I need some help quickly, and I hope it isn't too late. I have had three brugs just wilt and die. Couldn't find anything on them at all. Just finished digging one of them up, and it was rotted right at the soil level and below.The roots were still white and looked okay. Does anyone know what is going on here? Should I use a fungicide on the others or diazinon in case it is a worm. Can't find anything after observing all the trunks. Making me sick to my stomach. To think that I might lose all my prize brugs is more than I can take. I even lost one that was in a pot. I don't know what I have done or not done, but could sure use some help here. Quickly please!!
Thanks,
Shirley
Monika, Kyle, Eric!! Need Help.Brugs dying!!
hoping you find an answer quickly. were the 3 extra special ones?
oh Shirley!! hope they can help you determine!
Yes, one was Creamsickle from Arlnee, my Pink Beauty from Barb, and a seedling getting ready to bloom from Kyle. It is hard for me to get down to the trunk, under all the foliage to check the others, but something is horribly wrong. I just hope someone can help me or I'll be starting all over again. Sure won't put them in the garden. The Creamsickle was potted in a rock wool soil and I thought that might have been the problem. I caught it before it was gone and cut the top and have it in water, but if this is a disease, I'll have to throw everything. :-(
don't think the worst. praying for you, cause I know how I worry when somethings wrong, and you love them as much as anyone!!! we can help you replace, but it's not the same.
Should have mentioned that they were all separated by about 50 ft.
Brugie - has it been cold & wet there? It sounds like some sort of stem rot. I hope you get it under control.
Sue, I wish it had been cold and wet. These brugs have huge trunks on two of them. The smallest is the Creamsickle. Most of my brugs have large, heavy trunks. I haven't got the slightest idea what it might be. One was off in a corner of the vegie garden away from everything else. Had another seedling beside it that appears to be okay right now. My best brugs are in pots except for Pink Beauty. CC sent me one of them also, and it is okay so far, so I took a cutting just in case. This stuff starts underground, so the brug is gone before I know anything is wrong. I did go out and check all of them and right now, only one other in a pot looks like it might have the same trouble. This is the strangest thing I've ever seen. I guess I can't worry myself to death over it and hope that the rest will survive. They are all budding so nicely right now that I'd sure like to see them all bloom, at least once. Thanks for your concern. Thanks Bonnie, I might have to call on you for help if this doesn't work out okay for me. Will never put them in the ground again, at least in the garden. I'm wondering if my soil out there already had something in it that has caused this problem. Just don't understand why they would get to be big plants before it showed up.
Thanks,
Sick in Iowa :-)
Brugie,
My heart goes out to you after all that hard work, time, and patience. Did the other plant that wilted awhile back with the hole bored in the stem have the same symptoms? Sounds to me like some type of worm eating up the plant from the roots.
Otherwise, are you using some kind of manure that might be producing a fungus type spread in the soil? I hope this problem does not continue.
Joydie the roots look good. When I dug up the first plant, I looked closely for worms or grubs and found nothing. I used some bagged and composted manure on some, but one was just plain stuck in the ground as I was running out of room for everything. I too, hope this does not get any worse, but only time will tell.
Some years, we have gotten grubs in iris, melons etc. the plant looks healthy one day and next, gone! Seems to be when it has been hot and dry, worms hunting anything with moisture. Only other thing I could guess at, would be a virus, like when I lost my three Sanguines', one at a time, in seperate pots. How do leaves look before they die? Hope you get it under control soon.
Brugie,
Do you have pets you may be using the soil like litter? It might be pathogens of some sort.
Take the plants and pot them up into fresh potting soil. The leaves will wilt for a couple of days, but give them lots of water. I had 3 LBJ hybrids that I had my brother dig and plant into the ground. The cat across the street always uses one corner of my front yard to do his "business." I noticed that these three LBJs weren't growing at all and from week to week looked worse. I begged my brother to come over and dig them up for me. The roots liked fine, but the soil was soggy and smelled ...like it was holding too much moisture. The plants are recovering in pots now and are doing fine. Try potting them up in new containers to see if you can save them.
Brugie...I sure don't know what it might be..I lost one plant years ago that way in a pot...too heavy of a soil and too wet might be suffocating them.I wish I could give you more advice..but it stumps me.....Do not water them anymore if they are already wet.Are there any walnut trees close by?
I lost several Daturas this year due to grubs and like Hibiscus described it, the plants could look healthy one day and within the next two it would be gone. But if the roots on your Brugs seem to be fine I can`t imagine grubs.
Do the tems at the soil level have lesions with brown border with a dry shredded appearance?
I don`t know, if I am up, when you read the post, but if you can answer yes, it could be a disease caused by Rhizoctonia solani.
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Rhizoctonia+solani&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search&meta=
Pictures of symptoms is here:
http://images.google.co.uk/images?num=100&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=off&q=Rhizoctonia+solani&sa=N&tab=wi&meta=
The cure is: Plant in pasteurized raised beds. Apply chloroneb, fludioxonil, iprodione, thiophanate methyl + etridiazole, or PCNB as a soil drench to protect healthy plants.
http://www.cas.psu.edu/docs/CASDEPT/PLANT/ext/carnatio.html
I hope it will be useful.
Brugie,
I am so sorry. I hope you get answer soon. Willing to lend a helping hand .
Shirley, I'm so sorry you're having this trouble. I've been picking my brain and DH too trying to think of what could be causing the problem and just can't think of a thing that would do that.This probably has nothing to do with it but I remember someone saying a while back not to get the fertilizer or Osmocote to close to the stalk as it could cause damage to it. I'm stumped. I'll keep my fingers crossed that it doesn't effect any more of your plants.
Kyle, no walnut trees here at all. If you remember, the bed has good drainage. The one I lifted today was in pretty dry soil. Thanks for the email and I'll take cuttings tomorrow from all the remaining brugs. I'm pretty certain that it isn't a disease because they look totally healthy, just go limp. I'll keep my fingers crossed that none of the others get this. Won't water until they look really dry either. Looks like the poor things won't get fed this week. I talked to a friend and cried on her shoulder for a while tonight. It isn't a life or death situation, just will put me behind a bit if it continues to affect more brugs. Thanks to all of you for your input and suggestions. Hope you have a good weekend. :-)
Brugie, I am so sorry to hear about your Brugs.
I understand how heartbreaking it is when you work so hard for them and they just die away. I had one do that
from the first cuttings I got. Right now I have two that have dropped almost all their folidge. I hope that someone with alot pf experience can help you. I just wanted to let you know that I too am thinking about you,.And hopeing the best for you.
Patricia
Thanks Patricia,
Kyle will probably be coming down tomorrow. We will take cuttings of all the brugs and hopefully I won't lose my entire collection. Of course, if he hasn't read his latest email, he won't know I'm going to put him to work. :-)
I'd take cuttings and dump the soil far away. Keep the cuttings away from your other Brugs as well. Better safe than sorry. Sorry, I have heard of sanguinea's just wilting and then dieing like that, not your average run of the mill aurea's though or even versicolors though. Could be you just had the soil to wet though. I have had mice eath clear through seedlings before as well. Sorry I couldn't be more help.
Thanks Eric, so far taking cuttings is winning out. My sangs are still doing okay, but they are far away from all the other big brugs.
S,
I'm stumped to...I have had the sang. and Ida just wilt and die but nothing else.
Gloria, did the trunk get mushy at the soil line? That is where my problem is. Hope nobody else ever has this problem and with some luck, I won't lose anymore of my babies..
hope Cala sees this, she might have a clue.
Just something for everyone to be aware of. Never know when something can hit your crop.
Shirley, you lost all of these the same day? including the one in the pot?? do you have a neighbor that doesn't like your brugs?
S,
No...they just wilted...leaves first.... then stalks fell over.
OH MY GOODNESS! I just got home a little while ago and just saw this. This is terrible Shirley! I feel terrible for you! Have you posted this on the Master Gardener's forum? Sounds like a fungus to me. Make sure you do not spread that dirt around.
Shirley ... so sorry about hearing this happen to ur brugs. being a newbie on the brug scene, am still in the learning process. hoping for the best for you!
Shirley,
Sooo-sorry. It sounds more like an insect problem or fert. to close to stem. I have had large dogwoods-10'-20' be fine one day and wilted and gone the next from a borer which eats around the inside of the stem through the capillaries, which supply the plant with water. The only fungus problems I have encountered are with cuttings, when the soil is not sterile. Do you know the name of the company that is growing brugs for Harding in CA? Try emailing them and see if they have any suggestions.
If you need one, I will gladly send a new cutting of Pink Beauty in the fall.
Brugie, it is probably root damage, caused by overwatering or overfeeding. These fertilizers are pure salt and can do much harm if used in a too high dosage. The salt content of the soil gets higher with every feeding and burns thr roots.
This would explain the sudden wilting. Signs of root rot are different and show early. I would dig them out and reduce the root ball. With this, you have to cut the plants also and root the cuttings. If they lack water, put them in a plastic bag, spray water into it, close the bag and place it on a shady place. The cuttings will take the water over leave and stem and will be like fresh again after several hours. Pot the plants in small pots, just big enough for the root ball. Just water the surface and keep it slightly moist. Add a fungicide against root rot to the water.Place the plants on a shady place, protected from rain and wind.
If the main roots are not affected, they will recover soon.
You do not need to worry about a disease. Kyle can tell you better as I if Iowa is a zone for Verticilium. Phythophthora is the most common fungi on Brugmansia. He attacks weak plants ONLY and this can be also overfed plants.
Thanks everyone. Monika, I doubt that it is from fertilizer as these plants are in the ground and I tend to not fertilize them very often. The potted ones, yes, but during the heat, they only got water as well. If overfeeding can be done in one dose, I would agree that it could be that. I'm wondering if it is the soaker hose that has caused this, except that one lonely brug at the back of the garden, without food or watering hose, died also. Just a very strange thing happening here. Kyle will be down this morning and maybe he can come up with something. He too said that it is NOT a disease. I just can't dig all those plants up, but we will take cuttings today. Thanks for your help.
Barb, thanks so much for the offer, but I should be able to save a cutting from the plant from CC/you.
Gloria, that is just what these did. One day fine, next morning wilted, and then by afternoon, gone. My stalks haven't fallen over, but I haven't left them long enough to do that. I've decided that I can't worry about it. Will try to salvage what I can and go from there. Fortunately all the new ones except P. Beauty are in pots. Now I have to watch those pots closely.
Any brugs I have you are welcome too,I'm sure between us all we can replace each one...
Ditto what cc said. Hope Kyle can figure out what's causing it.
Ditto with cc and snow.
Same here, Shirl. whatever ones I have, will be glad to share.
Hopefully I'll be able to take cuttings and get them to root just in case I lose anymore of the brugs. Today, one of my candida double whites is wilted. Will see how it looks when the sun goes down. Hope Kyle will write down what he thinks, when he goes to the new thread. Thanks everyone. Just a waiting game now. Don't think I'll be making any crosses this year. Am going to dig up my one good Pink Beauty and put her in a pot for safe keeping and hope she isn't already affected.
Brugie, I agree with Tonny, it sounds like rhizoctonia. Use a fungicide drench containing chlorothalonil and see if that helps. Also, check where the plant is affected and see if you find little pinkish or white ball shaped fungal sacs. If you find these, it's a type of sclerotina or Southern blight. It's almost impossible to stop. It moves fast, wilted one day, dead the next. I think I have almost all the ones you do and if you lose any that I can help replace, just let me know.
Cala, you are an encyclopedia, maybe the ultimate disease/bug CD!!!! someday you should do us a permanent list stored somewhere on Daves. Guess you got where you are going today. hope you all are having a good time.
Cala, thanks and I'll look tomorrow, but don't really remember seeing them when I dug the others up. Have one more to dig out tomorrow and I'll look for sure. If I find something strange, I'll take a picture so you can positively ID it for me. Am going to do the fungicide tomorrow, and can only hope mine has in it what you are talking about. My question is: If I have this fungus, how long will it remain in the soil and will it transfer to the brugs in pots? Thanks for helping and your offer of brugs if I lose mine. Will cuttings taken now from those still standing strong be okay?