A Hybridizers End-Of-Season Rust Report

Matthew Kaskel  Homestead, FL USDA Zone 10 AHS Region 12 Dear Robins, ROBIN MEMBER ANNE DUNMIRE of Telford, Pennsylvania wrote in a post to the robin dated May 31, 2002," "Am I wrong in thinking that this 2002 season was supposed to "educate" us all about rust? So far --- and the season is about over in some southern states --- I've seen/learned absolutely nothing about where we are with rust! WHERE are the reports that I thought would be forthcoming on the subject?" MARK CARPENTER REPORTING in his June 16th, 2002 post, summarizing his experience with rust said," "Cut the foliage down to an inch, spray for a 3 month period weekly or in my case every other week alternating Daconil with a systemic such as Heritage or BannerMax, and it appears the rust is gone. Apparently forever. Regardless, even if it does reappear, I'll be nowhere near as concerned about it this time around. It is easily controllable if you follow the simple steps above." WELL, ANNE, HERE, now here is MY report to the robin..... TO BEGIN WITH, I AM GRATIFIED TO SEE that rust has not become quite the monster many of us had feared. Rust is not gone, but perhaps has turned out to be more easily managed than we had at first guessed. My expectation now is that there will be little serious effort made by most hybridizers to breed and select for low-rust daylilies. There is little incentive to do so, because for most dedicated daylily fanciers buying $100.00 daylilies, spraying is about to become no more than another routine chore. I would guess that in a very few years all of us who have grown daylilies BEFORE rust will be regarded as aging dinosaurs by newcomers who never grew daylilies without the presence of rust! IT HAS BEEN A LONG SEASON here in Homestead - It is the 20th week of bloom There are still several well- branched seedlings remaining to show their first bloom, so the new flowers have not all yet been seen. There has been rust each and every day of the season. Each plant responds differently and at different times of the season, but in Miami, the rust NEVER goes away! The bottom line is that rust affects all daylilies at all times. Still, at seasons end, there have been some cultivars that have shown cumulatively far less damage to rust than others. These are the ones that I have used in my breeding. I would guess that the bulk of the seedlings I have used would be ranked in the top 25% of all seedlings in resistance to rust damage. The seedling crop for next year should have very few of the "poor" seedlings that dominated this years crop. Those are gone, hopefully forever. The majority of next years seedling I expect to be "good", "very good" and "excellent" in resisting rust damage. If I select and breed with only the top 25% in damage-resistance THESE seedlings , I would the expect the following crop to be primarily "excellent" in resistance to rust damage. Not such a very long time nor such a very great effort to have such a desirable outcome... CALL ME IDEALISTIC or just plain simple-minded - (I have been called worse) - but for me reducing rust remains THE major issue in hybridizing daylilies. I DON'T WISH TO BE REGARDED as "noble" for wishing to address the problem. Nor do I frown on those who have not chosen to address the issue. It is simply not for everybody. But for me, I find the challenge of subduing rust to be a more interesting and worthwhile project to work on for the next few years than breeding and marketing some new flowers that would likely be rather redundant to those of many other hybridizers. And, alas, no matter how exciting they may be at the point of introduction, in a painfully short period of time, most are totally forgotten. I would rather develop "low rust" daylilies and make them available to other breeders who may wish to use them in their own breeding efforts. But mostly, I would like to have these daylilies available to the general gardening public. THERE IS, WITH THE ADVENT OF RUST, A NEW PROBLEM. Historically, the newly introduced daylilies have sold to a small number of breeders and collectors at premium prices. As the plants propagated and increased in number, the price have fallen and they then have become affordable to less affluent daylily fanciers. Eventually, the cultivars that prove to be good garden subjects and which propagate quickly, have entered the popular commercial market and have become widely grown by casual gardeners and have been used in commercial landscape installations. This kind of progression is not likely to continue with the advent of rust. The avid collector is likely to spray to control rust (or leave daylilies entirely). The casual daylily fancier may also decide to spray. But I consider it very unlikely that many casual gardeners will choose to spray to combat rust. As for general landscape use, some plantings will still be installed and maintained. But where daylilies have traditionally been regarded as an "easy" plant, it will henceforth be regarded as a "problem" plant and will be far less frequently planted. I HAVE SPENT 30 YEARS in the commercial nursery industry and in recent years have focused my attention on breeding daylilies that are suited to commercial applications and for use by the casual gardener. In these plants I have selected for a particular list of attributes. I have tried to develop plants that bear much less messy spent blooms, have fine, yet sturdy scapes, have strong, vibrant flower colors, have sturdy dark green foliage, tend to establish and form clump quickly and that have high flower production. Now, to this laundry list, I have added, "that strongly resist rust damage." Without this last attribute, I may as well throw a long career of hybridizing into the compost pile, for these rust-prone daylilies that are now currently available and most of those yet to come are becoming regarded as simply "irrelevant" to 99% of their potential users because of the plants' susceptibility to rust. SO HOW WAS THE RUST IN MY GARDEN this year? Just fine, thank you. But I hope that in not too many years I will be able to report that it enjoyed only a brief, if unpleasant, reign in my garden but is now living a quiet and obscure existence in only the garden's nethermost reaches. Sincerely, Matthew Reprinted with permission from Daylily Robin.