Privet Issues

[Bretts]

In fear of being called an idiot again I wanted to post some pictures of an issue I have with Privet that started last season.
I have 4 privet all affected to some degree and the first 3 were affected directly after being cut back. The 4th is a gifted urban yamadori. It is only slightly affected and has not been cut back since it was potted up.
This is the first to become affected. I cut the branches back hard almost defoliating the tree to start working on secondary branches and the leaves that came out refused to extend staying very small. Eventually a couple broke away closer to the trunk and eventually returned to normal growth.

fungus1.jpg

fungus2.jpg

fungus3.jpg

fungus4.jpg

fungus5.jpg

Here you may see that the leaves still had an issue but gradually went back to normal.

fungus6.jpg

[Bretts]

I repotted this back in January drenching/dunking it in a systemic fungicide. The roots looked fine then and pulling it out of the pot again today it still looks fine.

fungus7.jpg

On both occasions there has been a mucky clay like appearance to the soil surface around the surface roots. I blamed the last time on Dynamic lifter I had used on the surface but I don't think I did that in this period and although I can't see anything when I pull the soil surface apart it feels as though the soil is connected like by something like a web. But I can see nothing? Apart from what looks like a broken down humus substance.

fungus8.jpg

The substrate is very open dry and the roots are healthy.

fungus9.jpg

Plopped back in it's pot it looks wet on the surface in fact I was thinking of waiting for it to dry some before I did this as I thought it was a little too wet

fungus10.jpg

[Bretts]

Here it is at repot in January. You can see the muck on the soil surface that I thought was Dynamic lifter but now I am unsure.

fun30.jpg

This was soaking in Triforone systemic fungicide I also drenched it over the foliage.

fun29.jpg

I gave it a dose of lime sulfur when i was doing the other trees and it seems to have done nothing but when I was treating the pines with Kocide blue I used some leftover on the large yamadori privet and I have noticed some improvement so I will be trying that on all of them.

Has anyone used Kocide Blue as a drench?

This little privet that my daughter did at a workshop last year was going fine until I gave it a chop back late last Summer and then it was also afflicted

fungus11.jpg

It also seems to have the same looking soil surface.

[kvan64]

Genetic disease? No Bretts. I got no idea but would love to find out.

[Handy Mick]

Hi mate,
I have no idea, but please keep them well away from mine Ah-----Choo

[Bretts]

This was the second one to be affected. Again after cutting back mid Summer it started coming out with the miniature leaves but soon returned to normal. It even looks fairly healthy in this first pic

pri.jpg

But a closer look and you can see it is some what affected too, (the white speckle is lime sulfur from last week)

pri1.jpg

pri3.jpg

Edit I never get those dam roots deep enough

[Handy Mick]

Hi mate,
Maybe just plant in the ground for a season, see what happens.
Mick

[Bretts]

Thanks for the idea Mick. I might try planting one in the neighbor's yard
The weird thing is it has the similarity of the Fungus that affected some deciduous trees in that it just could not push out a full sized growth. Surely it could not be the same thing spread over so many different species?

[Matthew]

Brett
I think you should consider moving, between the trident issues and now privett which is about the most disease pest hardy resilant plant in exsistance i think your living in the middle of a biohazard
To answer your question i have no idea what that is , not soil by looking at your mix, not too much too little sunlight, water , no visable pests................ ???? remind me not to come back as one of your trees Seriousally though i hope you get to the bottom of these problems

[kvan64]

Haha, that's a good idea. The neighbour's yard.
Nice pot Bretts. What is the glaze? Looks very "natural".
Cheers,
DK

[Handy Mick]

Hey Bretts, Bon Fire!

[Bretts]

Brett
I think you should consider moving, between the trident issues and now privett which is about the most disease pest hardy resilant plant in exsistance i think your living in the middle of a biohazard
To answer your question i have no idea what that is , not soil by looking at your mix, not too much too little sunlight, water , no visable pests................ ???? remind me not to come back as one of your trees Seriousally though i hope you get to the bottom of these problems

Thats what I siad to a very experienced person when they told me thier privet died from something last season. This had not started then but I was having issues with other species. Some how this seems different to what they described.
Just looking into anthracnose agian that I suspect is the issue with some deciduous. There are many different types and one at least does affect Privet. Some of them are very nasty and will kill a tree eventaully when it gets into the trunk

I think I remember some guys from up north had a heap of Privet die on them years back and I never got what happened. Might have to PM one member I remember!

[Taffy]

Bretts, looking at your photo 'fungus8' my immediate reaction was that the tree is being kept too wet. That black stuff looks like slime caused by algae. Then I brought up your photo Pri1 and notice that there is a water line right at the base of the trunk. Privets sure are as tough as old boots, but they really don't like being kept continually wet.

Years ago, I saw the same sort of black stuff on the top of some of my pots, and worked it out that I was putting too much dynamic lifter sprinkled on top of the pot. As it was breaking down, it turned into a layer of black mush that when the sun got on it, dried into a crust, but if it was just below the surface it was gluggy - and the trees were suffering from it. Now when I use Chook Pellets, I make a hole in the soil mix and drop a pellet in, then do the same all over the surface of the soil but I make sure they are spread apart so there isn't a concentration in a particular spot. Since doing that, I've had no more problems.

If you put too much Dynamic Lifter on, it could be congealing thus causing the slime. Your mix sure is free draining, but if there is a reasonably layer of fertilizer on the top, then it won't free drain away, and it can cause the problems you're experiencing.

No mate, you're not an idiot! We all have issues at times, and it's good to look for advice on how to handle them.

[Taffy]

Bretts, looking at your photo 'fungus8' my immediate reaction was that the tree is being kept too wet. That black stuff looks like slime caused by algae. Then I brought up your photo Pri1 and notice that there is a water line right at the base of the trunk. Privets sure are as tough as old boots, but they really don't like being kept continually wet.

Years ago, I saw the same sort of black stuff on the top of some of my pots, and worked it out that I was putting too much dynamic lifter sprinkled on top of the pot. As it was breaking down, it turned into a layer of black mush that when the sun got on it, dried into a crust, but if it was just below the surface it was gluggy - and the trees were suffering from it. Now when I use Chook Pellets, I make a hole in the soil mix and drop a pellet in, then do the same all over the surface of the soil but I make sure they are spread apart so there isn't a concentration in a particular spot. Since doing that, I've had no more problems.

If you put too much Dynamic Lifter on, it could be congealing thus causing the slime. Your mix sure is free draining, but if there is a reasonably layer of fertilizer on the top, then it won't free drain away, and it can cause the problems you're experiencing.

No mate, you're not an idiot! We all have issues at times, and it's good to look for advice on how to handle them.

EDIT: Ooops! Looks like I hit the submit button twice - would one of you kind mods delete this reply please

[Bretts]

Thanks for your thoughts Tman. I blamed the sludge around the roots in the first repot on DL and that is why I am sure I have not used it since on this.
Look at pic fungus7 especially at the bottom of the pot it came out of. That is bone dry in the middle of winter. The medium is definitely not over wet. The weird thing I mentioned is the surface does look wet and is also wet to the touch? Since the surface looked wet I would not water this until the surface dried. At a guess from memory that would be a day or two more (unless it rained) As you can see in pic fun30. When I repotted back then it was the same. As the surface looked wet and sludgy I was holding back the water to the point I can now see it would be almost too dry!
Not sure what lines your talking about. Maybe that is an old soil line?
Next time I repot I will give the roots a good scrub to try and eradicate that black stuff.