Darned Spring Sickness!

17 years ago

Hi there, I know that most of you have daylilies blooming already and so they've grown out of spring sickness already.

Do most of you get it?

IT's just so ugly!! Last year about 2/3 of my Dl's were affected. this year- not quite as many....but it's really discouraging.

Have 'they' figured out what causes spring sickness yet? I'm thinking it must be a mite or some kind of bug.

When your gardens are composed of about 1/2 the plants being DL's and they look like the neighbours great dane has trampled them and then the mice came along and chewed em up. It doesn't look so hot.

Who else has this problem?

Ange

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Comments (10)

juliet11
17 years ago
I've had some spring sickness this year (seems like more than usual) and it is really ugly. They're growing out of it now, but some of the fans still don't look that great. A couple of my daylilies also have bad slug damage. And then there's leaf streak and aphids and thrips and rust (which I luckily haven't gotten yet although I have had all the rest.) It is discouraging!

Have you seen this website about spring sickness?

Juliet

Here is a link that might be useful: Spring Sickness
laurelin
17 years ago
I've seen more spring sickness on my daylilies this year than in previous years. I wish a cause could be isolated so I could treat them for it. I always thought it was weather-related.

Laurel
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In my defense, I did leave plants with eggs and cats there. At least one of the women there knew what they were, so I knew they wouldn't be moidered ;) Shannon00: It's called Bowood Farms, and it's off of Olive close to where it intersects with Washington. Really nice, clean, and attractive place. All of their plants look great, especially impressive at this time of year. They are a bit pricey on some things, but I was fine with $2.95 for 4" pots of good looking stock. I have paid that for the little 2" pots in the past. (some of the parsley was a bit leggy, but the rest was ok, and as mentioned, the fennel was *really* nice.) I am wondering if all of my current chrysalids and eggs/cats will go into diapause. It seems early for them to do that, but I was certain some would eclose last week, and they're still sittin' tight. Here is a link that might be useful: Bowood Farms
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I have lost one seedling this year from Spring Sickness, but it was a tiny fan and not too strong anyway--may have been the one tet seedling I've ever grown. Some seedlings looked terrible last year,but snapped right out of it this Spring. I don't grow daylilies to sell and they are all either old historicals or my own seed grown plants so I never bother to cull, unless a plant gets too invasive somewhere, so I have seen plants that looked sad in their first years blossom out like a teenager when they are ten . One pale pinkish single fan started in 1999 now has over forty fans and I can't count the scapes, it's developed the habit of popping up two scapes from a fan and it's now bright red and been in bloom a week. I'm not at all sure what causes Spring Sickness---were I younger and better organized and not such a procrastinator I would like to try a few trials to see if I could learn something. For the last few years all of the plants that got Spring Sickness have been seedlings newly planted in cultivated soil--my established plants are not disturbed and naturally mulched by falling leaves and dead leaves and I'm wondering if bare disturbed soil splashing on plants doesn't cause some problems or if younger plants are more susceptible ?? Anyway I think some may grow out of it and be healthy adults just like bratty kids! -----------------Weedy
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My daylilies have looked worse this spring than any other year. I think many got frosted a few times. The dormants are okay but the evs and Sevs have looked terrible. Some of the leaves were just hanging there limp. I don't think it has been spring sickness on most of them. I always get a few plants that have it but they look different than this. They are growing through it but I have cut many yellow ends off and am going to do more. I always seem to have some leaf streak and have heard it can infect already damaged leaves. This year it is going to be terrible. I have also lost the centre of a few clumps that are fairly close to each other. Do moles or voles do this? I always see their tracks when the snow melts but have never had an issue with them in my daylilies. They put many holes in my lawn but I just look at it as aeration! These clumps look like all of the centre fans just disappeared.
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I've been doing some research on this for a insects and disease class I am taking, and it seems that there is no consensus yet as to what causes daylily spring sickness. I became interested after I realized one of my dalilies had this condition. It does seem as if the plant can "outgrow" the condition, and will bloom, although depending on how many fans are affected, the blooms may be stunted. Since it's isn't known yet if this is caused by an insect, bacteria, virus or fungus, there is no reliable treatment. I cut off the affected fans from my plant, and while it's a little smaller than I recall from past summers, it is still growing and I expect it will bloom !
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jkunkel
17 years ago
A few of my DL's have the spring sickness too. Isn't it funny how some fans are effected and not others. I have one clump that has plenty of healthy fans, and 2 or 3 that are growing completly sideways against the ground, and are really ragged. The really bad ones are pretty shredded and haven't put on any new growth, since ive noticed it. Don't know how they'll do, but ive got my fingers crossed.
caliloo
17 years ago
Well - thanks for the explanation!

I have been mad at my DH, kids and dog for the last several weeks because I thought they had trampled some of my DLs. It seems they were all telling the truth (except the dawg LOL) when they said they had NOT been in my flower beds.

Several of my DLs seem to have "spring sickness".

Is this something that will re-occur every year in the same plants? SHould I get rid of the affected ones? Is it random?

Thanks again for the explanation and any advice is appreciated!

Alexa
jkunkel
17 years ago
I was asking all the same questions earlier this year, and Ed told me to cut off any of the nasty foliage if it is restricting the new growth. That they would probably be fine, but would bloom a little later than normal. hope this helps, good luck!
simplton
17 years ago
Thrips or something similar get into the plant and chew on it while it is forming. I don't know if it is the active eating that distorts the new growth, or the living arrangements (other bodily habits). Van Selllers said long ago every year that it was thrips overwintering. No one really listens. You can spray if you want, but thrips need to be sprayed every ten days. Most people just don't worry about it.

Thrips do damage to all phases of daylily lives. The blooms show it a lot here.
highjack
17 years ago
Alexa - no, it doesn't always happen and it doesn't always happen to the same ones. It is such a hit and miss problem, it is a hard one to nail down because they won't do it every year.

The only time I had a dozen or so with spring sickness is the year I didn't cut the foliage back in late fall. If it is caused by a bug problem ("they" think it might be a bulb mite)I may have eliminated the nesting ground for the critters.

Brooke
sweatin_in_ga
17 years ago
I agree with the posts above that I had much more "spring sickness" this year than last. I even has 10 month old seedlings that had it as they put on new growth in the early spring. I've heard people suggest the odd weather many of us had across the nation this year was one of the causes, but people much smarter than me haven't found the answer to "What causes spring sickness?", so what can I say!
Since my daylilies are just now coming into their main blooming time, I can say that most - - but not all - - of the plants affected have grown or are growing out of it, even the seedlings. I had much more of the gnarled, twisted leaves (still upright, though) and the splitting along the edge of the foliage like at the top of the upper picture in the AHS "Spring Sickness" page than of the plant laid out flat on the ground, but as I said, its mostly gone now.
Wonder what will happen next year? I didn't keep records of which had it and which didn't this year, so I won't be able to answer the questions then either! Oh well...
Larry
jean_ar
17 years ago
well,I am sure glad to read this,as I don't know much about daylilies, a newbie I guess,so i would have worried that my DL's was dying if I had any that looked sick.What I have got looks very healthy so far.beginers luck??

Jean
bloomincrazy
Original Author
17 years ago
I've found that my more established clumps don't seem to be affected. Anything I've had more than 5 yrs hasn't a sign of the awful affliction. My newer ones, and of course the ones I'm paying more attention to are the ugly ones. grrr.

Sorry to hear that you all are suffering from eye sores as much as I am, but misery does enjoy company!:) Makes me feel.......normal. lol

Ange

Darned Spring Sickness!

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Darned Spring Sickness!

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