My Creamsickle has been a very healthy Brug for three years until now that is. Early last month, I noticed a dark area between two old nodes. The dark area is on the second branch from the right just before two old cuts that resemble "eyes". She is one of my favorites because she usually a few blooms between flushes. She produces very large double blooms. :-(
This photo shows a close-up of the dark area which is located below the old cut. The old stem cut seemed healed, but this winter the sunken area in the center started turning or growing something black. The bark around the edge is dry and flaky.
The dark area starts just above that bottom crotch and extends upward. There is an old leaf scar that looks clean.
A pruning scar on another branch. No black, but there is a rusty color that could mean something bad may be developing.
Last photo. A close-up of the dark area. You can see the difference between the affected area and the "clean" area. I don't see any of the typical black rings that usually surround a cut. Is this SB?
A photo of her in better days.
Betty, I don't know. It's heart-breaking to think of a favorite suffering... Are you asking if it's southern blight? I googled but I didn't really find a specific site for Brugmansia diseases and viruses. So I tried Tobacco .... Some one will know.. She IS gorgeous, so bright white and sturdy proud form.
No, I'm asking if it is Strangelbrand.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/420154/
If it is Strangelbrand, she'll slowly die and I run the risk of infecting my other Brugs. I will hate to get rid of her and I can't take cuttings from her.
Creamsickle is one of my favorites. She has a baby powder fragrance, but it's her blooms that are spectacular. The skirts are fully separated. She does well in my hot summers. Her color is listed as apricot, but she's only had that color once — really early in the spring and then only toward the end of the flush. That's fine with me. She is more striking as a white. The blooms are large. She also produces a few blooms between flushes. Over all a wonderful Brug.
from what I've learned it doesn't look like SB. it does look more like an over watering affliction..the black on SB is indeed real black..and more localized.. you'll get some other feedback on this one. as much as it's hard to look it's a personal fear response to do so.. Gordon
Gordon, if anything, the plants in the greenhouse were under watered this year.
Whatever this is, it is found just beneath the thin bark. I'll go out tomorrow and give that branch a little nick to see what it lookes like under the bark.
Veronica
I see nothing that looks like SB at all.
well Veronica... I thought mine had been kept on the dry side also.. but when I did water them.. they got alot..plenty anyway...it's in that time...from being real wet... that I believe it starts... low evaporation rate.. and or..cool temps has the cycleing slowed down...I'd like to have everythingin clay pots inside.. and an inside soil mix
Veronica...we've seen pictures of the stalks and stems.... What do your roots on these look like
Gordon
I'dwager... you'llsee theoutside of the rots slipping off the inside...just like its development in the bark will take.. It just seems too siilar to the way mine display their discontent.. to be too different..
This message was edited Apr 9, 2008 9:04 AM
This message was edited Apr 9, 2008 9:13 AM
It doesn't look like SB to me.I don't see the characteristic black ring.
Yes... no ring that you can see..
I had a similar display.. and shriveling death in some of mine...I was told it didn't look like SB at all.. but amoisture..light .caused ...temperature item..
OK... I'm a believer ... I lopped it off way below the effected area.. to let it sprout back out healthy..I hoped.. in doing this I got a bit cut off right at the bottom.. that seemed uneffected.. so I tried rooting this... in a cloning soluition fortified water..
What I had was a clean,, no spotting cutting.. rooting in water
.. but in rooting I started getting little white bumps on the stem..but patterned around a node like it had been infected but not showing.. I'd never noticed this patterning before... is this a preliminary step before recognisable SB..
here'sanother shot view... what's the thought
Gordon
Betty, it looks like winter blahs.. not SB. SB will show dark patches that are sunken in...
Winter will make them look terrible.. they decide to shed a branch or get terrible looking wood and scars can turn black.. If your really worried, I'd take a cutting from something healthy.. just in case that dead area travels down to the main trunk... I've seen that happen with some of mine, and I think it's more from too wet than any virus. (clay soil)
I hadn't done anything with it because I was afraid that I might have to chuck the whole thing. I knew the black ring wasn't present (I believe I mentioned it above.), but since I've never seen SB personally, I had doubts. Joyce, I haven't taken any cuttings for the same reason. I didn't want to risk spreading any Brug killing problems.
The Brug is in a 20" pot. I need to re-pot and refresh the soil anyway. So, Gordon, I'll look at the roots to see what they look like. If I cut out the unsightly branch, I would have to cut the whole thing at ground level since the black starts about 3 inches above soil level. I'm going to keep the mother plant as is minus the cuttings, of course, repot it, take it outdoors and see what happens.
Thanks all the help. :-)
Betty, It doesn't look like SB to me. It would have a very distinct black ring. I would try to get a cutting from the healthy part, start a new one & keep it away from the others till you see what it is going to do. I had one that looks a little like that at about this time last year & I was panicking. I emailed pictures & they said it was just stress & it has been fine ever since.
Gordon, your little white bumps are lenticels or pre roots. It is a good thing.
Linda
