About Hollyhock Diseases

Hollyhocks are an easy plant to grow and have been a favorite of gardeners for many years. Unfortunately though, they tend to be prone to disease; most specifically the fungal disease referred to as Hollyhock Rust, caused by the fungus Puccinia malvacearum.

Symptoms

When looking at your Hollyhock plants, you may notice that your flower has developed yellowish spots on the leaves and has developed brown or orange rust colored spots on the underside of the leaf. If your plant has developed these symptoms, it is most likely the result of hollyhock rust. This disease can give your hollyhock the appearance of being ragged and can spread across the plant mainly on the steam, leaves, and green parts of the flower. As the summer progresses, you may notice the symptoms worsening eventually leading to the death of the plant’s leaves.

Prevention

To help keep your hollyhocks healthy keep them in full sun and allow them to receive plenty of circulated air. These plants should not be crowded and should be placed around three feet apart when planting. When watering these plants do so earlier in the day; this will allow the different parts of the plant plenty of time to dry.

Should you have infected plants and want to rid yourself of the problem, remove the infected leaves and other parts of the plant that are infected. Additionally, you can use fungicides in the early spring when the leaves begin to appear for enhanced protection.