see link

insert zip on left margin for closest sale rep info ....

my gut tells me you will have to have a license for application ... but hey .. i may be wrong.. bad gut

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link

Bought it this past spring on ebay from epestsolutions. It's not cheap (I think around $80, but it's probably enough to last me my lifetime). I just applied it last week to hostas that were showing the same old symptoms of southern blight. I read everything I could find on the internet about the fungus and this product...it appears to be about the only thing to stop it. I wish I could tell you how well it works, but it's a little early to tell (plus I'm out of town for 10 days). I couldn't find anywhere on the product where it says you have to be licensed to apply it, but Ken may be right since it appears to only be available in commercial quantities, and you have to do some math to figure out how to get it down to a home application rate...I wasn't treating acres. It seems weird that it is only available in that size since it is used to treat a number of other issues...mainly turf problems. I contacted all the local garden places, a turf service company, and an agricultural supply business that sells mainly to farmers..no luck and none of them had ever heard of it! My sister finally found it for me on ebay. Anyway, hostas are expensive (and southern blight will affect more than hostas and my hostas are mixed in with lots of other plants that also are expensive and I just couldn't bear to watch 20 years of gardening go down the drain). I live in South Carolina where we have a mix of very high day and night temps and high humidity in late June, July, and August. Good luck...hope this helps-Barb

Hi gardenlady,
I've purchased and applied both products with excellent results. "Flutolanil" is the EPA registered name for this fungicide, and is sold in several products under such brand names as Scotts Contrast, Bayer ProStar, Moncoat MZ, etc. I have purchased and applied all three of the products that I've just mentioned to hostas which were severely diseased, with great success.

While there are several other fungicides that will help to prevent Sclerotium rolfsii (aka crown rot, southern blight), flutolanil is the only fungicide I know of for the treatment and cure of plants which are already infected.

The Moncoat MZ comes in a 40 lb. bag, for about $106. Moncoat MZ does not contain a high concentration of flutolanil, and it's primarily used agriculturally on seed potatoes. It may not yet be approved for sale and use in all States.

The Scotts Contrast and Bayer ProStar are the only two flutolanil products that are labelled for use on ornamentals. Even though Scotts and Bayer are separate companies, both products apparently are manufactured and packaged by the same facility because both come in nearly identical containers and the instructions are printed out identically.

The Scotts Contrast and Bayer ProStar are available in at least a couple different ways. You can purchase these products as a dry powder in a bottle, jar, or bag of various sizes. You would have to measure out the right amount and mix it according to the directions.

You can also purchase these products in a bag which contains (8) 1 oz. water soluble packets. This is what I recommend. You should request Scotts Contrast 70 WSP or the ProStar 70 WP. The "WSP" stands for "water soluble packets", and the "70" means that the product contains 70% of the active ingredient- flutolanil.

The bag comes with directions. Essentially, you take one of the water soluble bags and drop it into a 30-50 gallon plastic drum, then fill it with water and stir. Then take your watering can and dip the fungicide out of the drum and pour it on the ground around your hostas. This is called a soil drench application.

Chances are you won't be able to find these products at your local garden center. You'll have to request and order them at a farm supply, county co-op, or grain elevator. You shouldn't need a commercial applicator's license for purchasing the Scotts Contrast or Bayer ProStar- they're designed for the homeowner and landscaper. I've also purchased both products on ebay at a greatly reduced cost.

The products are somewhat expensive, but very effective, and a lot cheaper than replacing hundreds of big beautiful hostas. And one 1 oz. packet goes a long ways- it makes 30-50 gallons of fungicide. Chances are, if you buy a bag of Contrast which contains (8) 1 oz. packets, it will last you for several years, or you can sell a few packets to some friends who are wanting to treat their hostas also.

Hope that helps. Don

I bumping this post back to the top because it should be read by all who have struggled with southern blight/crown rot in their hosta gardens. Don

Thanks for the info Don. I have more plants this year showing signs of southern blight. It is so frustrating. I will definitely check this out.

Tia:
Just ordered Prostar from epestsolutions.com. It's probably a lot, so if you want I can sell you half of the supply. I paid $69.00. Let me know. Just lost a Dream Weaver & my Supernova is on its way out... :-(
Luis

I just bought some Prostar 70 locally but it came in a one pound bag- not individual packets. Will I need to throw out the watering can when I'm done using it to drench them?
Is there someone who knows how much to use to make a small amount for my hostas?
I'm guessing I'll need about 10 gallons.
Thanks in advance from me and my Paul's Glory and Spilt Milk.

For those of you who want to know the gory calculational details:

ProStar 70 WP has a density of 24 pounds per cubic foot, there are 16 ounces per pound, and there are 5,745 teaspoons per cubic foot. Thus, each teaspoon contains 0.0668 ounces of ProStar 70 WP. At 0.0668 ounces per 20 square feet, the application rate per 1000 square feet would be [(1000/20)x0.0668] or 3.34 ounces per 1000 square feet.

Bump for Gail.

Steve

Apparently epestsolutions is no longer selling it. I found the Bayer for sale for something like $280, and that is way more than I want to pay for 3 lbs of the stuff.

I never did find the other product mentioned, Contrast.

There are other products which Amazon has listed as fungicides which include "blight" in their effectiveness list. Is there more than one kind of blight or would all be treated with the same products?

I thought I had a reference book about plant diseasea or maladies, but cannot find it on the shelf. As much money as I give Ortho, you'd think they would have a product for the southern blight.

Yes, there are many plant diseases commonly called blight. See this entry on Wikipedia.

With hostas, the disease known as "southern blight" is a fungus named Sclerotium rolfsii. You will need a fungicide which is specifically designed for this particular disease. It needs to contain flutolanil as the active ingredient.

You should be able to order both the Scotts Contrast and the Bayer Prostar from a grain elevator or agricultural supply. Both products are rather expensive, but they will go a long ways and should last you several years. These fungicides can be applied every spring as a preventative, especially for those hostas which have been previously effected by the blight.

Currently, you can purchase the Bayer Prostar on ebay (click here) and Amazon (click here).

Other knowledgeable individuals (including Bill Meyer and Warren Pollock) have had good results with some other fungicides, namely, Terraclor (active ingredient PCNB) and Bayer Advanced Disease Control (active ingredient tebuconazol). You can read Bill's article titled "A Southern Blight Strategy" in the AHS Online Hosta Journal which is posted here. Warren Pollock also wrote an article in the Journal. Let me know if you'd like to read it...I can look it up.

Here is the correct link for purchasing the Bayer Prostar on ebay.

Sorry...I guess that link isn't gonna work. You can Google "Bayer Prostar 70 wp" and then click on the ebay link.

Don, I read the article on the Hosta Journal you posted and it appears that you do a soil drench this year, maybe another next year and you should be good if the hosta survives the original fungus attack. Daylilie streak is also a fungus. I wonder if the Prostar would work there also. Hummmm... Also, am I seeing that you recommend the Bayer Prostar 70 over the Bayer Advance? It would appear from reading the Prostar is good for infected plants (treating)and preventative also and the Advance would be good for preventative but not as good for active fungus.

I'm posting this link in both threads about Southern Blight.

Kathy

Here is a link that might be useful: Links to purchase

This post was edited by zkathy on Tue, Nov 25, 14 at 8:07