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Help with damage limitation: wilt and subsidence risk
Sazz101
Posts: 248
Hello 
advice greatly appreciated. My small garden is on sloping chalk. The neighbours garden is approx 1.5 meters lower and the divide is held with a supporting wall which is leaning more each year. When we arrived there was only one plant on our (north facing) fence , an established pyracantha approx 2.5m high but sits about one foot from the fence and wall. Neighbours own the boundary fence. Then the following happened:
- I planted a 1 meter high acer and 1 meter high twisted hazel, both about 1 meter from boundary and each other and pyracantha.
- acer got verticillium wilt
- acer died and was pulled up summer
-pyracantha is now showing signs of die back
Question 1:
I dont want to make the wall less secure by chopping pyracantha down, but also don’t want the wilt to spread to hazel (sentimental gift).
advice greatly appreciated. My small garden is on sloping chalk. The neighbours garden is approx 1.5 meters lower and the divide is held with a supporting wall which is leaning more each year. When we arrived there was only one plant on our (north facing) fence , an established pyracantha approx 2.5m high but sits about one foot from the fence and wall. Neighbours own the boundary fence. Then the following happened: - I planted a 1 meter high acer and 1 meter high twisted hazel, both about 1 meter from boundary and each other and pyracantha.
- acer got verticillium wilt
- acer died and was pulled up summer
-pyracantha is now showing signs of die back
Question 1:
I dont want to make the wall less secure by chopping pyracantha down, but also don’t want the wilt to spread to hazel (sentimental gift).
Why’s best to do?
Question 2:
Space is premium. Its north facing so solorization isn’t an option. Any ideas on how to use space without adding a lot of weight? Can I use it as a compost area if I lay plastic beneath it?
Thank you in advance!
Space is premium. Its north facing so solorization isn’t an option. Any ideas on how to use space without adding a lot of weight? Can I use it as a compost area if I lay plastic beneath it?
Thank you in advance!
0
Posts
There's a list of susceptible plants on the RHS site -
https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/pdfs/verticillium-host-list.pdf
Hazel is not listed, so it may not be affected by VW, nor is pyracantha.
I've had an acer with VW for many years, the nearby amelanchier also has it, but other shrubs in the area are fine.
PS - are you sure it's VW?
I confirmed mine when I saw black rings on the cut surface of branches that I pruned
Lots of shrubs have suffered die-back this year due to environmental conditions
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
This is the pyracantha die back. Could it possibly not be VW? Been here 9 years. Never seen this before:
I'll post a pic when I get back from walkies.
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
I prune out the affected wood each spring.
A pic from the web shows what I mean-
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
Hopefully it's just a bit of dieback. Easy to prune out in the spring when you can check its health properly
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
I wouldn't feed it yet, just give it a nice mulch this autumn and then perhaps feed when it starts to grow next year. I would however nip all those dead parts off now down to the berries. I do this twice a year on my pyracantha, to keep it to the same frame works without losing the berries that the birds love. It might help stop the dieback and will give the wood enough time to harden before the cold weather.