Purple coneflowers have Yellow Aster disease

16 years ago

I thought my purple coneflower heads looked really funny so I did some research on the net. They have the Yellow Aster disease which means I have to rip them all out. I noticed my neighbour has it too. The disease is transmitted by leafhoppers and can reside in other weeds as well.

I have had these plants in my front garden for over 10 years. I always keep seeds from the previous years. I have many new plants already started for other gardens that are not affected.

Since this disease can harbour with the leafhopper eggs in the soil, I have decided to replace these plants with bee balm plants instead. They grow similar in habit and still have striking flowers.

Anyone else have funny looking coneflowers this year? This is occuring in Ottawa.

Featured Answer

sara54321

10 years ago

Hi everyone,
I am trying to prep my garden and wondering whether I should pull up all of my coneflowers. I didn't know that they had yellow asters until I looked up why coneflowers turn green. I noticed the weird look last fall, but thought, "HmmmÃ¢ÂÂ¦ I must have planted an exotic one and didn't remember."

Do I really need to pull up all of them NOW or should I wait til they come up to see which are healthy? I have 50% perennials in the garden, much of which are resistant to the aster yellows. The coneflowers and rudbeckias are just the 2 that might be impacted.

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Comments (15)

halaeva
16 years ago
Hi.
Would you describe us your funny looking Coneflower?Please!
My Echinecea Purpurea(Purple Coneflower)look sick.Leaves are dark green,they are crispy- dry and small.Flowerheads are underdeveloped.Petals do not grow, or are very short.According to what i have learned my plants got Yellow Aster Disease and have to be removed.Leafhoppers are responsible for spreading disease and here is dilemma; how to get rid of them.
User
Original Author
16 years ago
I googled 'yellow aster disease coneflower' and did an image search. I found numerous articles on the web and pics on the images.

I have to pull mine and they are going in the garbage, not the compost pickup because they carry a plant virus. I also noted that the bugs could have eggs in the soil around the plant so I am not replanting my new coneflower seedlings started late winter (they are healthy in the backyard).

I will plant something different in their place - I am thinking of bee balm since it has a similar growing habit and pretty flowers.

I hope this helps. This is something absolutely new to me.

Here is a link that might be useful: These look like mine
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marricgardens
16 years ago
My coneflower came up and flowered like that a few years ago, just the short stunted petalsand crispy foliage. I had heard of yellow aster disease but didn't think it affected the coneflower. Whatever it was, it lasted only that one year. The flowers are back to normal now. Does anyone else know if there is anything else that can cause this? Marg
bonniepunch
16 years ago
I had been wondering what was mangling my Powderpuff Asters - it looks like that might be it. My purple coneflowers are much less purple than in other years, they're actually quite green, but I don't have the deformation (so far). I've never seen it before in my garden!

I'll wait and see what happens next year - if it shows up again, I guess I'll have to pull them too. It might be something different, since my Coreopsis and other plants that can be affected are all fine.

marric - there are tons of things that can cause stunted crispy leaves and flowers :-(, Aphids, nematodes, viruses, fungi, leaf scorch... Since it was only once that this happened to you, it was probably something that doesn't hang around in the soil - that's good at least :-)

BP
User
Original Author
16 years ago
Hi everyone,
my coneflower is definitely diseased and I will be pulling it out since the plants now carry the virus forever. Leaf hoppers can ingest their juices in future years as well and spread this disease even further.
As for the purple coneflowers having green flowers - it is also a plant illness. I am trying to find the reference for that one - I read an article when researching the coneflower 'green envy'...one woman thought she had a new coneflower from her original purple coneflower and it was explained that her plant had a disease that caused the flowers to go green and it was not the same as the new coneflower 'green envy'. I don't know. I am not an expert. Try to find an article on the internet when you really want to and it's like finding a needle in haysack...if I stop looking I will probably find it on every other search!
If I do find the article I will post back here with the link.
Knowledge is power!
halaeva
16 years ago
Hi again,
I was almost sure that My Purple Coneflower (Echinecea Purpurea) have Yellow Aster Disease until now.My plants are getting better. They recovering fast.What else could it be?
I searched Google for:
'Diseases of Echinacea on the Canadian Praries'
I can recommend this site.
Hala.
User
Original Author
16 years ago
Thanks Hala for the information. I checked the site and I have posted the link. Great information and pictures.

Here is a link that might be useful: Diseases of Echinacea on the Canadian Praries
wmc1
11 years ago
A lot of mine have it too (have about 60 different kinds) so will be quite expensive to destroy all. Nurseries are still selling them in this area, and they are getting them from suppliers. Noticed some in Meyers in the states too. Was advised to wait and see by nursery and see what happens. Think not, had a few last year, but didn't know what it was till now. Pass this on to all and keep eyes peeled in nureries too.
signet_gw(6b)
11 years ago
thought this might be of interest to some of you .

http://www.ehow.com/info_10058268_plants-leafhoppers-damage.html

signet
willy1der
11 years ago
I to thought this was affecting my coneflowers but I realize it is the damage from this summers japenese beetle infestation,I have never had them on coneflowers till this summer!!!
wmc1
11 years ago
I dont know whether you can get this link with pics of aster yellows
http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y222/wmc1/Yellow Aster disease/?albumview=slideshow&track=share_email_album_view_click
wmc1
11 years ago
trying this link again
http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y222/wmc1/Yellow%20Aster%20disease/
User
Original Author
11 years ago
OH - Hi Bill,

I had to search for this link again...post this a few years back. As I said in my email back to you I had to rip all of my coneflowers out and could not plant anymore in the area at all. When that disease is in your area it - it's in your area. It would be interesting to see if the plants would develop any resistence to them over the years. But I don't know. It's a shame since I noted in some of your posts while searching you have an extensive collection of echinacea plants.
marciaz3 Tropical 3 Northwestern Ontario
11 years ago
I thought my purple coneflowers had fasciated this year but maybe they have this as well. We've had frost and even snow (boo!), so i don't think there's much left of them. The orange ones (Sunset) right by them were fine. I'll have to watch them next summer and see how they do.