What on earth is wrong with my garden?!
By sausage
13 comments
You would think after all the sunshine mixed with rain we have had up in Northumberland lately that everything would be looking fabulous, and indeed it was until about two weeks ago.
Now at least half of my plants are turning brown and dying!
At first I thought they had been scorched by the four days of blistering sun we had about three weeks ago, despite the nightly watering from me, the muck dug in in the spring and the food they had all been given…after all, it was incredibly hot that week.
But now my honeysuckle is virtually dead, roses are dying back from tip to root, potatoes and tomatoes are yellowing alarmingly, good old red valerian is brown and half dead, rhodies and azaleas are a bit yellow looking, the phlomis are covered in large rusty looking patches, and everything looks a bit sickly in general! The only thing doing well is the alchemilla mollis, which is enormous!
What on earth is going on, is anyone else experiencing the same symptoms, and does anyone have any ideas on what I can do? There do not appear to be any insects or larvae or bugs or beasties anywhere. Shall I start chopping back and burning, is it a disease?
All help appreciated at this point!
21 Jun, 2009
3 likes
Comments
could it be "burn" from over fertilization. Not knowing what and how much can't be sure but does sound like a possibility.
22 Jun, 2009
Yes, I thought it might be 'burn' too. Was the manure well rotted?
22 Jun, 2009
It was horse manure left from last year...is that bad? It was fabulous last year. But it hasn't been anywhere near the honeysuckle...
Haven't been spraying weedkiller, although did use multirose on honeysuckle and roses...also used it on some in garden and they are fine.
Oh NO! Hope it's not a disease, what shall I do??
22 Jun, 2009
It doesn't sound like the manure is to blame then Sausage. No other ideas I'm afraid, hope it's not a disease!
22 Jun, 2009
Thinking laterally, do you live anywhere near large tracts of land which may have been sprayed and you've caught driftover? The other thing I thought of is, do you live under any aircraft flightpath. Sometimes aircraft will jettison fuel and the direction of the wind at the time could have dumped it on your garden. It sounds a bit extreme, but it sounds as though your situation is extreme too.
I do hope you find the answer, and that your garden recovers. I know if it happened to me, I'd be totally gutted.
Bbb
22 Jun, 2009
Are any of your neighbours experiencing the same problems in their gardens Sausage? If not that would eliminate an environmental factor such as the driftover and fuel jettisoning.
Have you been watering a lot??? Could it be a case of kiling the plants with kindness?
23 Jun, 2009
I wouldn't say I have been watering a LOT, only when we had that insanely hot spell up here (like today has been again!) And then no more than I have watered for years during hot weather. It HAS rained a lot between hot spells....
No chance of chemical drift from farmland as I have woods on one side and fallow fields the rest of the way round.
Jettisoned fuel sounds interesting and yes we do live in the countryside under an infrequently used flightpath...only training fighter jets once a month though.
But it's not the WHOLE garden...some roses are fine, hydrangea fine, clematis fine (and they are usually the weakest!) lawn fine, forget me nots and london pride is fine...all plants interspersed around the garden with the sick ones..so I am baffled! Chopped the dead honeysuckle down today, very sad...and threw out potatoes and tomatoes that were outside...indoor ones are brilliant! Burning and sterilising pots etc... all a bit disheartening at the end of June. Sigh...can only wait and see on a day to day basis at the moment.
Thankyou so much for all your help, will keep you updated!
23 Jun, 2009
Hi Sausage, read this today!
http://www.glallotments.btik.com/p_Victims_2009.ikml
26 Jun, 2009
Hi, thanks for that link, although having watched it I think I can rule it out, as no cupping of leaves, just brown and greyish and dying from tip backwards.
Also, the indoor toms, cucumber and melons are all just fine and also planted in same compost and manure etc.
Roses are now gone, as are most other affected plants, sadly chopped and destroyed.
We soldier on!
27 Jun, 2009
Oooh thats great Sausage, about the Manure I mean, not your plants, One more ticked off the list...What about Animals, moles or insects.. Im clutching at straws here!!!! I hope you find a solution soon Sausage... Dee..
27 Jun, 2009
Perhaps it is some kind of fungus attack or perhaps mites on the plants. Are you still losing plants or has the problem stopped? I mean are any more becoming affected since you cleared out the dead and dying?
27 Jun, 2009
Well we certainly have moles, but they really only affect the lawn and the odd plant they happen to tunnel under..easy to spot!
As for insects, there seems to have been a lot of white fly, greenfly, blackfly this year due to the weather, but this is not that kind of damage, pretty sure...
Have a bit of mildew on a lupin, but nothing outstanding and again, easy to spot and treat.
Have a leafminer attack on a catmint/nepeta...
A different rose has started with it now - total brown dry withered die back from bud backwards...other things seem to have recovered, albeit temporarily...we shall see...
Thanks all!
3 Jul, 2009
OMG sausage it sounds like you have some sort of disease in your garden! The weather wont do that to your plants, Honeysuckle is a tough plant in my opinion and your poor roses, What muck did you dig into your bordes? maybe it carried something in it if it wasn't sterile or you have some sort of rust, im sorry to be so negative but it sounds bad.. maybe someone else will know whats happening to your plants and help you to diagnose the problem, just had a thought, you havent been spraying weedkiller, have you?
21 Jun, 2009