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yellow rust on hoolyhocks

i have alot of tree frogs that live in my yard so i use no chemicals, but my hollyhocks have been attacked by what looks like bright yellow scales and brown egg like spots on the under leafs.what can i do non chemically to stop the deaths of my black flower hollyhocks? help...................

Posts

  • sotongeoffsotongeoff Posts: 9,802

    Not a lot I am afraid-let them flower then dispose-the spores can remain in the soil but there are rust resistant varieties available-check those out.

  • jude5jude5 Posts: 65

    My hollyhocks suffered last year too, but this years foliage is coming up ok so far, will have to wait and see I guess.

  • Alina WAlina W Posts: 1,445

    One thing that you can try is to cut the plants down to ground level at the end of the year and then mulch around them - spores re-infect when they bounce up from the ground when it rains.

    Once the plants start growing, feed them well and they will outgrow the rust for a time.

  • im a bit confused as 2 what it is .it looks like bright yellow scales on the stems, and underneath the leaves its masses of puffy like brown spots, is that the rust? or do i have more than 1 problem?

  • sotongeoffsotongeoff Posts: 9,802

    It is all rust.

  • ok thanx's so much 4 your help i was looking in my my garden shed and found some sevin powder thats for this rust, does anyone know how toxic it is if at all?

  • sotongeoffsotongeoff Posts: 9,802

    Sevin powder is not for rust-it is a quite toxic insect kiler.

  • Gold1locksGold1locks Posts: 498

    Rust is such a major problem for hollyhocks that they are really best treated as a biennial. They will almost certainly get infected in their first year of flowering, and rust spores will splash up from the soil onto lower leaves and reinfect the plants early on in the following year. 

    You can try to minimise the problem by removing all the lower leaves, and you can try rust resistant varieties. I have done both and it didn't make any difference.  

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