Aster Yellow's

Anderson, IN(Zone 6a)

Well first of all I will say I know there is suppose to be no cure , and Antibiotic treatments are being tried by research professionals
Well to begin with not wanting to throw my Coneflowers and dealing with a microbe I decided to argue some to see if I could learn something ,( going the hard way seems to be it with me. lol )

I lost most of the original blooms and stems this season but have been trying Ammonia x Listerine to destroy a microbe , First I did Cider x spoiled Fruit juice Be careful when you mix this with Ammonia x Listerine as it odors like manure being sprayed on crop fields , Those of you that live in the country or near commercial growing fields are well aware of what I am talking about , (odor is overpowering )
And should disclaim as to anyone that might try something like this remember,, this is only an experiment and this is the web (you know , me too lol)

Well the first pic early this season , in the background blooms you can see the yellow's disease developing .
Aeriation to older stems and the microbe hollows out the bloom stems , from solid stem cutting back and keeping air around the plant is where I have been starting my treatment program ..
It seems usually about half way up the bloom stem is where the disease attacks the plant with vigor , so Ammonia as an osmotic with an Antimicrobial would be the place to start
This is in progress and if there is any interest I will post more results as time goes along ,
Last pic is a bloom today after a little more than a week of the spray program no symptoms on bloom , only very few on the plant ..


This message was edited Aug 12, 2013 10:15 PM

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Anderson, IN(Zone 6a)

I should add that the formula sprayed also "rotted off or through" infected larger stems , so it seems it may function .. ( from note to self).
And thank you for reading this ,,

Athens, PA

Juhur

Wondering if your other plants are affected as well. From everything I have read on Yellows Aster - the disease is supposed to affect rudbeckia and asters as well as coneflowers.

Anderson, IN(Zone 6a)

Hi Carolyn22 From what I have been reading previously . Liatris , Sunflowers and vegetables like carrots and potatoes and several more , Those are all I remember at the moment .
A very serious microbial infection at times ..
I will keep at it a while in hopes of learning more . I see previous where i posted on the other thread talking about this , All I hear is destroy the plants ,,I am wondering

who . if any ever looked for a way to destroy a microbe causing this , I am also seeing dead bees , spiders, and flies , on infected plants , (before any of my spraying anything)
My observation tells me there is a more serious concern to this

Athens, PA

I was concerned about my coneflowers last year - they just were not looking right to me and there were some distorted buds that never opened and the blooms looked almost faded in color. I was concerned about Asters Yellow, but really did not want to have to ditch all my coneflowers like I did several years ago (still regretting that). This year they look great, so apparently whatever was going on last year with those cones was not Asters Yellow. I am thinking that because it is such a dreaded disease that our thoughts automatically go there when we see there are problems.



Anderson, IN(Zone 6a)

Carolyn22 ' it is what mine have , without any doubt . When I was reading where they pro's had been using Tetracyclene and such to treat infected plants (with aster yellow's) they said a reduced effect of the disease appeared in some plants .
As you you and I both know , a perennial plants only purpose is to survive ..(idea!!!) The plants become resistant to the disease?
IT (Aster Yellow's) is caused by a microbe ( bringing to mind a plant flu ) The way it effects the plant It seems to effect around the root crown into the older stems , on older plants , but not the root crown areas .. Younger plants and blooms , the bloom breaks or drops and the stems are hollow half way or so on the bloom stem .
Well I cut my plants to the ground , and today nearing on two weeks I have four new blooms on one plant and only one bloom stem showing the yellow's disease ..
I think with a spray program of anti -microbial the plants are developing resistance .
Mine are only purple so far with a few white swan started as seedling ,so cost isn't the thing of concern , only some bug taking out my blooms erk's me .. and I don't like giving up to not having anymore Coneflowers ..

The third#3 pic bloom still showing the disease The others as 1&2 same plant free of yellow's ..
4&5 From a severely infected plant beginning to return (also free of yellow's) I don't know what the half bloom is about ,

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Athens, PA

I think the real test is what you get next year. I don't think a hard freeze and the ground freezing would necessarily be a bad thing.

Anderson, IN(Zone 6a)

I think you are correct about waiting until next year
and Apology for not saying sorry to hear about your Coneflowers being lost , Only that is what this is about , finding a treatment so you , I , and others do not have to trash throw or do away with anymore of our flowers because of this ....
Dreaming on ? maybe ? working at it , you know it !!!

This message was edited Aug 13, 2013 6:46 PM

Athens, PA

Quote from juhur7 :

Dreaming on ? maybe ? working at it , you know it !!!

This message was edited Aug 13, 2013 6:46 PM


I think all of the above have to happen in order to find a way through it!

Anderson, IN(Zone 6a)

This is one I kept , this from yesterday , I wouldn't say as nice as could be , only looking better ,I am still hoping ,

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Athens, PA

Funny thing - some of my Meringue cones look a bit Y Asters to me, however the Magnus that was looking rather bad to me last year, were great this year. I am wondering if it is something other than A.Yellows

Anderson, IN(Zone 6a)

I was mentioning that earlier , the dead spiders, the dead bees, the dead beetles , I sprayed nothing on them or the garden,neither had anyone else , Only my home brew since.
I'm, not a happy camper being left with more questions than answers as usual .
Isn't that always the "norm", though .?

Thread stray ; saw #8 Monarch today , only a glance as it flew past me above my head .

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Anderson, IN(Zone 6a)

Well two plants returning look good(purple) Milkshake has returned but is small and green, and by size is pathetic looking ,
White Swan is small but larger than the Milkshake .. shortly I will see ..

Anderson, IN(Zone 6a)

looking this way this year , I think I like the Listerine and Ammonia formula

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KC Metro area, MO(Zone 6a)

I have aster yellows again this year. I had a few last year and pulled them and they did good for rest of season. This year I will have to pull all of them and I might even redo the soil a bit and replant them with all new seed.

Anderson, IN(Zone 6a)

The only reply I can give to that is , Even the Elms adapted eventually with some inventiveness .
You can tell mine are not completely healthy this year either . Only the ones above the last post from last season looked okay as I kept at what I was doing .
Feel bad for you though pepper , and I know the feeling , Ripping up flowers is not why you put them there !!!

I did read last season where plants can become resistant and how the plants do that ,, only man, oh man !!! is that a lot of effort !

KC Metro area, MO(Zone 6a)

That's why I've only been pulling the one's obviously affected. But by waiting til fall it won't be as bad. I've had the same batch or offspring for at least 15 years. I love the low maintence and how the birds and butterflies love em. I also have a jap maple that will be replacing the dogwood this year too so I need to thin it out anyways. lol

Anderson, IN(Zone 6a)

Here is one I kept from the mess above ,, 2yrs later , 50 inches tall , and see for yourself ,,

I am pretty happy with the result ,, even though it is only a wild form .

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Pequannock, NJ(Zone 6b)

Can I ask why you think this is Aster Yellow instead of Mites?

Anderson, IN(Zone 6a)

The leaf hopper that carried Aster Yellow was prevalent that season , Three of the plants died .
And yes , I get mites also , me and the plants occasionally , ugh , oooh ,, ick ,,,
of course soap is a lot easier , isn't it ,

Finally . root damage under the microscope , showed microbial ,, not insect ..

Thumbnail by juhur7 Thumbnail by juhur7
Pequannock, NJ(Zone 6b)

Interesting. So am I reading this right that with Aster Yellow, the stems become hollow? And what kind of damage did you see in the roots?

Anderson, IN(Zone 6a)

a microbial that resembles wilt slightly under a microscope , the stem also breaks very easily away from the root , (not as obviously as rot ,) which is actually more similar to the plant disease we are talking about , The root eventually dies .
I have stem borers or small cutworms on some of mine in a large group or clump now .causes flower stem break , or broken flower heads for no apparent reason ,

What particularly are you asking about , ?
The one I have kept sprayed , the butterfly pic , no problem so far ..

Pequannock, NJ(Zone 6b)

In the first post you say,

"Aeriation to older stems and the microbe hollows out the bloom stems , from solid stem cutting back and keeping air around the plant is where I have been starting my treatment program."

Anderson, IN(Zone 6a)

( some time ago , probably talking about the following ) I was cutting the stem back to the solid stem on the bloom stalks , Keeping the plant from being full ( the way we like them , full looking , lots of leaves and blooms ) ( that and it was probably causing holes or spongy effect to the stalks just below the blooms where the stems "hollow out" )
Keeping other leaves of other plants from touching the coneflower , I tend to grow a lot of plants close together..

I was spraying the capful of listerine and the capful of ammonia , on the solid remaining stems
The idea is that the disease , being caused by a leafhopper spreading a virus . if you keep everything from touching , the disease has more trouble spreading ,
Think of it like having poison ivy on your skin , if you can freeze it in place , it cannot spread ,

The ammonia is a penetrating nitrogen , not really good for you or the soil , the listerine and several other germ killers may work , i use the listerine because I know it rarely kills a plant ,
,

This message was edited Jul 23, 2015 1:14 AM

Anderson, IN(Zone 6a)

My silly while I read ,, ( this I have tested , for myself , I like it ) works is all I know ,, but ,,

If your plants sneeze , it is all gone to pot and your done for ,, lol sorry had to , lol

Pequannock, NJ(Zone 6b)

Okay, that was bad! Lol!
So I would have guessed by your pictures that you had mites, not aster yellows but your saying that you were able to tell because of the microscope so that just tells me I really won't be able to tell by appearances. I have been cutting off infected blooms and throwing them out. It has cut down infection but I assumed I had mites.

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Anderson, IN(Zone 6a)

I feel miserable for you I really do , a season of blooms anyway , lost , gone , it really is the Pitts !!!
Try an Antibacterial soap , once a week or so , mites don't like it either , I am getting them because I have not been spraying because until this week it has rained here almost every day this season ,
Once anything hollows out the bloom stem though your blooms are done for , no sap to the flower ,, croaksville ,, dead ,, gone ... deformed ,,
Spray them as the season ends this year while keeping them sprayed , spray them early next season if possible ,, They will be back most likely , I lost a few of plants ,, so no miracle ,, but it worked to keep a few alive ,, I could of lost several more that I still have ,,,
luck to you ,, and ,, Never give up ,,

Pequannock, NJ(Zone 6b)

Thank you! It isn't a lost season though. Even after cutting off many blooms like this, I still have a lot of healthy ones left. Since I suspected mites, I was going to spray the green buds with water mixed with a little chlorophyll with peppermint oil. I bought it for some seeds that were germinating white and dying so I thought I'd give it a try. It wasn't suppose to have the peppermint. Anyway it didn't work but I noticed little tiny bugs coming out of the soil when I poured it in the pot so it's worth a try.

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Anderson, IN(Zone 6a)

Mint is a soap of sorts ,, tea soap .. it cleans worms out of us too .. icky thought , only what it is it is I guess ..
Several herbs are great things , gotta love them weeds !!!
I have five foot Catnip bushes this year ,,

Pequannock, NJ(Zone 6b)

So the cats party at your house!

Anderson, IN(Zone 6a)

LOL I own one , have five others this summer , three Raccoons and two Ground Hogs
Last week a skunk was under the porch a couple times , "Please use other Door " read the note ,,on the porch door ,, lol

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