Hallson Gardens

Chris--Because of the concerns over spreading the virus when digging up an invected plant, why not just use Roundup and let the plant die in the ground? That would seem to eliminate the possiblity of contamination. My understanding is that the virus dies as soon as the plant is dead.

Hi Hank,

Hostas are pretty tough to kill. I suppose if you brush on concentrate to the leaves and pour some onto the crown it would do the trick. Last year I accidentally sprayed very high concentration of roundup mixed with brush killer on an Earth Angel and it died back to the ground completely only to return at half the size this year. (This is what can happen when I'm spraying weeds at dusk and you are spraying skunk cabbage that is growing around hostas )

So my concern is that roundup may not completely kill the plant. We dig up infected plants with spading forks, get close to the crown and pry them out. But these are not established plants so it isn't that tough...