Sport or Disease on Frances Williams

[mpedersen]

Was walking around on my lunchbreak taking pictures of our lilies and just looking at things and noticed THIS. How I did not notice it sooner, i.e. 2 days ago when I was ripping up and redoing the bed, is beyond me. At any rate, there are more leaves coming up off this new eye, so I'll be paying special attention to it.

So tell me now, what do you think, is this a sport, or symptoms of disease? (and how do I deal with it in either case?)

[Chris_W]

That is really wild. If you are talking about the leaf with some sort of Pinocchio syndrome (just made that phrase up), I don't think it is either, likely just an oddity that probably won't repeat itself. If it does repeat that again next year then it would be worth looking into some more, but individual leaves can do some strange things from time to time. If you had a whole eye that did this all the time then it might be genetic (ie a sport), but you wouldn't know that for certain for a while.

The extra wide margin and thin center might be a bit of a sport, but again, you wouldn't know for certain until next year to see if it repeated. Sometimes fast growing new summer eyes can look quite different after they settle in another season. And having a dormant bud start to grow on Frances Williams this time of year is pretty odd in itself as Frances Williams rarely sprouts new eyes in late summer and typically only sprouts new eyes once a year.

Your plant is really interesting. Thanks for sharing.

[paul_in_mn]

Here's a similar leaf in 2009 (and a few more toward back) - came back normal in 2010.

[mpedersen]

K...glad to hear it's not "disease"...at least not from my first response. And yes, that Pinocchio leaf...totally caught my attention. The shift in margin vs. center ratio I love too. I would LOVE a whole plant with these leaves (and think many other folks would). Paul, I love that leaf too!

A lot of the hostas here in Duluth are growing. Pearl Lakes that I planted earlier this year are on their second bloom. Based on my reading, I did some weak fertilizing up until the recommended cutoff time (July 30th) so that could account for some of the growth??? Winter is gonna come crashing down on our garden pretty hard up here no doubt!

So I'm assuming that if the other leaves coming up (you can see them in the first shot) look the same, then there is hope it's genetic on that eye. Would it be wisest to immediately divide to separate out that eye and give it special care, or should I just leave it in the ground over winter?

BTW, apologies for the condition of the plant. Slugs slugs slugs everyone. Trying some of the "eco-friendly" baits on the market, and I pulled out ALL the weeds growing around this bed, put down newspaper and then manure/compost to smother them out a bit. More plant are coming this week, and I'll mulch probably by end of week. Still taming the weeds and lawn and such at this new house...being vacant for 2 years the outside has been a battle!

[jgh]

If it is the whole eye, I'd watch it but I wouldn't try to separate it now. You don't have a lot of growing time before the snow flies. Wait until spring and see if it comes back different - if so you can separate it then when it has more vigorous growth and time to develop an independent root system.

I think it just has a few scrambled genes in that leaf. Looks like the veins are fused in a way FW doesn't typically do, resulting in a distorted leaf with that odd tip. I'm predicting it will not reappear next year - except maybe as another rogue leaf later in the season.

You mention tearing the bed up - no chance you had another hosta in that space and left a fragment in the ground to come up near FW???

[mpedersen]

You mention tearing the bed up - no chance you had another hosta in that space and left a fragment in the ground to come up near FW???

Thanks for the opinions. I love 'em..keep em coming. It wasn't really a "bed", just space along the back of our house, facing north, where lawn stopped growing and weeds started. I had a few hostas back there...each has maybe 2-3 feet between them, so no doubt, this is coming up off the Frances Williams!

[renaldo75]

I like that extreme case of 'Pinochio syndrome'!!
I hope you see it again next year.

[thy]

Great name Chris

It is weird, but nice and funny

m pedersen..Danish roots ?

[mpedersen]

I totally didn't see that question or I would've responded. Up here the hostas have been without leaves for months, I only now thought about them as I try to start sowing seeds I harvested in the fall - shocked to see how much activity there's been since our season "ended".

Indeed, some Danish blood mixed in there, although as my grandmother told me, it's the Norwegian spelling..since that side was 100% Norwegian, I have to believe them

A belated happy new year to you all!

Matt

[mpedersen]

A sad update to report, this Pinnochio leaf never re-occurred on this Frances Williams. Man I wish it had.