Success against Southern Blight

[jobranch]

I have used Bayer Advanced All-In-One Rose and Flower Care to combat what I think is Southern Blight on two of my hostas and these hostas have stopped the deteriation associated with SB. So far, this is a very economical and successful defense for this problem. The label says that it is effective for up to six weeks, so I guess I have to re-apply.

http://www.bayeradvanced.com/product/Al ... ower-Care/

[Ginger]

That is good news since southern blight is such a problem in the "south" I have been lucky this year, and have had no problems, but I also quit watering as much when it got really hot and high humidity. I let the pots soil get pretty dry and then watered really well. My hosta have not dropped leaves, or drooped, so I know they were getting plenty of water to the roots, without the moisture retaining all around the plant itself.
Good luck, I am glad you found something that works well

Ginger

[FreakyCola]

I love Bayer products! About 5 years ago I sprinkled the Rose & Flower Care granules around my plants that were being devoured by Japanese beetles & within a few days I think they were gone! It must make the plants taste bad to them since it's sistemic--probly spelled wrong but it means it's drawn up into the whole plant thru the roots. I didn't use the product again and they stayed away from my garden for 3 years & finally last year I saw one beetle--just one the whole summer! This year I've seen more but they stayed on a wild grape that I don't care about. I need to sprinkle more granules "when I get around to it!"

Job, you probably missed my moaning about one bed where all my hostas died in a straight line! I finally figured out it was Southern Stem Blight last year & found the Bayer Disease Control. This year for the first time in about 3 years every hosta came up fine! I had dug all the dirt out of there 2-3 times each year over a 2 year period and still lost hostas. Of course, what I replanted there were duplicates and nothing I'd worry about losing, so if I replanted with good stuff, I suppose I'd lose them! No, I don't think so. I think I really got the SSB!

I also had problems with another bed that had damage from a leaky roof running over on it and this went on for probably 5 years & I sprayed it at the same time as the other bed, not even thinking about disease problems there and it's fine & looking great this year. Not one hosta died in that bed this year.

And my last experience with Bayer is the Tree & Shrub Insect control. I have a 100' tulip tree that's been infected with aphids for years. Aphids secrete a sticky substance that falls on my car & is really icky! Then it develops a black sooty mold. Last year it got all over the hostas in several beds instead of on just a few like it usually did. Well, there's no way to spray that tall a tree, so when I found this stuff that you just mix with water & pour around the roots, I was sold! I was fed up with those aphids making all my babies look so bad! You would have thought I'd developed a new black hosta if you'd come to my house last summer!

I washed my hostas after pouring the Bayer on the tree roots and didn't have any more problems. This spring when the problem usually starts nothing happened! About a month later I saw a few drops of sap on my car but it only lasted a day or so. That stuff is supposed to be applied once a year so I'll repeat it this fall. I really love that company!

[baja220]

Are you guys watering or spraying with the Bayer Disease Control? I've spayed it a couple times but not seeing good results. The instruction on the bottle sayes to spray.

[jobranch]

The instructions I read said to pour it from a watering thing (can't think of what it is called, watering can - the thing you water flowers with). I have not sprayed it. The last application, I tried to get it on the ground around the hosta more than on the hosta.

[vawildflower]

This has been on going in my garden for a few years. If it isnt blight killing plants, I have aphids infecting a few plants that I am having trouble getting rid of. I would like to know how you are applying this to get the results you are. Thanks for any info you give.

wild

[Chris_W]

I had one group of plants that got Southern blight a couple times a summer since moving here. I bought these plants all from the same grower and noticed that they were covered with mud when they arrived. I shook off that mud into the box and then planted them... What a mistake that was! That mud was harboring the southern blight fungus Nothing else has ever had it. I never sold these plants because of this problem.

Each year when the blight would strike I would scoop out the surface soil, remove all the spores and slime, carefully throw the stems and everything else in the trash. Then I would pour whatever fungicide I had on hand over the plants, usually Daconil, but the southern blight would return - usually later that summer and again the following year (this started in 2004).

Last year Southern blight showed up in those plants again around late July. Again I cleaned up all the crap, but this time I sprayed the entire area with the Bayer all in one flower care. I mixed it according to the sprayer directions in a 4 gallon backpack sprayer, but then saturated the stems, crowns, and soil around these plants. Southern Blight did not return last year. This spring I mixed up another batch and again saturated the crowns, stems, and soil in this area. I haven't seen any Southern Blight return this summer at all!

At this point I plan to spray at least once a year. It works well on aphids and seems to help against mites too since the All In One contains Merit insecticide also.

[playinmud]

The Bayer product sounds great. Is it toxic to people and pets? Just wondering if I'm going to contaminate my well and kill my cat if I use it.