I am in the same boat as you...Zone 7b, have never had it or seen it in person. I am very careful to buy only from people that state they don't have it. Of course this doesn't mean they don't have it and just don't know it. I've been lucky so far though...The worst part for me has been giving up trading.

Jakejones asked: "Am I paranoid? What are you doing about the rust situation? Are there adequate safeties for club plants? Are there any major hybridizers that are "rust free?" Are the Ohio hybridizers rust free?"

No, you are not paranoid, yor concerns are very reasonable, unfortunately, you do not need to bring new plants into your garden to get rust. The spores can be carried by wind, birds,and animals. A few years ago I went to a shoppping center that had been mass planted with Stellas, and they were covered! About the clubs buying for sales, that would be a question to ask them, before they invest club money. About Ohio Hybridizers, who can say for sure? Everybody likes to get new plants, and some usualy come from the south. I am in northern ohio, and have had it pop up the last 2 years in August. The first year, I am sure it was on southern plants, last year BELLA SERA which was new here came into bloom the beginning of August. Most of my plants were about bloomed out, so I went to the garden centers shopping, and picked up some nice TET purples, that still had a lot of bloom left in them. When I went back there bargin hunting for Hostas and Coneflowers in mid/late August their dalilys were covered with rust. When I got home and looked, sure enough 3 of the plants I bought there had it. I was lucky though, they were off by themselves still potted, and it did not spread.

Jakejones stated: "My sense is that most hemaholics in zone 7 here can easily remain rust free if they take the right precautions. Unfortunately, that means waiting to buy from northern gardens. Or hybridizing a lot more!"

I will be changing my buying habits, I usually purchase plants on the LA all winter for Spring delivery. In the past it did not matter, where I purchased them from North or South. This year I did recieve 1 plant from Texas purchased on e-bay. It showed up with signs that it had rust, was sprayed, and had recovered. PO'd does not describe how I felt, if Texas wasn't so far.... anyway I cut it down to the crown, and potted it, it has recieved regular sprayings of funguscides, and I think I am safe. In the future, I will purchase plants from the South only in the fall, and let winter deal with any possible rust.

One last thought, removing all the foliage from infected plants may do more harm than good, when you remove the foliage you remove the plants ability to make food, and continue growing. My advice to anyone in the North would be not to panic, decide wether you want to spray or not, I would say if it is just a few isolated plants, spray them to prevent it spreading, and watch the rest of the garden. It is not the end of the world.

bambi too, what you are saying confirms what a lot of people have told me privately. Often, it starts with new plants from the south in the later part of the summer.

If it shows up in late summer, it seems that it will grow and spread through Sept and Oct.

The box stores seems to be a big vector -- there were reports of it last year as well.

I wish there were some good news about rust...

I have never seen or had rust in my garden, but I do spray to prevent. I don't want it showing up in my garden. Though rust is unsightly, it will not kill your plants from what I have been reading. My new arrivals are always potted and I haven't had a problem, for I also spray the new arrivals weekly.

I can say I have seen it in my girlfriends garden in PA. She doesn't spray to prevent it. As I am sure that is why she gets it.

I do worry about my neighbors though. They know nothing about daylilies and 3 neighbors have them from what I can see. So I'm sure they don't spray to prevent rust. So far for 5 years, I've had a clean garden. Fingers are crossed.

If you don't mind looking at it, it's really no big deal. As long as you have cold enough winters to kill it. IF your winter is cold enough, you shouldn't see it the following season.

I am searching for a site that I was reading w/ great info on rust. If I find it, I'll be sure to link the site here for everyone to read.

I grow only a few daylilies compared to others and when I first encountered this forum was worried silly about rust. Now I'm not saying that it can't be serious, but the rust I've encountered is easily controlled by just pulling off the leaves. What is ironic is that I have pink rain lilies (Zephyrantes) planted in a border along with a daylily (Pandora's Box)and the rain lilies are totally defoliated by this time of the year (foliage regrows later).Pandora has some spoty leaves but I pull them off and it does fine. Of course with all of our rain I'm seeing more rust then usual, but still it's not much and I don't spray. Maybe there are other cultivars that are heavily damaged by rust, but I just don't want newbies to be over exercised about it.

bambi_too, You said, "This year I did recieve 1 plant from Texas purchased on e-bay. It showed up with signs that it had rust, was sprayed, and had recovered."

What sign showed that it had rust and was sprayed? Were there rust spots on the leaves? Were the leaves coated with dried fungicide spray?

And what do you mean when you say that it had recovered? Did it no longer have rust? And if it had recovered, why were you mad about it?

Obviously, I'm confused. Could you clarify? I'm trying to learn as much as I can about rust.
Thanks,
Kathy

kathy--if you will put--daylilyrust--in a search--you will get more info than you will ever need--from the American Hemerocallis Society site to various university literature and growers experiences--i have given numerous talks on rust--where it comes from, how it starts, what it does, and how to prevent it and control it--there is also alot of 'mis-information' out there about RUST--any questions?--HAPPY GARDENING

Kathy asked

"What sign showed that it had rust and was sprayed? Were there rust spots on the leaves? Were the leaves coated with dried fungicide spray?"

There was a milky white residue which was probably Danconil, and there were many dark green spots on the leaves wher the pustules from the rust had healed over. I guess I was lucky she didn't trim the foliage.

Kathy Asked

"And what do you mean when you say that it had recovered? Did it no longer have rust? And if it had recovered, why were you mad about it?"

I could see where the pustules that the spores come out of had healed over, there is a possiblity that the plant was rust free, but the leaves were still all intact. There is a possibility that there were still viable spores deep down in the foliage which would later reinfect the plant. Getting rust in mid/late August is not as big of a deal as getting it in April or May, which would be a disaster. If I get it early in the year, I can pretty much forget about hybridizing for that summer, as a matter of fact I would probably cut all the scapes to avoid the plants flowering. My daylily addiction pays for its self for the most part through my sales of excess plants and seed. I would not be able to hybridize, so there would be no seed for me to plant or sell, and selling plants would be out of the question. Instead of enjoying the bloom here, I would be spraying trying to eradicate the rust. A quart bottle of Danconil concentrate is about $12.00, and the plants would need to be sprayed on all leaf surfaces. I don't think even 2 bottles would cover the garden once, and repeated spraying would be needed. AT that point it would almost be easier to take the weed wacker to the whole place and hope for the best.

Yes I was mad, it was not very responsible on her part. She has no business selling plants that are or were infected. I suspect she doesn't really know what she is doing, since the plants foliage was untrimmed. I guess I am just lucky there, because if it had been I would have never seen the possible problem. The other problem I have is the residue on the plant Danconil is very sticky, thats one of the reasons it works, what if I has allergic, or handled the plant and rubbed my eyes. There was no note, saying they had been dipped, soaked or sprayed, or what they had been dipped, soaked, or sprayed with. She threw my safety and the health of my garden out the window for $7.50 and shipping.

Thanks for your responses. I suppose one option is "nubbing" the fans -- removing ALL foliage. That would set plants back, but probably not that much as one could plant in early spring. They probably wouldn't bloom, but first year bloom is iffy anyway.

How does rust first appear? On the outer leaves first? Can you just peel off the outer leaves? Or does is show up throughout the plant?

Another option is quarantining new plants. Personally, I don't have a great option for this. The only other space is outside the deer fence. I could fence off a small area, plant in Sept and spray and/or remove foliage as needed. This isn't ideal. The fenced in area would look bad. I would have to keep checking on them daily. They would have to be moved behind the deer fence in the spring. A lot of hassle! But not as much as compared with getting rust. I'll have to reevaluate if it's worth it. Quarantining in the fall would allow winter to help with rust eradication.

It starts out looking a lot like leaf streak, but then the pustules form, and finally open with the bright orange powdery spores.

I have made it a habit to strip off the first 2 leaves on each side of each fan, because of the space for spores to have fallen into.

If it is already inside the plant, the plant is already infected. Stripping off leaves, or cutting the fan down is not going to be any real help. I pot all new arrivals, because they will develop better root systems in the pots than in our clay. In September I dig an oversized hole, add a couple of cups of Milorganite, and plant them. They are in the driveway pretty much out of the way.

The plant from Texas is behind the garage away from everything.

Like I said no more plants from the South for spring arrival.

I and all my daylily friends here have simply quit buying any at all. We trade among ourselves, and love the ones we have. They are all rust free, and we hope to keep it that way. I did bring an Awesome Blossom home from my daughters in Wyo. earlier this spring. She got it from a nursery in Colo. last year. So far no signs of rust. It's still in the pot I brought it home in, and I watch it daily.

Why don't you people north of zone 8 just grow dormants? Unless you have some patrinia when the foliage dies back, any rust will die with it. Rust only grows in the green foliage, not the crown or the roots. You can start fresh every year!
Pat Stamile published a procedure for new arrivals that works well. Strip the first two outer leaves off to the crown, then cut the foliage off to within a half inch of the crown. A bleach soak would be smart and some isolation would be smart. Pot it up and watch it before putting it in with your other daylilies.
What really gripes me is that no one is really doing anything about rust. We all keep waiting for some magic carpet to deliver us from rustydom. The people in the north want to buy only from northern vendors but don't care if the plant is a rust magnet or not. There are plenty of plants that don't get rust, but all I see is more rusty plants coming to market because there's a demand for them. No one buys a plant because it doesn't rust, they just want a pretty face. Look at the two last Stout winners. Both rust magnets! Southern growers felt insulted.
I got so worked up I broke my soap box. Sorry! But I feel better.
Ed

plantdoctor, thanks for the suggestion. I frequently search the 'net for rust info, but rarely see anything new. I do have a question. Can daylily seeds carry rust? I have read both yes and no. I don't see how they can if the rust spores need green foliage to grow. Also, if there are any rust spores on the seed, would refrigeration be enough to kill it?

bambi_too, thanks for the explanation. I understand now. I have never had plants shipped to me with the foliage untrimmed.

Ed, I understand your frustration. But I disagree that no one wants a plant that doesn't rust. I certainly do! In fact, I think it's an excellent topic for discussion. I will start another post and hope that you will share your thoughts.

jakejones, this was an interesting thread. Thanks.

Kathy

Here is Sue Bergeron's page on rust:

http://web.ncf.ca/ah748/rust.html

I forgot to mention that on Sue's page, there is a garden survey of cultivars that are resistant.

"What really gripes me is that no one is really doing anything about rust. We all keep waiting for some magic carpet to deliver us from rustydom."

Not quite true, Ed. Matthew Kaskel, a southern hybridizer, has been breeding for rust resistance. I don't know the details of his operation, but I know that he doesn't spray or take other measures to protect against rust; he lets all his plants get it....or not. And then breeds only with the ones that don't get it or seem highly resistant.

Yes, Sue has a page dealing with daylily rust. Rebecca Board does the survey. We owe both of them.

What does it tell you when the authority on daylily rust is a Canadian that lives up in zone 3 or 4? No disrespect meant to Sue - I think the world of her. (btw - Sue also has a rust group for anyone really interested in rust. If you are, email me and I'll get you an invite.) Now look at the numbers in the rust survey. Not enough to attribute to one hybridizer or major grower, imo, and jakejones says we have at least 24.

And yes, I have heard the legend of Matt Kaskell. He closed his garden in 2001, I think, to save us by producing rust resistant plants. Funny that since then, he has been able to patent for tissue culture five plants and spread his seedling called 'the edge' liberally among the Florida hybridizers; but hasn't released one rust resistant plant. Not to single Matt out, he's not done any less than any other hybridizer, but apparently no more either. We all do have our priorities.

I just went with another daylily collector/grower and we bought over $450.00 worth of fungicide to split between four guys. If I count my labor at minimum wage, I easily spend more money on treating for rust than I pay for new daylilies annually. I have quit participating in plant raffles and auctions. Why pay for a headache; I don't need the angst.

I will say that I had the pleasure of meeting John Kinnebrew, Jr. last fall. He came to our Daylily Club and showed us what his family is doing with daylilies. I noticed that they have a line coming out of WITCHES WINK with MR. LUCKY in it. Both daylilies are very resistant to rust. I don't know if they are concerned enough about rust to try to do something about it or not, but this is about the only bright spot I have seen in some time.

I was able to patch my soapbox. ;0)
Ed

Hey Ed, you could buy your new plants from people in the North for spring delivery.

How about a favor, I'll e-mail you a name and address, and you can go over there and....

Hi Ed,

Thanks for your post. I really heard the emotional aspect (financial and time as well) in dealing with rust, and I have experienced, now, a feeling of compassion for all of you in warmer climes. It's hard to bear that the easiest perennial now comes at the cost of spraying. That's a big change in the ease and cost and philosophy of growing hems.

Just remember a couple positives. My season near DC starts about now, in summer: Late June on. You have a much earlier season with more rebloom. Also, you have much more rapid increase. It can easily take five years or more to get a clump here. If I buy a fan one year, often only get two the next. --That's one of the reasons I like to buy from local growers who sell potted hems with 2-10 fans in them. But that also means I am behind the newest by several years.

One more positive. Since you have to spray, you are free to buy from anyone! I can only buy from about 5% on the auctions. I am now trying to get 2001-2002 intros. I have to wait for the polar bears to get them, increase them, then sell them. Bless them!!!

It's a balance. You used to have daylily paradise, now you have daylily real world -- you have to spray, we have to endure the winter.

Shalom, salaam, peace!!

This will always be remembered as the year that rust finally made it into my yard. Because everyone in the family has breathing problems and we are retired there is no way that we can either buy or use the expensive sprays that the commercial growers use to control rust so, I tried the dish soap method mentioned on the forums. I cut back the plants and sprayed them carefully and peeled off the outer leaves. I then sprayed the surrounding soil and any visible place on the pot, inside and out. I ended up cutting back twice and spraying four times. It was not successful and the six plants that were infected, DIVINELY BLESSED, RASPBERRY WINTER, NAVAJO PRINCESS, SQUASH DOLLY, LATIN RHYTHM AND MABELINE EYES were disposed of. RASPBERRY WINTER had the worst problem with rust. In four days it was completely covered with rust. Every leaf and scape looked terrible. There was not one square inch that was clear. The other five plants had many spots of rust but not to the extent of RW but because the rust came back I disposed of all six plants and the soil they were planted in. For those who are curious, every daylily that came into my yard was cut back, outer leaves peeled off and then received a bleach bath before they were planted. I have only bought from California providers for the past three years so will have to presume that it was carried into the yard by birds or insects from someone elses yard.

JoAnn

I refuse to spray for rust. I have animals, I just wont do it. I find its much more interesting wandering thru my daylily beds seeing where the rust lands and where it doesnt. Rust hits me the hardest in the fall. I have a little bit of rust now, but its very minor. I found the best thing I can do for rust is simply leaving space between my cultivars. I like them to clump, but they clump in individual clumps, not a row of clumps side by side. I have about 5 or 6 daylilies that have some rust right now; the most rust I have on a plant right now is on Precious Candy. Im not doing anything with it, other than enjoying the flowers and setting some pods on it. The daylilies in its immediate vicinity, Skinwalker, Fun In The Sunshine, Edith Sliger, have no rust on them. Im not saying they are rust resistant, they just don't have any rust on them. I have several plants that have rust on them, and their immediate neighbors dont. But I do have a lot of circulation between plants, and I really feel that has a lot to do with helping. I really need to take the time (maybe this weekend) and go thru the beds and mark who has rust and who doesnt. If I get that done, Ill post what I have.

In the rose world when you ask about a rose usually the information from other rose growers includes disease resistance experience. Since I'm relatively new and naive in the daylily world it never occured to me that the carefree daylilies of old had changed so much. When I can finally afford it I really want Shores of Time, but is it a rust magnet? Should we all begin asking about rust resistance when we are thinking about buying a new daylily? Joann in California's experience is something I've never encounterd before and it's making me nervous.

Cavamarie,

Thanks for you post. I've been thinking about it all day. You're just about zone 9, and everything I've heard is that it's pretty endemic there: wind, bugs, etc. I can understand your reasons for not spraying. I'm surprised that in your garden not every cultivar develops rust every year. I would have thought it would have run rampant through your gardens, over the years, since your "winters" probably wouldn't even slow it down. Maybe it has a natural "season." You have some newer cultivars, esp. by my "oldie" standards. Does rust slow down the increase of fans for you?

I havent seen rust slow down increase. I planted Precious Candy this past spring as a big fat single fan; it is now 9 fans. They arent the humongous fans that typically come from Stamile's, but I dont treat them like they do either. I dont water enough, I hardly ever remember to fertilize. So Im pretty much seeing the real plant. I did have a couple of plants that I had to toss since they were hideous rust magnets, David Kirchhoff was one, I think Chance Encounter was one also. I have some seedlings blooming also. Interestingly Ill see one seedling with some rust and some others of the same cross with none. As I said earlier, I keep a lot of circulation between plants. I do wonder, and I might be way off base with this, if the fact that I dont spray helps the plant form its own personal immunity after a year or two. All I know is I was terrified of rust when I first got into daylilies, and now I dont even hardly think of it.

There has been times in the past that a plant did get rust pretty badly in the fall. I just cut it down to the ground, sprayed it once or twice with bleach/water, and it grew back just fine with no rust. I am trying to pay attention to my seedlings that don't get any or very little rust.

Here's another good page on rust:

http://world.std.com/~mhuben/rust.html

Someone mentionned that ALL the Florida hybridizers have rust in their plantings. Would that be an accurate statement?

jakejones...good question. I was hoping that someone with more experience would reply. I don't know the answer. But my guess would be yes, they probably all have had rust. But why limit it to Florida hybridizers? I'd bet that all the "big" growers/hybridizers in the south, have rust occasionally, during certain times of the year, on some daylilies. I don't see how they can avoid it without cold winters to kill the spores. If we agree that a spray program doesn't kill rust...but merely suppresses it....then aren't occasional outbreaks inevitable? Where is the interest by forum members on this topic? Not long ago, someone asked how could a LA seller auction off daylilies when they knowingly have rust in their garden? Everyone agreed that this should never be done without full disclosure. But if I'm right, the Pro's do it all the time. Go look at their websites. They might say that they have a spray program...but I've yet to see a "full disclosure". So where is the shock...the indignation? Do we have a double standard?
Kathy

In my experience, that double standard has always been there...for any negative aspect of daylilies. With rust and rot, there is no solution. We can only hope to keep our losses to a minimum. I call it the human factor...our "gift" to daylilies. It is only fitting that we are the ones who suffer.

I had a rust free garden until this year. I added many newer cultivars from the LA, and most are from the South (you get bigger/better and more fans from southern growers). I think that 90-100% of them had rust, so I now have rust. Sure, I can spray every week and pretend that it isn't there, but as soon as I stop, it is there.

We can do a few things...speak out and be vulnerable to the politically correct, set an example by showing integrity and disclosing truth (my perverted truth as some may think), or slowly infiltrate Mexico and do the work that the domestics won't do.

The truth may be that all plants from the South have rust, but if we can't see the spores we can deny it. It seems that if we admit to spraying, then we have rust. So many positive aspects of daylilies are linked to dormants and the North. Is that a "dirty" thought?

So, anyone wonder whether we are breaking the law by spraying? And if we are not, are we still doing just as bad. I am Wade, and I am a sprayaholic.

Yes,rust is an ugly business.I am not going to take spring delivery anymore after being hit with it this year. I haven't looked into it,but I wonder what the Dept. of Agriculture has to say about shipping and rust?I fear that if it isn't gotten under control and eradicated by the growers,the gov't. will step in and put so many costly regulations in place that it will be impossible to do business.

Betsy

I've be looking at several of the 2008 intros, reading more of the "info" about the sellers and I've noticed that several do say they are spraying for rust or have a "rust program". I've decided to take the plunge and purchase about 6 2008 intros from various sellers. I'm not going to let the rust keep me from buying from them. I've never bought plants this expensive before and may never get to again so I intend to enjoy this splurge, rust or not.

I also have accepted that rust is a part of my Southern garden. I do have it isolated to just the new ones that I bought this year and some others in pots that I had close to the new ones that I bought in the Spring. Some have a bad case, some just a little. I cut back all the foilage, sprayed for about 3 weeks in a row and they look so much better. I still have a few that the rust came back on, rapidily, but I'm not tossing them until next year. I'm hoping my winter weather will kill it.

I think I stated this before, but I did have one plant last year that had it in one of my established beds(I planted it directly into the bed instead of potting it up in late 2005). It has had no signs of rust or none in the that bed have had rust this year, so I'm guessing that the cold of winter killed it off. We normally have a week or two of low in the low 20's in the winter and even some nights in the teens, so I guess this helps my garden. I'll try to remember to let you guys know how these plants do next year. I guess those cold days of winter are really a blessing in disguse!

I've enjoyed reading your responses on the post.

Blessings to all, Mona

I am not going to let rust stop me from buying either,just from taking spring delivery. I will buy for fall.It just made the plants so ugly. I figure with winter kill and fall deliveries I can avoid the mess.

Betsy

I got rust from someone I did a large trade with this spring. She sprays for rust and assures that her program kills the rust. It only suppressed the rust for a couple of months. I threw away the first plant that showed signs of rust, but could not bear to dispose of the Ned Roberts and Dan Hansen cultivars. Almost all of them except Rainbow Serpent broke out with rust. The worst rust magnets in my yard are PRECIOUS CANDY and CHANCE ENCOUNTER. As soon as I see rust spores I cut the fans down to the ground. Most cultivars regrow leaves with no signs of rust. However, PRECIOUS CANDY has been reinfected five times. I don't think there's a cure for it. So those of you who have been drooling over this cultivar, think twice before you buy it. Out of 400 daylilies, it's the biggest rust magnet I have.

Debra

Debra, I knew that Chance Encounter was a rust magnet. I used to grow it, but it was hopeless. I cut it back so many times, it never had a chance to grow and only bloomed once. But I did not know about Precious Candy! I have been wanting that one, but had not heard that it was susceptible to rust. This is the kind of information I need and want...so thank you. You saved me some money and heartache! Just out of curiousity, how long have you had PC? I would have thought that your winters are cold enough to kill rust? Or is it that new plants keep bringing rust into your garden and PC keeps getting reinfected every year?
Kathy

I'm not an expert, but I do grow masses of daylilies, some old, but most are relatively new. I'm also a Garden Judge with the AHS so I do get to many of the big (and small) gardens, primarily during the bloom season.

Some discussion above mentioned some plants in a garden, but not all are getting rust during the year. This is oh, so common, but it doesn't necessarily mean that the plant is building resistance. One I can think of, MAGIC CARPET RIDE. Some years it was covered, other years it was clean. I tossed it in a covered year. If the plant does build resistance, it only lasts a short time. Its fairly common that some plants will get rust and some don't have it, but the identity of those plants changes each season. That's why it is so difficult to say with certainty that any particular cultivar is rust resistant. Also, there is no way to predict whether or not a plant will develop rust in its new location, even when that plant isn't prone to rust in its original garden! That's part of the reason that growers don't "disclose" disease resistance. I would be more interested if the growers disclosed which of their cultivars were prone to rot, since I believe that that problems is more predictable.

A good friend of mine in north FL has a commercial garden. She tells me that the inspector basically shrugs now when he/she sees rust. It is so prevalent that in that area, there is no effort to sanction nurseries that have rust on daylilies. I can't speak for other areas.

I'm in the process of dividing and potting up plants for club sales and club prizes. Thankfully, my plants have really prospered and I have enough fans to fill both commitments without using the cultivars I want to get rid of who routinely get rust. I will toss them next week. Good ridence!

"I was able to patch my soapbox. ;0)" writes Ed.

Please keep it in repair.. when you post it's an informative read. Always well thought.
___________________________________________________________

MAJOR KUDOS to you Cavamarie.. I likewise share your distain for the chems. Granted the reality of rust demands attention in some gardens with the chems, but the sooner your view is adopted on a wider scale the sooner we stop poisioning ourselves.

Expanding this thread to a rust rating on various daylilies is one thought.. the best and worst in resitance.

Cutting the foliage back on rust infected plants is a temporary fix. It stops spore production but it most likely doesn't rid the plant of rust or from contracting rust again from spores previously spread around the area. Spores are like rust flowers (not literally, but hopefully you get the idea). After cutting off the foliage, it takes some time for the rust to become established again in the foliage and start producing spores.

All daylilies replace their foliage at least once a year. If you time a foliage cut-back to the period when you have the least active foliage, you will have the greatest effect on eliminating rust from your garden. If you spray with fungicides, this is the best time to do so. Cutting back in the late winter or early spring and spraying with a good fungicide a couple of times can eliminate rust for most of the season.

Another thing you can do to prevent rust in your garden is be more selective in the plants you choose. I try to avoid daylilies with SILOAM RALPH HENRY, LAVENDER BLUE BABY, BARBARA MITCHELL, ADMIRAL'S BRAID, CHERRY VALENTINE, LAKE EFFECT, SPACECOAST STARBURST or any of the "Candy" series in their backgrounds. They are just too rusty, IMO.
Ed

Thanks for the info on the Candy series...The only thing in my yard to get rust was "Strawberry Candy" - granted I think it came from a local nursery already infected...
So far using fungiside and cutting the leaves has seemed to keep it under control (no more pustules).

I have kept close track of the rust in my garden this year. I plan to do as Ed suggests and cut back all of the foliage this winter, even the youngest seedlings. I have gotten rid of the daylilies that were most prone to rust. They were, IMO, rust magnets and not worth the trouble they were causing. The worst cultivars were:

ABSOLUTE TREASURE (child of CHANCE ENCOUNTER)
ALAKAZAM
CHANCE ENCOUNTER (child of BARBARA MITCHELL)
CHERRYSTONE (child of CREATIVE EDGE -->child of ADMIRAL's BRAID)
DAVID KIRCHHOFF
DESTINED TO SEE (child of CREATE YOUR DREAM --> child of ADMIRAL'S BRAID)
DIXIELAND MEMORIES
MAGIC CARPET RIDE (child of STUDY IN SCARLET)
PEARLFISHER PINK (child of ADMIRAL'S BRAID)
PRETTY GAUDY
SHIMMERING ELEGANCE (child of SEMINOLE WIND --> child of BARBARA MITCHELL)
SPACECOAST SURPRISE PURPLE
SPACECOAST STARBURST
STORM OF THE CENTURY (child of THUNDER AND LIGHTENING --> child of STUDY IN SCARLET)
VOLUSIAN SPIDER (child of MOONLIT MASQUERADE)

I have had some daylilies for over 4 years that have never had rust. And I have some that have have had very little rust. The little bit of rust I have found on the following DL's (if any) has been confined to the bottom leaves closest to the ground. When these leaves are removed, the clump has stayed rust free for an entire growing season. I consider the following to be rust resistant:

BEAUTIFUL EDGINGS
BELA LUGOSI
BETTY WARREN WOODS
BIG KISS
CATHERINE WOODBERY
CHARLIE PIERCE MEMORIAL
HEARTS OF FIRE
KWANSO VARIEGATA
LADY NEVA
LONG STOCKING
MR LUCKY
PEACOCK MAIDEN
RED VOLUNTEER
RUBY SPIDER
SILOAM DOUBLE CLASSIC
SILOAM PLUM TREE
SPIDER MIRACLE
SO MANY STARS
WISEST OF WIZARDS
ZONA ROSA

There are an additional 70+ registered daylilies in my garden that I haven't listed. They aren't listed because they've been here less than 1 year ... or I have found them to be somewhere in the middle (they aren't good enough to call rust resistant nor bad enough to call rust magnets).
Kathy