My Hollyhocks have disease and leaves are turning yellow. I water almost every day therefore these plants are not suffering from water shortage. Too much moisture is causing these plants to have disease? What can I use to save these Hollyhocks?
It might be too much water.... depending on where you live and soil types etc. Do you have photos to show? That might help in the diagnosis.
My Hollyhoks have disease cherylad, thank you for your quick reply. Yes, I need to reduce watering. When I did research on internet about disease of Hollyhocks, picture of rust is exactly same of my Hollyhock disease. I hesitate to use toxic spray on my plants knowing my Hollyhocks are planted in vegetable garden. Does baking powder and vegetable oil mixed with water work for rust on Hollyhocks? This kind of spray works on my roses.
I thought it might be Hollyhock Rust. You can try to keep it controlled by cutting off all infected leaves now and the stems after they finish blooming, pick up leaves that have fallen to the ground and throw them away, not in the compost. Sulphur dust on both sides of the leaves is the usual course of treatment and thinning out the bed if there are several of them in a mass, poor air circulation allows the fungus to spread easily. Or spraying with a fungicide but read the instructions carefully to find out how it might affect your veggies. That being said...do the Hollyhocks come back every year where you are or are they annuals? If they come back yearly, you might have to do what you can for now to make it to fall, then move the Hollyhocks away from the veggies. If they are annuals for you then let them live out this season pull everything up in the fall and throw it away. Next year plant in a different location so if the virus hits again you can treat them easier. The fungus will survive winter on the infected stems and leaves, then the spring breezes spread the spores to more new Hollyhocks. So be sure to use sulphur or a fungicide on anything remaining in the ground during the winter.
toni, thank you for taking your time to post reply. I am not sure if my Hollyhocks are annual or perennial but I can contact nursery where I purchased these plants and ask them to find out for sure. How do you think about using baking soda and vegetable oil mixed with water to spray on my Hollyhocks?
