Scoop out all soft tissue and remove soil to let rhizomes dry out. Sprinkle damaged area's with "comet" or other Cl based dry powder kitchen cleanser. Seeds are never true to parent(s). When pods are dry and start to crack open remove the pods to open in a safe place (i.e an open cup), discard pods and chaff Plant seeds in fall in gallon pots (1 pod per pot) and leave outside to weather, seeds will sprout in Spring. Seedlings can be separated and planted out in late spring and can flower the next spring under ideal conditions.

kpt951, I would have replied, "Not likely." Then I read this. "The effects of soilbome soft rotting Erwinias are not clear. When potatoes follow potatoes or another crop that is susceptible to soft rot, the soft rot bacteria can be found in soil samples as long as refuse from the susceptible crop persists. Soft rotting Erwinias were thought to die out when this residue disappeared. However, the use of new techniques has demonstrated that Erwinia bacteria can persist in the soil after the disappearance of residue. The role of these soil bacterial populations is unknown. Since some potato lines have been maintained apparently free of blackleg the reinfection rate must be low in some soils. Rapid reinfestations of seed lots free of Erwinias have been reported, but the source of this recontamination is unknown."

I amplified it a little to prove a point, and the analogy, while grossly exaggerated, holds. An example between the two extremes is that your cat Fluffy breaks a leg falling out of a tree, so you feed her through a wood chipper, and head down to Petsmart to see about getting a replacement. There is no false hope in giving helpful advice. She knows that the situation is dire. The fail in tossing it is that it would be giving up when the going gets tough. If we need to examine it further, there are three possible outcomes. Option 1: Lets assume she tries cinnamon and whatever else is recommended and the plant dies. The plant is dead, but she gets some small satisfation that she did the best she could and didnt throw in the towel. That is not optimum, but lets call it a neutral outcome. Option 2: She throws the book at it and it somehow pulls through. Well thats a better outcome, a real happy ending. She knows she brought it back to life and all of us helped in any way we could, and we all live happily ever after, the end. Option 3: she takes your suggestion and chucks it. There is no possible positive outcome, no sense of satisfaction. She gave up on the living thing under her care. The only lesson is when the going gets tough, you give up. Insert your favorite world-changing historical battle that was won through sheer grit and perseverance here. Trying to save it could produce two possible outcomes, one of which is a resounding win. Throwing it away can ONLY result in a fail. There is no alternate world in which tossing it achieves a positive outcome.

Sometimes it's really hard to accept advice like "just dispose of the plant". Journey's End and Goodness Gracious were such mature & beautiful plants. But in the case of BSR and HVX, that's the best thing you can do. If your plant starts to have flopping leaves and you find slimy areas with a dead fish smell, remove it before it spreads. The bacteria live in the soil, so I dug a hole where the infected hosta was about 15 inches across and 6 inches deep and used the dirt to fill holes and low spots in the lawn. I say "plant" because it infects other things, including fruits and vegetables. Just wanted to share a lesson learned. I'm over being upset and just happy it was no worse than it was.