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Partial damage to otherwise healthy Buddleia - Possible causes?

carolinejroberts2005aB1wkBZ2carolinejroberts2005aB1wkBZ2 Posts: 3
in Problem solving
Hi All,

I am an enthusiastic, but haphazard gardener and keep a fairly low maintenance garden incase life gets in the way of pruning and monthly tasks.  One year round winner is the Buddleia - always springs back into life with no bother and happily takes a hard prune every couple of years.

Strangely I have a couple of branches in the middle of the bush which have suddenly wilted and are looking beyond saving already.  This has happened pretty quickly as I did a light shaping of the bush a week ago prior to adding a new fence panel behind it.

There is no sign of rot or mould and the branches look otherwise healthy.  

Are there any natural causes which might make only selected branches die like this?

We do have problems with a neighbour on this border and my first thought was it looked like damage from a pesticide/herbicide, but I don't want to spring to conclusions if it could be something common.

A secondary question is, should I quickly chop the affected branches in case what ever is wrong spreads through the rest of the bush?

(Apologies for the pictures - difficult to get a good angle to show the damage, and the specific area it's in, but hopefully you can at least see the rest of the bush is very alive)

Many thanks in advance for any advice!
Caroline

Posts

  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    @carolinejroberts2005aB1wkBZ2 Welcome. If the branches are in the middle they will be the oldest ones. Perhaps they have just given up and let others take over?
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
  • carolinejroberts2005aB1wkBZ2carolinejroberts2005aB1wkBZ2 Posts: 3
    Hi - thanks for responding! 
    That does makes sense, but it isn't just this main branch its a couple of smaller ones behind it too, in a row. 
    I think overall the bush is probably about 13 years old (with some hard pruning to keep back growth) so it has had a good innings, but I'd hate to lose the lot!
    I think it that is the cause then I can be reassured though that it's less likely to spread through the other new growth :smile:
    Thanks!
  • JellyfireJellyfire Posts: 1,139
    edited May 2022
     they might have just got broken by a pigeon or something, that would cause them to wilt. Buddlia are pretty indestructible so I wouldn’t worry. I’d loo them off at the bottom, preferably above a bud or leaf. For general pruning you can go in very hard, to just above the lowest bud on each branch in either autumn or early spring, they will easily put on enough growth to be monsters again by the end of the season but it keeps your flowers lower down, otherwise after a few years they end up 12ft in the air and you can’t see them!
  • carolinejroberts2005aB1wkBZ2carolinejroberts2005aB1wkBZ2 Posts: 3
    Don't know if this picture shows it better? (excuse the messy garden - working on this section of border and garden at the moment)

    There's no physical damage to the branches affected at all, just the wilting.  Its that central tall branch and a few in front and behind...

    I think it's likely to be quite oddly shaped this year, but we do aim for height along this border due to a very hostile neighbour so I don't like to chop it all back to match.

    I've never seen anything like it before and wondered if it was common, but yes - thank heavens this type of plant can take almost anything and bounce back!
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    I'd just cut out the damaged branches, as the others have said.
    If you aren't cutting the whole shrub right back at the end of winter/early spring, you're bound to get areas which don't do terribly well. Poor airflow will affect some parts of the new growth too, which is possibly where the problem is. Not possible to see from the photos though.

    If you want to keep some height at the back, you can cut back accordingly - in a tiered effect. I do that with the ones I have on the boundary.  It gets cut back a bit in autumn, to around 6 feet. Then cut back in spring - the back to about four feet, and the front 'layer' to about 2 feet or so. There are other shrubs etc in front of them.  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • MikeOxgreenMikeOxgreen Posts: 812
    I think you're overreacting about something which a lot of people regard as a weed. Take some cuttings as they take very easily and do what you can with it, they do have a limited life.
    It isn't an Oak tree or something.
  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    No normal pleasant self, I see, got any ointment for it yet?
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    If there’s really no damage anywhere to that branch, then I suspect that it’s yet another shrub with problems caused by the very dry spring we’ve had this year. Buddleja are not deeply rooted plants and it takes a lot of moisture for the roots to ‘pump’ it up to the height of those branches. 
    Your buddleja has a lot of competition for moisture from the grass close to its base and the other large shrubs nearby. I’d try clearing the grass from a circle 1.5m diameter around the base of the buddleja and giving it a lot of water … I’d start with 3 buckets full every other day for a week, then two buckets full twice a week for the rest of the summer. And mulch with compost or composted bark or similar to help the border retain moisture.  Then, even if the wilted section doesn’t recover, the rest of the plant will be fit enough to produce replacements very soon and restore your privacy. 

    Next spring I’d start with the two buckets full twice a week regime in mid March to guard against it happening again. Even if drought isn’t the problem it won’t do any harm. 

    Good luck … let us know how it goes 🤞 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





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