On Wed, 14 Apr 2010 17:32:42 +0800, "Loosecanon"
wrote:


"Jeßus" wrote in message
...
Just thought I'd ask here in case this is a known problem that somebody is
familar with:

I have a small Rosemary bush, approx 12 months since planted.

Been going great, put on plenty of growth in that time. About a month ago,
one lower branch
spontaneusly died. The rest of the plant seemed fine - until this
afternoon.

Now it's obvious that the entire plant is going to die, the foliage is
snip

On the most gutless sand in the world in Perth and the rosemary goes
ballistic which is great cos I'm allergic to it.

I pity you on missing out on the joys of Rosemary...

So maybe it is your soil
type is it clay?


Yes, there is certainly clay in the soil. It's basically located in an
area that was once a large river, the river soil goes down a long way.

My other thought is was the plant root bound in the pot
when you got it. The roots tend to stay in the shape they were when in the
pot and starve themselves to death. Your job when it does cark is to pull it
up and look.

I shall do just that, thanks.

If it is still a tight root ball that is your problem. If roots
spread out then it could be too much moisture or perhaps something like
nematodes (bumps on roots) or a soil borne virus like fusarium.

Noted.

Borage is
hungry and does require moisture and grows rather large so maybe starved the
rosemary of nutrients and moisture.

That is something I was wondering might be a possibility.


I have found rosemary to be an easy plant to propagate from cuttings. Only
needs fresh cuttings about 12cm long. Strip off 2/3 of the leaves and put in
damp sand. Oh on the end that will go into the ground make a cut across 1mm
below where there is a pair of leaves. In 8 weeks more than 50% will have
roots. that percentage increases if you use rooting hormones.

Thanks again. I intend to take some Rosemary cuttings, but will wait
for late spring to do that.

In the meantime, I bought and planted another 4 Rosemary plants,
putting them in a wide variety of sites in the hope that if some
suffer the same fate, then hopefully the others in higher/drier sites
may prevail.