Manfred has excellent advice, lot of work and very draconian for the soil.

If you are unwilling to do all this then, put bleach in your hose end sprayer and saturate your soil beginning next summer when temperatures reach 80 degrees. Do this about every 10 days for 4 treatments. Then treat the area next year or follow Freds method, which will work better, sorry Freddie IÂm just to damned lazy to work that hard.

Southern blight is a soil borne fungi, treating the soil is the answer. SB also moves with rain downhill so it should appear below the infected area next year.

I feel I have to go back and say what good research on Southern Blight Fred did and how truly good his report is.

An even better solution is to treat your plants and soil now with the appropriate fungicide to stop the demise of your hosta right now. Two treatments a week apart should stop it and keep the hosta from continuing to die.

Do a google and find the recommendations for the fungicide. I hesitate to tell you what I think we used because the husband is gone and he is the chemical engineer. I would hate to name the wrong fungicide. We treated several different hosta in different locations last year and lost no hosta and did not have the problem return this year. In previous years, we lost about 50% with the dig and bleach method.

Terrachlor worked very well for me this year. We'll see what happens next year.

Josh do you find that terrachlor acts as a preventive, it is my understanding that SB is hard or impossible to treat when it is not active?

Butch, such nice words bring tears to my eyes, considering how often I gave you a hard time here on the forum.
Manfred

I don't recommend using the bleach. It kills every living organism in the soil and won't prevent your hostas from getting Southern Blight next year either. Digging up the hostas is a lot of work and unnecessary. Terrachlor is effective to control Southern Blight, but isn't really a curative or preventative.

Southern Blight is caused by the fungus known as Sclerotium rolfsii. I believe that the ONLY fungicide currently available that is effective on Sclerotium rolfsii as both a preventative and curative is flutolanil (EPA registered name). This is a relatively new fungicide (last 7 years). Several products are now available which contain flutolanil (in various concentrations) but only a few are labelled for use on ornamentals. Most are designed for commercial application by farmers or greenhouses (such as a product named Moncoat). Two products designed for homeowner's application on ornamentals are Scotts Contrast 70WSP and ProStar 70WP, both identical products but sold under different labels.
Read the following article by Iowa State University which introduces the reader to this fungus as found on hostas and mentions the fungicide flutolanil:

Iowa State University article

Now read the label on Scotts Contrast 70WSP. You can see that it's for treating (preventative and curative) the fungus Sclerotium rolfsii, and that it's labelled for use on ornamentals:

Scotts Contrast 70WSP

Now read the label for Bayer ProStar 70WP, which is also for Sclerotium rolfsii:

Bayer 70WP

Last summer, my friend had approximately 200 mature hostas that were devastated by Southern Blight. We did a soil drench application of the Scotts Contrast last fall. We put the recommended amount into a 55 gallon drum and filled it with water. Then we dipped it out and poured it over the hostas with a watering can. We repeated the same procedure this spring just as the hosta eyes were popping up. I'm pleased to report that after thorough inspection throughout the summer, we have discovered only two hostas which show the slightest sign of Southern Blight. We assume we may have missed those plants while applying the fungicide. So the treatment was a huge success!

You will probably be unable to find Scotts Contrast or Bayer Prostar at your local garden center. However, you should be able to order it at a grain elevator, or possibly from a farm chemical supplier. You may also be able to purchase it on-line. It's a little pricey, but much cheaper than replacing dozens of hostas. And it goes a long ways. By the way, the 8 oz. bottle is cheaper than buying the package that contains individual water-soluable packets.

For anyone who has battled Southern Blight before, I would recommend thoroughly cleaning their beds in the fall, making sure their hostas are planted high in the ground (mounded up rather than in a hole), and that their hosta garden receives adequate ventilation (trim tree branches up, etc.). I also think that applying the Contrast or ProStar to the affected areas in early spring as the hostas are just popping up is an excellent preventative for dealing with the problem later on in the summer. Hope this helps for everyone who is trying to find ways to deal with Southern Blight. Don

"Butch, such nice words bring tears to my eyes, considering how often I gave you a hard time here on the forum."
Manfred

Can't give me a hard time, I don't give anyone that power but I do appreciate bright people!

It's the originator, again. Paul's Glory has been in that location for 5-6 years. No other plants around it show any signs of disease. Does Southern Blight still make sense?

Could it have been 'crown rot' instead? I'm wondering about that on one of mine that showed
very similar symptoms to 'SB', on only one crown and petioles and once I removed it,
the 'symptoms' did not progress to involve what remained.

I did, however, spray straight bleach on the soil and the base of the remaining petioles, several times!!

Guerrilla:
I know your pain; just lost my Dream Weaver to SB & my Supernova is already showing symptoms (planted next to it). It seems that the warm, humid weather here in DC is not helping at all. Just drenched my SN in a 10% bleach solution, hoping for the best. DO NOT water @ night; water in the morning & let the moisture in the mulch to dissipate.
Good luck (to all of us).
Luis

Just went to check on Super Nova; I had drenched it with a 15% solution of bleach last night. Did a slight tug on one of the leaves & ALL came off. Took it out & it's sitting in a 10% bleach solution for 1/2 an hour... :-(

Guerilla:
Just purchased Prostar; if you want, when it arrives we can go halfsies & you can come & pick it up. I'm only 10 min. from downtown DC. Let me know. Email me privately & I will send you my contact info. The battle is on!
Luis

Anyone ever try boiling water on the soil, after removing the hosta?