Fusarium Root and Crown Rot: A Disease of Container-Grown Hostas

A previously unreported disease was observed on 11 cultivars of container-grown hosta plants at five wholesale nurseries in South Carolina between 1997 and 1999. Symptoms included leaf yellowing, plant stunting, rotting of and vascular discoloration in roots, and necrosis in the crowns. Fusarium spp. consistently were isolated from symptomatic hosta plants. Four species were recovered: F. solani, F. oxysporum, F. proliferatum, and an undescribed species designated Fusarium sp.; F. solani and Fusarium sp. were recovered most frequently. To demonstrate pathogenicity, four methods were used to inoculate hosta plants with representative isolates of F. solani, F. oxysporum, and Fusarium sp. Two types of inoculum, colonized oat seeds and conidium suspensions, were used to inoculate wounded and nonwounded plants. Disease symptoms occurred consistently only on hosta plants inoculated by dipping wounded roots and crowns into suspensions of conidia. Symptoms were most severe on plants inoculated with Fusarium sp. and much less severe on plants inoculated with F. solani or F. oxysporum. Disease severity increased and fresh weight of inoculated plants decreased when the concentration of inoculum of Fusarium sp. was increased over the range of 1 × 10³ to 1 × 10⁷ conidia per ml. Isolates of Fusarium sp., F. solani, and F. oxysporum varied in virulence when Hosta 'Francee' plants were inoculated. This study demonstrated that Fusarium root and crown rot of container-grown hostas is caused primarily by Fusarium sp. but that it also can be caused by F. solani and F. oxysporum. Fusarium sp. appears to be taxonomically distinct from other species, and its identity currently is under investigation.