But don't you find that most of the nursery's that don't specialize in hosta have nematode issues? Everywhere I look, I see them... local nurseries, box stores. I just don't buy hosta from them anymore.

Even one of our local nurseries that does specialize in hosta has huge infestations of them, but for some reason, they don't seem to think it's a serious issue.

All I can say is, watch out for nurseries who cut their hosta leaves off this time of year...

I've got nematodes in my garden for the first time ever. Unfortunately, the affected plants came from one online nursery and from one of the secret swaps.

It rots that I have introduced these buggers into my garden, but I am coming to terms with the fact that this is a part of life.

Will I stop buying hostas online or swapping? Nope. I will just continue to keep plant in holding beds (or potted) for the first season here.

Alexa

I believe that Sassy has lots of courange and I congratulate her. Too many of us stand back...we see these things happening and we say to ourselves: Let the other guy report..let the other guy call the Authority having jusrisdiction...
These vendors should learn about nematodes...and Virus X...etc. It is part of being professional in what you do.
Thank you Sassy for your effort and determination. I hope that you will succeed.
I also intend to report any nursery that sell "bad stuff".

Papou

That is YUCKY!!!

More power to you, Sassy!

In the spirit of always finding something nice to say about anybody.... I do like their old fashioned neon sign! I hope you can help them resolve their problem and get back on a reputable track.

For the first time in about ten years, I have not bought a single hosta this season (I've been too busy trying to save and nurture what I've got!), so I can not comment on what is going on here locally, but I can tell you that about three years ago I decided that I have only one source for hostas (Plant Delights) unless there's a real good reason for me to buy somewhere else.

So, what's a person supposed to do?
Is there an online nursery that DOES care about nematodes?
If so, please tell me who?
They'll get my business for now on.

My beef is this.....I was told that this is NOT a problem with this nursery's plants!
As the saying goes...a pic is worth a thousand words.

If some of you remember, last summer the other nursery
closest to me was KNOWINGLY selling hostas with HVX!!!!
I got the Dept of Ag involved and I was told by the plant
inpector that that nursery is working with him on the problem.
But,to say the least, I haven't been back to that one.
I could never trust them again.

I have countless hrs in trying to rid my garden of these things in the past 2 yrs.
Just last Sat I mixed up and sprayed 7 tank fulls of ZeroTol.
I could of used more but I just tired out.

One thing is for sure, God willing of course, for Christmas I'm getting one of those sprayers that have a 15 or 25 gal tank that you pull along with a garden tractor!
Enough of this work already!
I'm waaaaaay too old for this!

My hostas are for my enjoyment and for the past month I certainly have not enjoyed them very much. My time with them is spent inspecting and treating, inspecting and treating. No fun for sure.

Sorry for venting, but I feel I was had, and I'm ticked.

Tony Avent (Plant Delights Nursery) and Bob Solberg (Green Hill) are very vigilant about nematodes and dont sell infected plants. Tony has a full time plant pathologist at his nursery to monitor for pests.

Nematodes dont really kill the hosta, just make it look bad. If you want to treat the plant cook it at 120-124 degrees for 10 min and will kill the nematodes (unfortunately some hostas die also) Bayer advanced can also help control nematodes.(key word being control) Impossible to totally rid your garden of them (unless you plant plastic plants).

Problem is- nematodes infect more than just hostas. They may have even come from other plants in your garden. They love columbines (have never seen columbine without them). They love ferns.

Several good articles on this topic in the Hosta Journal over recent years.

Sassy, to answer your question - Plant Delights Nursery has an aggresive anti-disease program. They are expensive, yes, but you truly get what you pay for. Often, the plants I have bought there can easily be split four or five or even several times (I have only ever bought from them in person, but they say the plants on display are the exact same stock as the ones they ship) and will still be equal in size to most other internet order plants I have seen. And they are disease free.

KN

Sassy, I salute you! A couple of years ago I gave information to a landscaper who had rows and rows of beautiful mature specimin hostas . . . and some unbelievably HVXed Sum & Substance. On a return visit, I saw that they'd removed the badly infected ones, but there were still some showing minor symptoms. I got sidetracked with some things in my life and never followed up reporting them.

Re a dependable online seller, I'd recommend Hallson's in Michigan. Chris is very knowledgable and pro-active regarding both HVX and neems -- I'd order anything from him with confidence.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hallson's

Isuhostafreak, OH YEAH, I'm very familar with the heat treatment. Been there, done all that last fall. LOTS of work. Esp carrying the boiling water out to the garden without scalding myself!

I am happy to report that SO FAR none of those treated last fall are showing signs of nems this yr. As far as killing the hosta, I believe that I lost only one plant, and the water comes out of my hot water tank at 130 degrees and I cooked them longer than the recommended time.

While speaking to the plant inspector this past spring he suggested that I wait 2 yrs before planting my heat treated plants back into my garden, just to be sure.

This is all such a pain! Anyone who has them, and it bothers them like it does me knows what a pain it it!
The thought that they spread so easily is what bothers me he most.
If I could just pluck off the infected leafs it would be "out of sight, out of mind" but that's not the case with these nems. They travel. And the strange part is....you never know where they're gonna land.

I'm taking note of the nurserys that you have listed that DO CARE what they sell. I will pay more if that's what it
takes.

Thank you for all the "GO SASSY" comments. I guess I'm a natural born activist (TROUBLE MAKER) LOL
I will continue to carry my camera in my car and check out hostas whenever I can. Someday everyone will probably lock the doors when they see me coming. lol

BTW, yesterday the store manager, Brenda, said to me,
"What can I do to make you happy." I said, "Stop selling these hostas, they're going to infect other peoples gardens too."
She then asked me if maybe they could give me a discount on hostas.
LOL, LOL, LOL!!!!! NOT A CHANCE!!!!!

I'm going back up that way today and will be stopping in to see if those hostas are still for sale. I'll report back to you later tonight.

alexa said [not meaning to pick on her]:

I've got nematodes in my garden for the first time ever.

---------------->>>>> X if only ... nematodes are as plentiful as the grains of sand in your soil [and in clay too] .... i hate to tell you ...

there are good ones.. bad ones.. indifferent ones ...

and they probably come in all plants brought into the garden ...

they do NOT mysteriously only involve hosta.. and there is a list somewhere of companion plants that are host plants.. ferns come to mind ... but don't bet a buck on that ...

my point put simply is ... if i have one .. lol.... is they were here before you .. and they will be here long after you are gone ...

since they don't have any real impact on the hosta.. other than speeding up the late summer ugliness .. i just don't understand why the problem is all that big a deal ... PRESUMING YOU ARENT A RETAILER AND SELLING STOCK WITH THEM ...

would you really throw the baby out with the bath water, because he has a head cold????

ken, playing devil's advocate here ....

I actually introduced some of the good nematodes a couple of years ago when I was growing carnival squash. They take care of the squash beetles.

I don't know if I have them or not. Almost all of my hostas get alot of sun, so by this time they are going to have some brown no matter what.

Ken, as I previously said, they spread and that's what bothers me the most.
You're right, they don't kill the plant, but who would want plants that look horrible and know that it will only continue to get worse and spread through out your garden. Maybe I'm an extremist, I've been told that I have only black or white in my life, at best very, very little gray. lol
To me I will have a nice hostas or no hostas. I just can't ignore them. Wish I could, but I can't.

Ken, do you have nematodes? If so, how long have you had them?

UPDATE.....went back to Barnes Nursery and infected hostas were still on the same tables.

(1) Greg, the guy who works with the hostas rudely told me that he didn't have time to talk to me, and go talk to them in the store.

(2) There was a man cutting off the ugly leafs.

(3) The worker behind the counter told me that the plant inspector was there and had checked the plants.

(4) And when I got home and called their toll free # and got Brenda, the store manager, she told me that she saw the website and isn't going to discuss it, but the owner will be contacting me.

hmmmmm

What a day....and it's my birthday too! LOL. A girl shouldn't outta be treated this way on her birthday. LOL

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Sassy.
ohio phil

Sassy, they way you were treated is exactly why I don't bother saying anything, though I applaud you for doing so.

I'll second Hallsons. If Chris finds a problem with his hostas, be it virus or nematodes, he doesn't try to hide it, nor will he sell it.

Best thing you can do for that nursery is spread the good word that their plants are infected, and stop buying ANYTHING from them!

I also applaud your efforts! One of the local FTD stores has a lot of hostas with HVX. I talked to them about it, explained about the virus, and also explained that it wasn't something they did but they came that way from the supplier. They acted all nice and thanked me for bringing it to their attention. I went back a week later, and all of the hostas were still there.

I have had luck with plants from PDN in the past, but this summer I ordered some hostas and was not happy with the quality, especially for the price. Two of them had a major case of crown rot when I received them. I lost 3/4 of one plant and 1/2 of another. I contacted them, but they said that the hostas will look better next year they had just been in the greenhouse too long.

Nematodes are a part of the garden. Like it or not, everyone has them. There's no way I am going to boil anything here. (OK 124 is not boiling point, but you get my drift)
Saying you don't have nematodes is like saying you have never had a Hosta that didn't preform as expected, or as you hoped it would.
I actually don't have a big problem here, but it's because of luck, and cold winters, mostly.
The retailer you spoke of is wrong to keep selling, of course, but they will still sell Hostas. You just won't be their customer anymore.

I live in Cleveland and would make 2-3 trips to Barnes every year. Outside of Petitti's in Cleveland, it WAS one of my favorite nurseries...especially for unusual finds. No more. Thank you for sharing your experience.

Amy, That makes two of us that won't be back.
Thanks for telling me that I made a difference.
I just don't understand their business practice.
It's just a crying shame.
I've bought there for years and loved that nursery.
Of course I can't say for sure that's where my nematode
problem came from, but from the pics that I posted I'd say
there's a pretty good chance, wouldn't you?

If nematodes are as prevelant as many say, is it possible that my neighbor could buy an infected plant from Lowes, and it could end up infecting my plants?

From what I've read, anything within 3' of the infected plant can also become infected.

But, since the nems can and do travel on sheets of water....I don't see why they couldn't infect
other plants "down stream" of them.

UDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE U

This morning I received a return call from the Ohio Dept of Ag.
He left a message on my answering machine saying that he got my message and read the postings on Garden Web about Barnes Nursery.
He will be checking Barnes Nursery out.

I urge everyone to do the same whenever you see plants that are infected with HVX or nematodes.
It's just a matter of getting the phone no. of the Dept of Ag of your county and giving them a call.

Sassy

Sassy~
You said in one of your earlier posts that one of the employees was seen cutting off the sick leaves. If he did a good job, there won't be any "evidence" when the inspector visits. :o(
The only evidence is the pictures that you posted.
~Bunnycat

Exactly, Bunnycat.

But, the inspector has seen the pics that I posted on this forum, even knows which hostas that I listed as showing damage.

Unless the nursery pitched them, all the inspector has to do is take a few samples of those varieties, and there lies the evidence!

I'm so glad that I took pics of them, as a matter of fact I believe I took about 3 dozen pics that day of their hostas.

Many of the pics only show the beginning of the damage....you know, that all-too obvious yellowing between the veins.

Last year I had gotten involved with another nursery selling diseased plants (HVX) to the public.

I called the Dept Of Ag then too.

The inspector told me to call him ANYTIME I see something suspious.

Those guys/gals are too overworked and can't be everywhere.

I think that they really do appreciate our (the public) watchful eye.

This inspector is a hosta lover himself and after speaking to him on the phone this past spring, I know that nematodes are a concern to him too.

I know WHY a nursery knowingly sells infected plants.....I just don't know HOW they could do it.

I couldn't!!!!!!!

As the saying goes...profit isn't a dirty word, but greed is. At least IMHO it is.

Something that I learned from this 2nd experience.....I think I totally wasted my time talking to the nursery workers, if it be owner...manager or clerk.

From now on I'm just going to call the Dept of Ag and get them involved.

Oh, and of course take lots of pictures!