Rust

Has anyone had Rust attack their Geraniums (Pelargoniums) this summer?

I have 20 each of Wilhelm Langguth and Mme Selleron in the front garden grown from cuttings over the winter and were disease free and they have all have a severe attack.
Two in the back garden , Maverick Star and Pink Ice are untouched.
There is nothing to be done but burn them which means no carry over of cuttings for next year.

 

Not had rust, Strongylodon, though still battling a nasty moth that lays eggs in the flower head and then the caterpillars eat the stems from the inside out.
If you did cuttings without leaves and drenched them with a systemic fungicide, would you be able to salvage some stock, perhaps?

 

Pelargonium Rust (Puccinia pelargonii zonalis) is not systemic in the plant. If all the leaves are removed and stems are trimmed, the root stock can be burried in a few inches of compost, any shoots that appear will be free from the disease.
The fungal spores need free water on a leaf for the spore to germinate and infect the leaf. So under cover, always water from underneath. As the name implies, this is generaly a problem in Zonal pelargoniums. The fungus does not produce any resting spores, so removal of any infected leaves as soon as symptoms are seen, and keeping the leaves dry, can be an effective control. Most Rusts have a complicated life and require separate hosts from different genera of plants.This is one of the few Rust species which does not have an alternate host.

The Geranium Bronze Butterfly, the larvae of which bores into buds and stems of Pelargoniums, is common in the hotter European countries. It was found at Lewes Nr. Brighton about 15yrs ago, but has never been seen since. At the time it was the first new Butterfly to be recorded in the UK for 80 rys.

 

Thanks for that, Rollo...most interesting!