Sorry Nancy, I can't help with the meter, but I am watering too. Have too, there's no rain, and none in sight. But the temp is a few degrees lover this week, and it is a blessing!
kay

Bumping because I'm interested to hear more expert responses. My understanding is that crown rot is the result of a fungal infection that generally occurs when there is high heat and moisture.

Nate

Nancy, Sorry, but I've never heard of a moisture meter. And I've never had crown rot. The one thing I'm absolutely sure of is that my daylilies are never over-watered. Our sandy soil makes that an impossibility. Although after 10 years of mulching and ammendments, it has improved slightly.
Kathy

Hi Nancy,
I use the Control Wizard, Soil pH and Moisture Meter. It works good, but it does have to be cleaned before using, so one would not work long if left in the ground. Plus, I think too expensive to have many of them. Got mine through Amazon.

True crown-rot is when the crown rots. The foliage turns yellow and quickly falls over as the crown turns to mush. The root system stays firm and looks healthy. Typically you get an oniony smell from the rotting crown.

There's also a bacterial rot that affects both roots and crown. It usually starts in injured roots in poorly established plants. The whole plant turns brown and disappears.

There's no single thing that causes crown-rot and the causes are widely argued. We down here in the gulf coast seem to experience it more often than other regions.

From my experience, I quit planting in open beds end of April. After It gets hot, middle of May - first of June, I don't water heavily. I prefer to water lightly regularly than soak the soil occasionally. I think soil aeration is very important. Watering heavily allows the water to transmit heat to the root zone and allows pathogens easy access to the plants. The main thing is to keep the plants as cool as possible with good air circulation. A mature plant's leaves shades its root area. Small divisions alone in the sun are in jeopardy. Plant in some shade or pot the plants up and keep them in the shade. Wait until it cools in the fall to plant.

Pat Stamile authored an article in the Daylily Journal a couple of years ago that informed us about K-Phite and other (Agri-fos) phosphite solutions that were effective against water molds. They also seem to help prevent or treat crown-rot. They aren't 100% effective, but do help I think.

Sorry to be negative, but the feeling is, this year is shaping up to be a very bad year for crown-rot, especially if we get a tropical storm after it gets really hot.
Hope this helps some, Ed

We dug up two more plants yesterday. One I belive is beyond hope. Great root system, and a hole from the top down right in the center of the crown made from me digging out the mushy stuff.

There are more in the garden that need our attention. Darla Anita is almost gone.

I probably watered for too long of a time period. I think our biggest problem is the soil + mulch we got from New Earth. The soil mix actually had very little soil - more mulch than dirt. The mulch was finely ground pine bark, and ended up forming a crust on top which prevented air/water from getting to the "soil." We have been replanting the affected plants in Miracle Gro potting mix, but it is too soon to tell if they are going to revive.

I was watering for 2 hours at a time once a week, thinking it would at least penetrate that top layer. Odd though, that there are many that are doing really well. Of course, all the stress they underwent in the move, and having to stay in pots during the hot summer last year did not help.

We got our big sprayer out and filled it, added Kphite, and I donned all the protective stuff. Hubby checked the sprayer before we did all that, and said it was spraying water just fine. But alas, as soon as I turned on the wand to start spraying, no spray. Looks like our pump has gone belly up. Grrrrrr Will have to wait until we can get a replacement pump. Don't know what to do with 30 gallons of water/Kphite now.

Thanks for the moisture meter info, Ed. I will order one right away.

Nancy

Nancy,

I use K-Phite as a soil drench on affected plants. I use 1 1/2 oz of KP/gallon water. Use about two gallons on the affected plant to drench soil good around the plant. K-Phite is potassium phosphite and pretty safe to use, but do consult the msds sheet and use accordingly.

Fresh mulches, and some with particles too fine to be good mulches do form a top layer that's hard for water to penetrate. Break it up with your hands, or run a cultivator tool around the plant to loosen it up and allow water to penetrate.

Unfortunately, some plants rot too easily. Before K-Phite, I had my best luck saving rotting plants by digging, cleaning away rotted crown, soaking in a 10% bleach bath for about an hour, then throughly drying plant. Replant in barely moist peat mix. Keep in cool shaded area out of exposure to rain. Maybe 50% lived.
Ed

Thanks Ed. I'll give them a soak before replanting them.

I bought a replacement pump today, and hubby got one of those pumps to extract the solution from the big sprayer. I think he plans to attach it to a hose so we can use it on each plant without spraying. I'd hate to waste all that Kphite.

I have been cultivating the beds with a pronged hoe, since I don't have a cultivator. Are you talking about one of those electric ones or the one that you roll on the ground?

Nancy

Nancy,
I use the manual type you roll on the ground.
Ed

My DH got one of those pumps that run on an electric drill, so we are drenching the affected daylilies today with what we had already mixed up in the sprayer. I am using the garden hose. It works pretty good. He runs the pump and I do the drenching. Beats having to mix in buckets. The first pump conked out immediately, and he had to go back to Lowe's and get another one.

I'm finding that the soil looks really dry on top, but when I dig up those with obvious crown rot, the soil is very wet down at the roots. I guess I just watered too much, based on the appearance of the soil at ground level.

The moisture meter should be here soon.

Thanks for the cultivator tip. Using the two-pronged hoe was rather slow.

Nancy

We got the moisture meter yesterday. Haven't used it yet, and am hoping it is long enough to penetrate past the top dry soil. We are finding that when we dig up affected clumps in an effort to salvage them, the soil is very wet around the roots. Oddly, it looks very dry in the top few inches, which had led me to think they needed more water.

I'm beginning to think that I caused the problem by beginning watering at 6 P.M. That is when some of the plants started looking really bad. The soil may have been still so hot, that it might have heated the water, too. I probably should have waited until around 10 P.M. It was 105 degrees here yesterday. This is more like Phoenix AZ than the Gulf Coast area.

Sadly, I have lost a big clump of San Juan Sunset. It was really beautiful when in the country.

We managed to salvage Sabine Baur yesterday, which declined so rapidly I hadn't noticed until almost too late. There were at least five divisions that had no crown rot, so am hoping they will do fine once replanted. That is definitely one clump I did not want to lose.

Nancy

I've tried using the soil moisture meter from vegetronix and it's really helpful. I had some sugar peas that were dying, and couldn't figure out was wrong. With the meter I was able to quickly determin that it was a watering issue and not some othe problem. The meter's are a little pricey but much better than the crappy ones you buy at hardware stores.

Here is a link that might be useful: Digital Soil Moisture Meter

I have a very cheap moisture meter that I bought at home depot or wal mart a few years ago. zit workd good, but I very sldon ever use it.znot much need to use it when you go for weeks or months with no rain.I have to water nearly daily.

jesn

I use a vegetronix meter too. I tried the cheap-o ones from Lowes but they aren't accurate at all. I did some research, and it's the method they use that makes them inaccurate. The vegetronix meter uses a different method of measuring than most others and it makes it accurate in any soil. Also salt/fertalizer content doesn't effect the reading the way it does with other ones. It's even accurate with the bark mix in some of my orchids. If you're looking for a moisture meter, it gets my vote.

Here is a link that might be useful: Vegetronix Soil Moisture Meter