"Rod" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 07 Mar 2005 17:03:47 GMT, "Alex Woodward"
wrote:


I planted a number of Heathers last June. They range from winter to Summer
flowering. I am fairly certain some are supposed to be tolerant to
alkaline
soils, but quite a few have started to wither away. They have been planted
in a clay soil, but I've mixed peat and an alternative ericaceous compost
to
improve it. The bed itself is on a small incline, so it drains quite well.

Perhaps I should give them more time to establish, or do you think there
is
a problem with the soil? I have to admit I have not tested the ph level of
the soil - which is an obvious mistake I suppose.

Chris has pretty well covered it. The problem you're having seems to
be very similar to what we're seeing here in a bed of winter flowering
(lime tolerant heathers)planted in similar conditions to yours. I'm
suspecting a water borne fungal infection with ours, such as
Phytophthora cinnamomi - this is a root rot often carried by
irrigation water on nursery standing beds, so depending on how your
plants were grown they could have come to you already infected. In our
case it's exacerbated by less than perfect drainage. This is just a
guess on my part with minimal evidence so it's no reason to go
accusing the nursery. With ours some of the roots weren't good when we
got them and having seen the nursery's production beds I'm prepared to
believe that is a possible cause.

=================================================

I've just had a look at the roots of one and I've spotted what looks like
small yellow shell like eggs in the roots system. When crushed there is a
whitish substance inside. They are no bigger than 1mm in diameter, maybe a
touch smaller. Any ideas what they may be - and should I be worried?

Alex