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Spring Sickness Maybe Help Please!

14 years ago

I think a few of my daylilies that I just planted last spring have that "Spring Sickness" disease! At first I thought it was slugs, so I put down Sluggo, but they don't seem to be doing any better yet. They were just starting to grow out enough to see some leaves and wham! Most of the leaves are curling some, have brown tips, ragged edges, and break off with only a slight bending. How do I tell this disease from just the usual problems of thawing and freezing of the ground? Do I wait it out and see what happens? Should I be pulling them out if they do have it? Or will they recover? I just bought them last year from Marietta Gardens. All my DL's from Oakes are doing great, (the Oakes ones are all in another bed though).

Any help would be appreaciated! I don't want to lose them when I just got them going!

The daylilies in question are: Ocean Drive Sunset, Cosmic Courier, and Flying Tigers all from Marietta.

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Comments (7)

tepelus
14 years ago
In my experience, the ones that show this seem to just grow out of it once the weather gets more consistently warmer. As of now, highs in the sixties/fifties and lows in the thirties, and I'm sure you're experiencing the same weather as I am, since you're from NE Ohio, not too far from me. Just give them some time, but perhaps someone else a bit more knowledgeable about this will chime in. Again, it's just my experience to wait for warmer days.

Karen
pamghatten
14 years ago
I agree with Karen,

Mine just grow out of it. I remember something about a tea you could put over the daylilies in the fall to try to make it appear less, but haven't looked into it.

I'm not one who wants to use chemicals anyway, so I just ignore it.

Pam
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nancykvb
14 years ago
I think it has to do with the warm spring days and the early morning frosts. Some of my daylilies aren't bothered by it,others look really bad.
They do seem to grow out of it as the weather stablizes.
Every year I try to cover stuff up when it frosts, but this year I'm letting nature run it's course. You have to be tough or you're outta here!

Nancy
Julia WV (6b)
14 years ago
You may find the article from AHS interesting to read and explains about spring sickness. There is a secondary article if you click on the link within the article. Great resource.
Susan Bergeron is a wealth of information.

Here is a link that might be useful: Spring Sickness
pamghatten
14 years ago
Nancy, that's what I always thought too, and a friend convinced me that was not correct ... from the AHS website:

The cause has not yet been proven but the damage appears to be initiated before spring growth emerges above the ground. There is no evidence to support the popular idea that the initial cause is fluctuating temperatures after new growth has emerged in the spring.
sann777
14 years ago
I have a few that look like that- twisted I think they will
come on out when weather gets more consistant..
kentstar
Original Author
14 years ago
Let's hope :) I wonder if a helping of dilute alfalfa tea would help? Maybe not quite yet but in a couple weeks when the weather is a little steadier warm?

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