My purple cone flower has some sort of a disease. The leaves are twisted and deformed and have rusty spots. I've noticed some other plants on the other side of the garden that had this too early in the spring, but now seem ok. The coneflower is still affected, however. It looks almost as if it was sprayed with Roundup, but I know it hasn't. Can anyone tell me what this is and how to treat it?
can you post a pic?? there are a few different things that could be the problem...would need to see the plant to be sure which.
doesn't look like aster yellow. also doesn't quite look like botrytis blight either. that is probably what it is, though. when conditions (plant and surrounding soil) are dry, remove anything that is already dead and anything that is obviously affected - make sure to pick up anything laying on the ground as well. continue to monitor and remove anything that is showing infection. i'd also remove any mulching you have in the immediate area. come fall, cut plants to ground level and remove. you could try treating with a fungicide...not sure how much that will help (read the labels and make sure the active ingredient will treat botrytis). if you maintain monitoring/removing damaged materials, the plants should recover (may not look that great for a bit, though) and they should come back fine next year. make sure to do the maintanence/trimming when conditions are dry...when moist, the spores are more likely to spread more easily.
I've done some research and I think you're right - it is botrytis - and we have had a cool wet spring here this year. Thanks!
