Cyp issue: disease, fungus What??

[greenthumbguru]

I have a Cyp. Pubescens that grew extremely well for me last year. This year It almost doubled in size and I had multiple 'double blooms'. I thought everything was going well until 3 of them seem to be displaying some sort of disease or something. I'm not quite sure as it just popped up all of a sudden. It started with the bloom after it had wilted and died. The first leaf beneath the wilted bloom started to brown. At first it was just the very tip, then it spread and within a day or two the entire leaf was brown. I diligently disinfected a pair of scissors and snipped the leaf off and discarded it. The browning moved to the next leaf, again starting at the tip eventually covering the entire leaf. The same thing is occurring to the other two stalks, but doesn't seem to be affecting any of the remaining plants in the group.

I'm at a loss because I'm nervous about digging up the entire clump to see if something is eating at the roots or to remove the affected plants from the rest. In doing so I'm afraid I'll kill the lot in my attempt to save them. If it's a disease that can be dealt with using a spray, I'd much rather go that route.

I took a few more pics this morning and added them to this post. As you can see, two separate leaves on two different stalks are now completely brown. The last pic is the clump of stalks showing the rest of the plants which seem unaffected for the time being.

Hopefully one of you can identify what's going on so that I can stop it in its tracks before it does affect the rest of the clump.

 

[NYEric]

Not sure, I don't see any surface/tissue damage. Good luck.

 

[Hien]

do you think it is sun burn and heat damage ?

 

[abax]

Have you had as much rain in TN as we have here in southeastern KY? I wonder if it could be a combination of
too much rain and very hot temps. I've seen a lot of
damping off in my perennial garden this year. This, of course, isn't damping off, but you might carefully check
the roots for problems.

 

[greenthumbguru]

The plants are located in a shaded area along with my collection of other cyps all of which are doing fairly well. No direct sun except in the morning and late evening as they have been receiving for the past several years.

We have had quite a bit of rain and we did have a heat wave with the heat index that went into the 100's, but that also occurred last year with no ill effect.

I thought the mix of the two could possibly be the culprit, but I figured if that were the case, it would affect the entire clump of cyps and not just a select few.

That said, it leaves me thinking that this is some sort of disease. Question is - what and how do I cure it?

 

[KyushuCalanthe]

I'd dig it up and look at the roots. Bad time to do so, yes, but you could lose the whole clump otherwise. Remove all nasty looking stuff and repot into a large tub rather than the ground until it stabilizes. Looks bacterial or fungal.

 

[abax]

I agree with Tom. Very carefully dig it up and have a look at the roots. A good root dousing with Cleary's 3336 might
help. I've never known Cleary's to hurt any plant. I don't
know about bacterial infection, but Cleary's is an excellent fungicide. I certainly wish you luck.

 

[greenthumbguru]

I've added some additional pics of the leaves I removed this morning. As you can see in one pic the top leaf is completely dead and whatever it is has moved to the lower leaf. This is how this disease or condition progresses. It doesn't affect the entire plant all at once, it slowly works its way down the stalk. Has anyone ever had this occur to them? Did you find out what caused it?
Some of you have recommended I uproot it and check around to see if something is affecting the roots - grubs or root rot. If I haven't heard a reply from anyone who has had this happen and know what it was and how they resolved it, that's what I'll do. I'm hoping this is something I can take care of systemically with Cleary 3336 or Propiconazole and not disturb the root system.

 

[dodidoki]

I think is is fungal infection. There is an excellent article from Anne Nies about physiology of cyps and connection between plant and fungus. There is a very sophisticated balance and the border -line between normal symbiotism and parasitism is very thin.While I red this text I reviewed my growing contitions and I use only inorganic media and feed my plants with fertilizer. All of similar problems have gone away and my cyps are very strong and healthy.

 

[greenthumbguru]

Oh, I do use inorganic medium in all but my Cyp. Acaule. I haven't used much in the way of fertilizers though which is something I probably need too.