I don't know about pictures, but I just went to www.google.com and typed in daylily crown rot. I came up with multiple hits. I suggest you try that.
Best wishes,
Gata

gata...thanks for the tip. But I had already tried that before I posted here. I use google web and google images all the time.

The problem was when I followed links on the web I found info (conflicting) but no pictures. When I tried the images, only 4 came up and only one had images of crown rot and the one or two they had at the sight, when I followed the link, were not very good pictures.

So, I am hoping someone here would have some pictures they would be willing to share.
Marylu

You may have a hard time finding pics cuz it happens so fast, and you end up with mush. It starts with almost complete yellowing of the plant usually in one day. The infection starts in the roots and continues until it reaches the crown. The key is that the rotting of roots makes it all the way to the crown. Generally it affects one fan at a time and you can save the rest of the clump...but, if the infection hits the bib under the crowns, it can take out more than one fan. That is unusual though.

It is caused by fungus, but the infection may be started by something else. Then the fungus takes over. I think it is fusarium and rhizoctonia. When plants are stressed out by heat and blooming, they are more likely to be weak. Pulling a green scape off leaves a wound on the crown and that can cause it. Older cultivars are more resistant.

I don't think a picture of crown rot would really be that helpful. What you would see is a gray mushy looking material. What is helpful is the odor and the foliage. If you smell any stink at all coming from the crown you may have already lost the plant depending on the amount of crown destroyed. If you see the foliage falling over and turning yellow it has gone critical. Pull the center foliage and if it comes out in your hand dig up the entire plant and wash and scrub the crown area and then leave it for a month or more on the cement to fully dry out. One gal I know saved hers by putting an anti-bacterial, anti-fungal foot powder on the rotting area after she had cleaned it up the best she could. Think of it like a wound on your arm. On a centimeter of flesh we typically have about 25 million beneficial bacteria. However sometimes harmful bactera gets past the protective layer of bacteria on our arm. If you don't get all the harmful bacteria out of the wound then pus will start and make the wound worse so first you clean it well and use anti-bacterial cleaners such as betadine, or iodine and soak the wound in epsom salts which kills the bacteria.

I like to plant new arrivals in aged compost in a pot where I can watch the plant. Once the pot is full of roots I then put the plant in the ground which typically takes 2-3 months.

Clearly some cultivars are much more prone to rot than others but it takes a trigger - usually high heat and lots of moisture combined, but not always. I have not had any crown rot for several years. I suspect it is because I garden organically and use almost no inorganic (salt based) fertilizer. Prior to that I did have one daylily where 50% rotted from a large clump while it was in the ground. The other three that rotted all rotted after they had been dug and replanted.

I'm convinced that some daylilies have a better "immune system" than others and are better able to ward off rot. The rot is not the disease but merely nature cleaning up dead tissue. Whe a plant is surrounded by disease preventing fauna the disease causing fauna cannot get established. The food and cell sites are simply not available. Overfertilizing with salt based fertilizers will kill the beneficial bacteria and fungi leaving the plant without it's natural defense mechanisms. If that plant lacks the ability to grow beneficial bactera as they do through exudates in the root system it may be more vulneralbe. Also when dug and divided the hair roots are destroyed and the area around the crown may be exposed allowing harmful bacteria to enter the wound site. Normally the beneficial bacteria in the soil will prevent the "boom and bust" cycle of the harmful bacteria.

Compare it to damping off with seedlings. When I use sterile soil or well aged compost I never get damping off. However, if I use potting soil that is not sterile damping off is often a problem with seedlings. Why? You would think the aged compost is full of bacteria and fungi and it is so why is it safe? It must have beneficial bacteria and fungi for disease prevention and it does. Crown rot can start when a plant lacks protection. Once crown rot has started you have to clean out the wound and dry it off to stop the harmful bacteria. Salt, sulphur, anti-bacterial powders, or fungicides, bleach work well in killing the rot but a bleach soak will have killed all the bacteria benifical and harmful so the plant may still be vulneralbe to re-exposure to harmful bacteria. I like to use agricultural sulphur or to cleaning out all of the rot and drying it out which removes the ability for the harmful bacteria to grow.

If you saw a dead animal rotting and full of flies and maggots you would not say the flies killed the animal. They are actually solving a problem by consuming the rotting flesh. I look at crown rot the same way.

jackarias - what type of sterile soil do you use?

Brooke

simplton...thank you for your reply. From what you and others are saying, sounds like a picture would not be of a lot of help to me. I don't think I have crown rot, but wanted to be sure.

jackarias....thank you also for taking the time to answer my question in such length. I appreciate your taking the time to explain it so well. From what you and previous posters have said, I do not think I have crown rot, but perhaps just a "closing down" for fall. We have been having temps in the low 50's and even down into the upper 40s for the past week. Also have had rain for the past 3 days. I was concerned, as I did not know about crown rot until I read about it here. When I searched for info some of what I found was conflicting in nature, which only confused me more.

Again, thank you all for coming to my aid. I do appreciate it.
Marylu

Hi Brook,

Actually I haven't used sterile soil for over 10 years and the nursery where I bought it has gone out of business. I found I could buy the same thing by the cubic yard for about $44 -- I know it has gone up since my last purchase. but any of the bagged mixes are supposed to be sterile.

This is their secret recipe as cubic yards but you could treat them as percentages since it totals 100.

30 Nitro Redwood Shavings
20 Coir
15 Scr. Plaster Sand
15 Perlite 8-50's
10 Peat Moss - Med 2-55 CFT - 7 bales
10 Treated Woodblend
Admix
300 Oz. Aquagro (wetting agent)
100

I far prefer compost since it has the microbiology necessary to protect plants and to support life.

I was at the National Convention in Long Island this year and Paul Limmer has the nicest most robust daylily flower beds anywhere. He brings in aged horse manure and piles it on then plants directly in it. I've never seen healthier or better grown daylilies anywhere and I see about 30 daylily gardens a year.

My mentor, Sanford Roberts, gets more increase than anyone, year in, year out. He is in an ideal climate but he has a heavy clay soil. For 30 years he has been ammending his soil and one of the primary additions is shredded cedar chips that he gets by the truck load from a neighbor who owns a tree trimming business. He will apply it 2 - 4 inches thick and then water with a soaker system. He uses tomatoe plant food 15.15.15. I use milorganite because it helps control the deer but neither Sanford nor I have the quality in our flower beds that Paul does.

But there is always bagged potting mix, expensive, sterile, but it does work and eventually the microbiology will start to grow in it.

Hi MaryLu,

If you are still interested in seeing some pictures, here are two that I took this morning. I'm still battling it and these are the last to go.

As you can see by the second picture, it's very hard to catch if you have't seen it before, as the fan remains pretty green until you notice the yellowing leaves, and by then it's too late.

Hope this helps someone and I hope that your daylilies don't have it! :)

-Maria-

Maria...thanks so much! Yes, I can see that it would be difficult to identify.

What I am seeing (I think) is different. I will go out and look again this evening. It quit raining and the sun actually peeked out this afternoon. First time in a week!
Marylu

I hope I never have to see crown rot in person here in my garden but these threads are great for learning.