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What do you think caused crown rot?

Esther-B, Zone 7a

5 years ago

I dug down a little bit to find out what my Dinky Donna was up to and why she wasn't pipping. I found a white rotted crown and icky looking roots. DD was planted in an unglazed clay rectangular planter, flanked on both sides by STGNs. One of the STGNs is pipping and one is also rotted.

(1) Should I repot the remaining STGN to prevent the fungus from attacking it?

(2) Why were the 2 other baby hostas attacked by fungus? There are drainage holes in the rectangular unglazed clay planter, so it should not have been too wet.

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Comments (5)

zkathy z7a NC
5 years ago
What’s STGN? Any chance some moisture control dirt got in the planter?
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
5 years ago
silver threads.. golden needles???

a water problem.. probably related to the media used in the pot ...

yes.. get the one left out of there ... pot it in fresh media... in a new clean pot ...if it survives.. we can repot in later in summer ...

im wondering about a 10% bleach dip for it??? .. comments???

ken
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bkay2000
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
That bleach thing won't hurt. Just don't leave it too long. Of course, since I lost so many to root rot, I'm twice shy now.

bkay
Esther-B, Zone 7a
Original Author
5 years ago
I bought some Kellogg's outdoor container soil last week and have some brand new fabric grow bags--will those do? Should I gently remove this tiny baby Silver Threads & Golden Needles, shake off as much soil as possible from the roots and then repot it in the grow bag? Do I definitely need to use a bleach solution? I certainly did not use Miracle Grow potting soil in that unglazed clay rectangular planter, especially not moisture control. I know there are 2 drainage holes on the bottom of the planter. I am completely perplexed as to why this happened. We have been getting a lot of rain lately, but I've never seen it accumulate in this pot or any other of my pots. No water on top for any length of time at all.

Remember last year I lost my beautiful Rainbow's End (in the ground) to Southern Blight, and treated all the surrounding ground with that Bayer antifungal stuff? Then I bought a new baby Rainbow's End and put it in a pot (with a drainage hole) over the spot the old one was. Can you believe there is a new little baby Rainbow's End IN THE GROUND coming up?
Pieter zone 7/8 B.C.
5 years ago
Esther, from growing most of my hostas in pots I'm only too familiar with root rot and it's invariably because of poor drainage. I find I have best success with containers that are deeper/taller rather than wider, the Perched Water Table ends up lower and that leaves more room for healthy roots. If you container is wider than it is deep, discontinue its use as container for hostas, don't screw around trying to make it work. Am not familiar with fabric growing bags and how well they drain. Water can be your friend as well as your enemy, the coarser your potting medium the better it drains and the lower the PWT will be, the roots want to see water but they don't wanna sit in it...

Pieter
Esther-B, Zone 7a thanked Pieter zone 7/8 B.C.

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