Sick August Moons

[govgirl75]

I have three August Moon planted along the driveway.
The first two receive direct sun until about noon and then fall into the shade of a dense magnolia tree. These two are affected by whatever it is.
The third gets little or no direct sun and is in the shade most of the day. It looks pretty healthy.
I thought the first two might have been getting some sun scald but the second one is more affected than the first and the first gets more sun than the second.
These guys have been in the bed for 4 years.
Any ideas on what is wrong and what I need to do?
Thanks!

[hostanquilts]

I'm not expert, but could it be crown rot/Southern Blight? Do the leaves pull way from the base easily? Here is a link to the Hosta Library that has pictures. http://www.hostalibrary.org/diseases/Blight.html
Hope it isn't, but at least this will give you a fair idea.

[Chris_W]

Hi Gloria,

I would lean towards one of two things: 1) really dry conditions, possibly with tree root competition or 2) like Jan mentioned, I would check for Southern Blight. If the leaves pull away really easily and there is some fuzzy stuff down at the base you will want to treat with a fungicide. If not, you might dig around and see if the soil is drier than you thought, then water deeply a couple times a week to encourage some new roots to grow.

Keep us posted to what you find, and good luck.

Chris

[govgirl75]

Thanks for your advice, Chris and Jan.
I went out and tugged on those leaves and they are firmly attached to the plants. I did not see anything different about the bases of either plant. Despite rain yesterday, the ground does seem dry, so I will try loosening the soil around the plants and water well. We'll see what develops.
Thanks again
Gloria

[R. Rock]

Hi,
I agree; intense sun and dry. I let the hose run at a trinkle for several hours; to water deeply. Did you trim any branches on the Magnolia? that could also be the sudden burn.

[govgirl75]

No, nothing different about the bed at all. I am a habitual waterer. I water an inch in each bed every week that we do not have at least an inch of rain.
I use the bed beneath the magnolia as a holding bed for potted up plants, so that bed probably gets a little more. But I have been thinking that maybe the reflection off the hot driveway may have either cooked the plants a little or dried the earth out more than in the shadier area. At any rate, they are watered and have been given half strength fertilizer. We will see what happens. Again, thanks for all your input.
Glo

[R. Rock]

Hello, I think you are right on the "driveway refection". It's a whole new world next to a surfaced driveway or light colored house. We spent three months on the west side of a huge three story WHITE home working w/ huge stones and several tiers/patios of brick, which increases the heat even more; it was damn hot all the time.
later

[nimblewill]

Actually, you got off easy. I'm down to two varieties - "Regular" and "Extra Crispy."

I agree with the comments about sun, driveway heat and dryness, but there has been another factor at work here in central Ohio this year. I suspect that you may have experienced the same condition as here. WIND. We've had two episodes of high winds over a two or three day period this year, and each time you could see an immediate decline in the hostas. The most recent time we also had low humidity, bright sun and temperatures in the mid- to upper- eighties, but we have had those conditions on many days without major damage. Even though my plants were well watered, the roots couldn't seem to pump enough water to the leaves. Next time, I may try running a sprinkler during the day. Things couldn't look much worse.

[govgirl75]

Wind. I had not considered that. We did have some days that were windy enough to cause some wilting in my well watered container gardens. I was stymied about that but the plants did not crisp up, just looked a bit sad and recovered a few days later. The sprinkler thing sounds like a good idea.
Thanks.
Glo