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Fusarium Wilt on French Lavender

matthewblakeismatthewblakeis Posts: 3
in Problem solving
Hello,
I have four plants of French Lavender planted in a flower bed with a rose bush and three rosemary plants.  Recently, after returning from a holiday, we discovered the two lavender plants closest to the rose have gone extremely brown and shrivelled on one side (on the sides closest to the rose). At first I suspected our friend had just not watered them or watered them in full sunlight during a heatwave, or they shrivelled in the heat. However, after a bit more research I'm worried it might be fusarium wilt. The other plants look okay, although the bases of the other 2 lavenders have also turned brown and shrivelled.

Is there anything I can do to:
A) save any of the lavender?
B) do anything that would prevent me digging up and replacing the soil?

I would really like to avoid the latter if at all possible as I have the ashes of a dear friend in there! The rose also has black spot which I have just started to treat. 
I would appreciate any advice or suggestions greatly. Matthew 

Posts

  • BorderlineBorderline Posts: 4,700
    I think it's best you take a photo of your lavenders, including the base area with the soil. If planted too close to a rose, I don't think a good idea. Roses need well fed rich soil, whilst lavenders need free draining soil with almost no feeding at all. Your lavenders may have had excess water sitting around the base, creating conditions that may rot the plant, or as you suspected, watering from a height when the sun is out.


  • matthewblakeismatthewblakeis Posts: 3
    Borderline said:
    I think it's best you take a photo of your lavenders, including the base area with the soil. If planted too close to a rose, I don't think a good idea. Roses need well fed rich soil, whilst lavenders need free draining soil with almost no feeding at all. Your lavenders may have had excess water sitting around the base, creating conditions that may rot the plant, or as you suspected, watering from a height when the sun is out.


    Ah! I am showing my amateur colours! Thanks, I will take a picture in the full light of day tomorrow.
  • matthewblakeismatthewblakeis Posts: 3
    Borderline said:
    I think it's best you take a photo of your lavenders, including the base area with the soil. If planted too close to a rose, I don't think a good idea. Roses need well fed rich soil, whilst lavenders need free draining soil with almost no feeding at all. Your lavenders may have had excess water sitting around the base, creating conditions that may rot the plant, or as you suspected, watering from a height when the sun is out.


    Here are some pictures. Like I said it's the two closest to the rose that are mostly affected, but the very base of all the lavenders are a bit brown (I have no idea if this is normal or not) 
  • BorderlineBorderline Posts: 4,700
    Thanks for posting photos. It does look like excess moisture, or some type of liquid, even watering over the foliage has damaged and ultimately killed the leaves. Always water at the base and avoid watering over-head, especially if the sun is out. Lavenders prefer dry environments. The soil may be too damp and too rich for the Lavenders too, so what you will end up with, is excess foliage flopping about. 

    All Lavenders age and become woody, so when you are seeing brown at the base, that is the beginnings of the plants forming the sub-shrub base. Nothing to worry about. But, if the foliage sits over constant damp soil, you will see foliage die-back around the base rising up the sides, so soil conditions need to be right for your plants. They want free draining soil with no feeding. If the soil is free draining already, you may need to lay some gravel or bark chip around the base to keep the top layer dry.
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