On Mon, 10 Sep 2007 13:56:04 +0100
"Charlie Pridham" wrote:


"Martin Brown" wrote in message
oups.com...
I spent most of yesterday digging out an old Ceanothus bush that had
suddenly taken a turn for the worst. Half of it died back a month ago
and was pruned and burnt. The cuts showed a red orange ring in the
diseased wood.

The rest of it succumbed in a matter of a few days from healthy
looking green bushy plant to distinctly dead. It seems they are
succeptible to verticillium wilts. What other shrubby plants should I
not plant back in the large border ap where this came from, and how
deep should I dig out for the old roots?

There is a mushroomy smell and white hyphae in another part of the
same border, but AFAICT a clear space between that and the affected
bush. I don't really know much about these fungal diseases of plants.

Thanks for any advice.

Regards,
Martin Brown

Don't panic! Ceanothus do just die when they reach a certain age and
although the cause may well be fungal it is not necessaraly going to affect
anything else, clear the ground revitilise the soil and if replacing with
another evergreen wait till spring.


Verticillium is a controversial subject. Opinion is divided as to whether it remains in the
soil to infect further plantings.

Your plant sounds like it does show signs. You can make a angled cut and look
for characteristic streaking in the wood. Make sure to sterilize your tools after.

As a maple collector I deal with Verticillium on a regular basis. But especially in
the Acer palmatum world, it is very common to buy infected plants. (In fact
it is sometimes difficult to find clean plants even from the most reliable producers,
because the parents don't have enough clean wood). Further, the consensus
among maple people seems to be that the "sudden" form of the wilt isn't
transmissible by the soil (although the slow form may be).

So I don't hesitate to replace with a maple when I lose one in the ground to
the wilt. What I do find is that culture conditions, like poor drainage, do as
much to encourage the verticillium already present in the plants as much as
anything. So sometimes if I'm really having a hard time in a spot I change
species. For example in one spot I have already killed 3 palmatums and a
very rare A. olivaceum, this year I'll put in campestre 'Carnival'.

-E


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Emery Davis
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