Re: Re: CULT: crown rot vs southern blight?


>I'm wondering what to call the slimy ick - starts with stalks and outer
>leaves, turning a bilious bright, wet looking green, then rots off the
>stalk bases.  Always hits vulnerable cultivars in warmer weather either
>after stress of freezes or stress of drought followed by stress of a lot
>of rain (which we seem to have constantly this spring).  It doesn't look
>or smell like soft rot.

I've been having this too.  In two of my TB plantings, nearly half the
bloomstalks were lost, and some varieties were reduce by about 2/3 of their
fans.  The other day a perfect show stalk (not that I like shows!) of HELLO
DARKNESS with 4 branches and a spur toppled while I was admiring it! It
seems to have subsided now with the arrival of a few really hot, dry days.
However, in my garden it stinks like soft rot, so I suspect that is what it
is.  But the smell is produced only when it gets into the rhizome.

Back when I was teaching microbiology, we would culture Erwinia on plates
of artificial medium and on slices of fresh potato.  It smelled awful on
the potato but was odorless on the artificial medium.  Perhaps this
difference also explains no odor from leaves it attacks, but a stink from
the rhizome, which contains lots of stored starches.

The only cure seems to be a daily patrol with sharpened spoon and Comet.

Bill Shear
Department of Biology
Hampden-Sydney College
Hampden-Sydney VA 23943
(804)223-6172
FAX (804)223-6374
email<bills@mail.hsc.edu>

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