On Mon, 09 Jan 2006 06:17:27 -0800, arproffitt wrote:

The whole south side of my house is lined by very large and well
established forsythia bushes. I noticed last year that they have
developed some sort of fungus. It had already spread quite profusely
before I ever even noticed it, but I cut what I thought was all of it off.
Apparently this was not the case because now its even worse. It seems as
though I will just have to cut the bushes down to the ground to get rid of
this stuff because there is no way I can trim each and every one of the
infected branches - there are just too many. Does anyone know anything
about this? I thought I'd read somewhere that it will go away on its own
after a few years, is this true? I also read that it can spread to
wisteria, which I have growing nearby. ? Is it necessary to cut the
bushes down? If so, to what height and when should I do this? I live in
TN in zone 7.

Thanks so much!!


Good day Arproffitt.
Before one could give you recommendations one way or the other, we (I)
would need a better description of the fungus. Is the fungus attached to
the leaves, stems or the trunk. Is the fungus white, black, grey or some
other color? How does the fungus affest the shrub? Does it kill off leaves
or whole stems?

As you may of noticed, more information is needed. There are some basic
rules to follow.

1 Keep your area clean. This means keep all the fallen debris picked up
and disposed of properly. All infected material should be removed and
destroyed. DO NOT COMPOST!! Bag it and trash it or burn it. Composting it
will most likely spread the fungus.

2 Clean your cutting tools. Just as you wouldn't want your doctor to use
dirty tools on you, don't use dirty tools on your trees and shrubs. Many
times one will spread diseases with their pruners as may of been the case
with you and your forysthia. Clean the tools with a 50/50 mix of water and
alcohol. If the fungus is bad, then clean your cutting tools more often.
After everycut may be needed.

3 Air flow. Many funguses grow due to an enviroment that has little air
flow and the shrubs stay moist through out the day. More air flow helps to
dry out the foliage.

Good luck.