep showing up here and there all the time...it's a rat race)

Good luck.
Mikky

barbara · Post by **barbara** » Sep 02, 2007 10:59 am

Pieter, don't worry about pointing fingers...its not like being pointed out as being a murderer or spreading AIDS intentionally or whatever. All it is , is a plant with bugs

. Theres a lot worse in life. If I get around to it, I will dust with Disulfoton, which I've done in the past. But I'm not gonna go destroying anything either.

eastwood2007 · Post by **eastwood2007** » Sep 02, 2007 11:00 pm

I found I have nematodes in isolated areas in my gardens from plants I got last year before I knew any better. No offense to anyone, but if it were me I would pitch 'em. Fast!!!! I have read alot about trying to get rid of them once they are in the garden and I am not sure it is possible to entirely eradicate them. If I didn't have them there is no way I would take a chance...

Pieter · Post by **Pieter** » Sep 03, 2007 1:22 am

Well, I took the bull by the horn earlier today and uprooted all 4 infected plants. Rinsed them good and then divided them, followed by a 2 hour soaking in an 8% bleach solution. Once I started to take a close look at the leaves it appeared as if all but the newest ones showed signs to some degree, some worse than others and the Fire Island and Ray Of Hope were stripped of all there leaves except for the newest growth. I took ample pictures during the procedure and will use these to document the progress on my website as time goes on.

Here's keeping my fingers crossed

Pieter · Post by **Pieter** » Sep 03, 2007 12:10 pm

And the page on the website that details these trials and tribulations is now up at: NEMATODES

As time goes one additional pictures will flesh this out over the next year and more.

poppi · Post by **poppi** » Sep 04, 2007 10:48 am

I read an article that recommended pylon...so I bought some (not cheap) and applied it in early spring. The directions say apply a 2nd time, 10 days after initial treatment. I also used dysyston in spring as well. I'm not sure which is most effective but I think it's the pylon. I've used dysyston before with mixed results. So far this year the plants I've treated with pylon are nearly nematode free...a vast improvement over last year. You are supposed to limit treatments to twice since they don't want the nems to develop an immunity. I'll keep you posted on the progress.

Pieter · Post by **Pieter** » Sep 17, 2007 7:36 pm

This weekend I took a somewhat drastic step. I noticed yet one more with signs of nematodes and figured that's it, they all were in the same bucket of water for 5 or 6 hours and if half of them show signs now, why wait until the others do next year before you deal with those.

So, all of them were uprooted, roots were thoroughly rinsed, all the leaves were cut off, all were subjected to the bleach bath detailed above and repotted. Yes, I know it's kinda late in the season to do something this drastic perhaps, but I figured what the hey, if I throw them out we're done with them for good but that also leaves me without, so I had nothing more to loose by trying this. I guess I should have done them all at the same time two weeks ago, better late then never though.

The ones that were done 2 weeks ago are showing signs of new growth at this point, which is encouraging. I'll give an update in the spring on how these 8 are coming back up and what sort of damage they suffered as a result of this trauma, with a further update late summer as to whether or not there are any signs of the nematodes recurring. Needless to say these plants will be kept potted up and isolated so they cannot possibly spread anything to the rest of my collection.