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Just wanting to know if anyone can tell me whats wrong with my Leighton Greens? I planted them about 3-4 months ago.
In behind the retaining wall is about 300mm of blue metal with an ag drain in the middle and the about 500mm of premium organic garden mix.
They have had plenty of water and I put some dynamic lifter on them when I first planetd them. Over winter they get sun from about 11am to probably 3pm
The didnt start to go brown for 2-3 months after I planted them which funily enough was about the same time I put the wood chip on top. They look just about dead now.
Yep they look really sad. On their last legs.
You haven’t over watered them have you?
Once the bark goes on the moister will be retained in the soil longer.
What a shame, rule of thumb with new plants, always put your figure in the soil before you water to see if they need it or not.
Also I see your new lawn along the retaining wall is dying also….. do you know what’s going on there?
No idea what wrong with the grass Michelle. I'm too worried about it as the rest of the lawn is doing extremely well considering it was laid in the middle of May. It Sir Walter Buffalo so I'm confident it will recover quickly once the warmer weather comes.
The grass looks like its 'burnt' from too much fertiliser, I considered the possibility that the fertiliser from the leighton greens ran down onto the grass.
That is a fungal disease commonly known as "conifer canker."
It is kind of similar to the jarrah dieback we get in WA.
Commonly spread via soil and also from birds and insects spreading the disease from one plant to the next. It will often start on one and move through a garden.
Whole streets are commonly wiped out in Perth particularly in the northern subs. Most growers over here don't really bother with conifers anymore due to this disease.
To try and stop it look for one of two products. Yates "anti-rot" or "fosject". Both are identical in content. Phosphoric acid is what is in them needs to be applied to foliage and soil not only on the plant but surrounding as well.
On plants big enough this is injected into the trunk using a tree syringe. A mother of a syringe that has a threaded end and is spring loaded to force the phosphoric acid into the sap stream. Effected branches are stuffed and won't come back.
Fosject was developed by the CSIRO to combat Jarrah Die-Back and Yates bought the rights to produce it (as anti-rot) to the best of my knowledge, or something like that anyway
rip'em out and plant something different
don't worry it pretty much only effects conifers
Your lawn is still looking pretty fresh and doesn't look to have taken root on the edge. It will grow back into the area in summer if you feed it lots of seasol and powerfeed
there is the possibility it is also collar rot caused by having the mulch up around the base of the stems. It gets all moist and rots the fine layer of bark that moves all the goodies up the stem. Pull the mulch away from the stem next time
keep it dry.
when you pull the mulch away press your finger on the bark layer, it may come away under your finger
If it is conifer canker it maybe from the wood chips but only if they were from a conifer already effected by that disease. As I said it won't effect other types of plants
As an aside.... Leighton Greens in a thin bed, right up against a fence, in a narrow garden bed that is raised with a wooden retaining wall ? What a combination !
You do know these things grow to be H-U-G-E ?
Oh, I thought the same thing, they grow huge in NO TIME AT ALL. It might be karma that saved you a lot of expense in removing them in say5 years time, definitely plant something else, Shady. I would plant bushes not trees in such a narrow bed, they grow and cover the fenceline pretty well but do not cause problems as the LG do.
Maggie
Thanks all,
I'll go and get some of that "anti-rot" or "fosject" to sort it out.
I am aware that they grow very quickly and very tall but I assume that you can trim the height once or twice a year. We have also sold the place so I'm not really concerned what will happen in 10 years but I do want the plants looking reasonably healthy when the new owners move in (4 weeks).
Thanks again.
In that case, the plants won't be looking too good at all. The anti rot and Fosject will only stop the progress of the disease spread. The dead foliage will stay dead and those areas of the plant will not recover.
Best rip them out and replace, only god himself can get those back to a presentable state
long term is cool but for your short term requirements no good
Karma all right
, the new owners will be happy that they are gone
.
http://www.agric.wa.gov.au/content/fcp/ ... 04_013.pdf
interestingly they state there are no fungal controls available. I have found this to the contrary but the WA Dept of Ag have some of the best info going.