I feel your pain, I am in the same boat. I don't have any double deckers, but I pulled about 1/2 my regular echinecea last year, and now this year 2 of the biggest plants look funky. I guess I will wait until they bloom to be sure. But at this rate I won't have any coneflowers at all. I have yet found a substitute I like as well.

Jenny p

Have you had your Echinacea tested to be absolutely sure that it is Aster Yellows? If not, it could be that you have Eriophyid mites. They cause similar damage to Aster Yellows. I used to have a wonderful collection of Echinaceas, old varieties and new. I thought I had Aster Yellows and was devastated, I destroyed all of my plants. I learned shortly thereafter about Eriophyid mites and wanted to kick myself for being so quick to destroy my precious plants- an expensive lesson learned. Have them tested for the virus, it costs about $20. If you learn that you do have the mite, destroy any affected parts of the plant and use a preventative miticide. Here is a link to view how similar the damage from the mite is to Aster Yellows... http://urbanext.illinois.edu/focus/per_echinacea.html

Thanks bludane! I am glad it was raining hard yesterday or I would have yanked them out already.

Who does the test for Aster Yellows? A few years ago when I had this issue I took the flowers to the local extension and mentioned Aster Yellows and showed them the flowers and a few printouts. To tell you the truth, I am not really sure they were experts on the matter. :c( They seemed to just compare the photo with my flower and said it was it. I wish they mentioned some test. I will call them Monday and ask if they do it.

I looked through my loop for the mites, but it is only 20X and one site I looked at said you can see them with 30X, but with no detail. One needs a microscope with 400x to see detail. I guess I will bring a plant with me to see if they have a powerful microscope.

The upper left photo of the site you linked to looks exactly like mine looks right now, though the pedals on mine are normal looking. A full flower with one spot in the seed area that has the green area of leaves. This is the way it was years ago, but by the end of the summer I stopped getting flowers at all and got clumps of green.

A few other plants around the garden has one or two funny looking flowers buds at the moment. Flowers are not mature enough for seeds yet, but the immature seed area is longer and thinner than one would expect.

Strange thing about my plants, both times, is that there is no leaf damage that one would expect for a plant with these issues. A few curly leaves but no yellowing or light green area in the leaves as would be with the Aster Yellows, nor the galls and blisters or leaf bronzing that happens with the mites.

Thanks again though for bringing this up. I am off to find out the truth!

Ken

Okay... I remembered we had an antique microscope. I took it out and looked at the distorted leaves from the seed area and I looked at a few leaves from around the plants. Nothing that looks like mites or anything other than plant material. :c( I am not sure if the microscope is 135x or 300x. There was a sticker on the barrel of the microscope that I still have and it states 135 X. The area that it came off of states 300 X. I assume it is 135. Not enough to see detail, but it should be enough to see them.

I guess I will still check a few more leaves and such, but I would of assumed that the leaf bunch from the seed pod would tell the story.

Ken

I send my problem plants to Michigan State's plant pathology lab. I don't believe that you will find the mites on the foliage very often. They like to live deep inside the cone making it very hard to kill them with a pesticide. Try taking one of your cones that is showing distortion and cut it open, then look through your microscope. I have found them by doing that very thing. I do think it's important to rule out the virus to be absolutely sure.

Thanks again bludane,

I will call the local extension first thing in the morning and see if they test or send out for testing.

I did some more looking on the internet and I think I may have seen one mite on a leaf of the coneflower. I saw a shape very similar to the mite on one of the leaves found on this site. When I saw it under the microscope I looked at it for a long time and dismissed it.

http://www.mobot.org/GARDENINGHELP/PLANTFINDER/IPM.asp?code=277&group=48&level=s

or more specifically

http://www.mobot.org/gardeninghelp/images/Pests/Pest1245.jpg

I had mine crushed between two pieces of glass, but it was the same shape and color!

You know... different sites are suggesting different methods of treatment. Some sites state that once damage is noticed it too late and that is very hard to treat. They suggest to dig out the plant, but they also suggest to dig out plants within one foot of the infected plant as they say those too might be infected. Then there are sites that say to just remove the affected part and do nothing. Humm.... They do say that the Eriophyid mites are the only mites to transmit viruses.

HELP! This season is starting to become very discouraging. First I think my 5 Golden Shower Climbing roses have the dreaded Rose Rosette and now my coneflowers have Aster Yellows!?! We won't even talk about the grounghog!!!

My Double Decker is also looking strange! But not as odd as some of the photos I have seen. The top has some bright green little petals curling upward. So I'm not sure if it has Asters Yellows or just slow developing. A coneflower next to it had odd looking leaves and underdeveloped blooms,so I pulled it up.
I have 5 coneflowers in this same area. Do I need to pull them all up now? If I pull them up in the fall can I replant coneflowers in this same spot next spring. The only other plants in this small area are daylillies , midnight sage salvia and blue star creeper.

Are you sure it is aster yellows? A few years ago I pulled all my coneflowers out as the flowers looked like all the photos aster yellows. Bludane replied to this thread that I posted when I saw the funny flowers again and said it MIGHT be "Eriophyid mites." If you look at the first post of bludane's in this thread there is a link that shows how similar the damage is between Yellows and Eriophyid mites. The treatment is different according to most sites. Yellows you pull out and the mites you just cut off the funny flowers, though a site or two state to pull the plants too. Try to find out which you do have. What did the leaves look like on the plant you pulled?

I cut the few flowers that were funny and now I have a hundred healthy looking flowers. I still have to have the plants officially tested for yellows, but I have my doubts it is for me.

Hope this helps!

Can any of the experts weigh in on if Aster Yellows can present on Echinacea Purpurea with only the disformed flower symptoms and not the leaf yellowing/uprighting that is described in the literature?

Do you people spray your Ech's? I heard echimaniac mention spraying with Doncinol or something like that?

Thanks for the input! Since this bed is at least 25ft. from another bed I think I will just cut of weird blooms and see what happens.

You mentioned in your first post that your leaves looked weird. Did they have bumps? This too could be a sign of the Eriophyid mites. My leaves were just fine on my plants. Try to figure this out quickly as the virus, if aster yellows,can spread from insects.

Daconcil is only sprayed for fungal infections. If it rains too much, this helps my plants.

I have seen Aster Yellows that didn't cause the yellowing of the leaves before at a friend's house.

Anyone who questions if their plants have Aster Yellows should post some photos so we can see the damage. I had one or two plants with mite damage. All I did was removed that bloom and discard it. None of the other blooms looked bad and so far no more trouble.

"Double Decker" blooms can look strange. I've seen them where just a petal would come out of the cone. This is just the way these plants look. They don't look like the marketing photos to me at all.