Some weeks ago as part of my minor garden "makeover" I planted an Ajuga
reptans "burgundy glow". It soon started to flower. Now it appears to be
dying. Most of the leaves are brown and dead, and the stems back to the
centre. There's one flower spike still standing up, but looking sickly; the
others have fallen over.

It had compost and chicken poo when planted, it's had plenty of water, and
the plants around it all appear to be fine. Any ideas what could be wrong?
Was it just a duff plant perhaps?

The only chemical that may have been near it was Bayer Multirose fungicide I
sprayed on a nearby rose bush. Could that have harmed it?


Ian

In article , Ian B
writes
Some weeks ago as part of my minor garden "makeover" I planted an Ajuga
reptans "burgundy glow". It soon started to flower. Now it appears to be
dying. Most of the leaves are brown and dead, and the stems back to the
centre. There's one flower spike still standing up, but looking sickly; the
others have fallen over.

It had compost and chicken poo when planted, it's had plenty of water, and
the plants around it all appear to be fine. Any ideas what could be wrong?
Was it just a duff plant perhaps?

The only chemical that may have been near it was Bayer Multirose fungicide I
sprayed on a nearby rose bush. Could that have harmed it?

Try lifting it out of the ground, if it pulls up easily with no roots
then it's got the dreaded vine weevil that often make a bee line for
Heucheras, ajuga (sometimes) primulas and er , well most stuff really.
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

Janet Tweedy wrote:
In article , Ian B
writes
Some weeks ago as part of my minor garden "makeover" I planted an
Ajuga reptans "burgundy glow". It soon started to flower. Now it
appears to be dying. Most of the leaves are brown and dead, and the
stems back to the centre. There's one flower spike still standing
up, but looking sickly; the others have fallen over.

It had compost and chicken poo when planted, it's had plenty of
water, and the plants around it all appear to be fine. Any ideas
what could be wrong? Was it just a duff plant perhaps?

The only chemical that may have been near it was Bayer Multirose
fungicide I sprayed on a nearby rose bush. Could that have harmed it?

Try lifting it out of the ground, if it pulls up easily with no roots
then it's got the dreaded vine weevil that often make a bee line for
Heucheras, ajuga (sometimes) primulas and er , well most stuff really.

Well today it was basically dead; still some pale green but evreything flat
and dying, so I dug it up. The roots appear intact. The only thing I could
find of interest was a number of what appear to be eggs; white, like little
pearls about 3mm across. I thought they were little stones at first until I
squidged one. I couldn't find anything crawlng around in the roots or plant
itself other than an earthworm and one orange thread-like sort of
miliipede-looking creature.

But anyway the roots seemed fine and the compost was moist. But the whole
top of the plant is dead, basically.

Any more ideas, Janet or anyone?


Ian

In article , Ian B
writes
But anyway the roots seemed fine and the compost was moist. But the whole
top of the plant is dead, basically.

Any more ideas, Janet or anyone?


Ian


Well you could cut everything right back to almost soil level, then pot
it up on it's own in a pot to see if it revives but quite frankly Ajuga
is such a strong grower most people yank bits out of their beds rather
than put it in! I am sure someone will have a piece to give you to
replace it.
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

Janet Tweedy wrote:
In article , Ian B
writes
But anyway the roots seemed fine and the compost was moist. But the
whole top of the plant is dead, basically.

Any more ideas, Janet or anyone?


Ian


Well you could cut everything right back to almost soil level, then
pot it up on it's own in a pot to see if it revives but quite frankly
Ajuga is such a strong grower most people yank bits out of their beds
rather than put it in! I am sure someone will have a piece to give
you to replace it.

Well I can probably replace it, but I'm more worried about the question of
what killed it. It was doing fine then literally it suddenly keeled over,
between one day and the next. The stems all seem to be very withered right
at the soil level so I'm wondering if it's this "crown rot" I have found
referred to on the interwebs, but I'm not really sure what I'm looking for.

I can't find any wine weevils so far as I can tell, and three nearby
heucheras are doing fine, though I also have a pulmonaria which is rather
ill and has gone a funny dark green colour but I'm not sure if it's supposed
to do that.

Ian

Sacha wrote:
On 2010-06-03 14:50:46 +0100, "Ian B"
said:

Janet Tweedy wrote:
In article , Ian B
writes
But anyway the roots seemed fine and the compost was moist. But the
whole top of the plant is dead, basically.

Any more ideas, Janet or anyone?


Ian


Well you could cut everything right back to almost soil level, then
pot it up on it's own in a pot to see if it revives but quite
frankly Ajuga is such a strong grower most people yank bits out of
their beds rather than put it in! I am sure someone will have a
piece to give you to replace it.

Well I can probably replace it, but I'm more worried about the
question of what killed it. It was doing fine then literally it
suddenly keeled over, between one day and the next. The stems all
seem to be very withered right at the soil level so I'm wondering if
it's this "crown rot" I have found referred to on the interwebs, but
I'm not really sure what I'm looking for. I can't find any wine weevils
so far as I can tell, and three nearby
heucheras are doing fine, though I also have a pulmonaria which is
rather ill and has gone a funny dark green colour but I'm not sure
if it's supposed to do that.

Ian

This may sound like a really silly question but I've known it happen
more than once - you are *quite* sure nobody has watered your plants
with a watering can that once held weed killer?

I'm sure of that; I never use weedkiller and nobody else ever waters my
plants


Ian