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Rosemary die-back, help me save my plant!

jps4483jps4483 Posts: 3
in Problem solving
Hello. 

I am feeling a little disheartened as one of my rosemary plants is beginning to die-back from the center. It is a three-year old plant and had been thriving the past two years... I wanted to know if anyone had a reason for this, or if there was anyway of saving the plant?

My guess is root rot as we had a lot of water over December, January and February but all has been nice and pleasant recently. I pulled out a dead branch to look at the roots but it didn't seem particularly wet. I am confused as to if I should water / feed / not water.....

The tops of the bush have what looks to be healthy new growth but the dieback is coming from the bottom of the stems up.

I have a picture of the roots in case anyone is clever enough to know if it is root rot.

I really hope I don't loose this plant .... 

Help :( 

Posts

  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    I've found rosemary to be a fairly short lived perennial.
    They grow big quickly in my garden and after a few years seem to loose vigour and like yours, seem to die back.
    I take cuttings every 2-3 years and grow them on in a nursery bed ready to replace other bushes as needed

    Yours may have some sort of problem I'm not aware of though so see what others think.
    It could also just be that part of your plant got bad frost-bite and part of it has died back.

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • raisingirlraisingirl Posts: 7,093
    edited April 2021
    Brown leaves are fairly normal for rosemary - it gets wind scorched and frosted very easily, so you can just cut those back and the remaining green will carry on. The yellowing is slightly more concerning (and if what's now brown went yellow first). That usually means some sort of deficiency of diet, but rosemary likes it spartan, so it could be getting too wet or something may be attacking it.
    The best you can do is cut out the affected parts and see if anyone else comes along with a more informed suggestion
    Some advice here Rosemary Plant Problems: Diseases, Pests, and Other Issues - HerbsWithin on how to diagnose and what to do about root rot, powdery mildew and a few other potential rosemary issues. Root rot is possible, but you can usually see/feel that in the roots (the roots go mushy). From what you've said, there's no evidence of it?
    Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon

    “It's still magic even if you know how it's done.” 
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