Paul Byrne asked 16 years ago
I planted 140 Olearia plants in early 2006 as a wind break along 35 metres of my garden which runs to the sea. They had flourished until this month. I notice that approx 30/40 are dead or dying in intermittent clumps along the garden. There has not been any spraying near the hedge. I dug one up but did not notice any pests in the root ball.Why would this be?
1 Answers
Gerry Daly Staff answered 7 years ago
This looks very much like it might be root rot disease. It is not unusually for olearia to get root rots, such as phytophthora, and die intermittently like this. Plants can have this disease when purchased or it can attack later, especially on wet ground.Â
If it is just one as in the photograph, the neighbouring plants will quickly fill the gap as they are planted quite closely together. If a run of plants is affected, you will need to plant up the gaps with new plants. Be careful when buying plants that none of the batch looks weak or sickly.
The losses usually come in a wave and the survivors are not affected afterwards.Â
