Forum home› Plants
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Cotinus - wilt

clematisdorsetclematisdorset Posts: 1,348
edited June 2023 in Plants
I have 3 Cotinus plants in separate pots. I was planning to plant them out this autumn. However, over the last week or so, the largest plant has been exhibiting drooping stems. It has flower buds on the stems and almost all are wilting. I have been watering consistently but this morning to my (edit horror not borrow) I found the roots are brown (and fairly damp). I immediately re-potted it into John Innes no 2 fresh new  from the bag compost and into a terracotta pot and put it in the shade in the hope it dries out. 
I then discovered my other cotinus also has fairly brown roots (not as bad) and some leaves have crisped up and died. The soil seems ok - not bone dry and not sopping wet. 
I can't understand what has happened. 
Does this sound like verticillium wilt or bacterial wilt or something else? My third cotinus might be going the same way.
Sorry to witness the demise of the forum. 😥😥😥😡😡😡I am Spartacus 
«1

Posts

  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    @clematisdorset I think it is unlikely it is any kind of wilt or bacterial problem. The fact that the roots are brown could be an indication that they are not growing. Are your shrubs pot bound and wanting to push out and form new roots to support the top growth? Suze
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    I have seen sudden branch death a few times in my planted Cotinus'. I have attributed it to Verticilium wilt and removed affected branches. They have continued to grow quite happily, and even sprouted new growth from below the cuts,
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • clematisdorsetclematisdorset Posts: 1,348
    Thank you @GardenerSuze and @punkdoc. I don't think the roots are pot-bound but I will check. The  cotinus that I discovered being poorly is the largest & the roots felt quite heavy in the 3 litre pot. It is now in a bigger terracotta pot. I am nervous of taking it out of the pot and spilling soil or spores incase it is the work of a contagion, but I will check the smaller Cotinus' roots. The top photo is of the largest cotinus - most badly affected, with buds visible. The lower photo shows a smaller Cotinus, with no buds yet, still in its 3 litre pot (terracotta pot outside it for protection from me knocking it/aesthetics). In both plants, not all leaves are wilting. If it is VW, shall I wait, rather than cutting the stems or would that just prolong the agony? Thankyou.

    Sorry to witness the demise of the forum. 😥😥😥😡😡😡I am Spartacus 
  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    I cut as soon as I saw it, but I have no idea if that was correct. As I say I don't even know whether it was VW., but both plants are thriving several years later.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • clematisdorsetclematisdorset Posts: 1,348
    Glad to hear that they recovered from whatever it was, @punkdoc. I have inspected my second continus, the medium-sized plant, and I can say that one stem has wilted since yesterday. The roots don't look at all pot-bound. Maybe I will have to wait and see. I have moved all 3 pots away from each other.
    Sorry to witness the demise of the forum. 😥😥😥😡😡😡I am Spartacus 
  • thevictorianthevictorian Posts: 1,279
    We have a really mature specimen that is about two storeys tall. A couple of years ago we had a massive amount of die off and half the tree went the same as yours has now and never recovered to the point I chopped off the dead material. It's been absolutely fine since then but there was enough of it for it not to matter as much, which I'm not sure is as easy with your specimens. It may not have even been the same problem as I'm sure I can remember some sticky golden sap like resin. 
  • clematisdorsetclematisdorset Posts: 1,348
    Thank you @thevictorian. That must have been rather concerning and a bit of a job to deal with!? But it is good that yours recovered. I have looked at mine and cannot see any odd or sticky substance around the bark or young stems. I think I will try to scrape away some bark and check. I am quite shocked at the speed of the downturn and my 'larger' (!) cotinus was all set to be the star of the show this summer, with many promising looking buds only a few weeks ago. It is odd that all 3 are deteriorating, especially as I am growing them in individual pots in fresh compost and I brought them into the garden at different times over the last 12 months. Do you think you identified what the cause was on your cotinus? Also, maybe the sticky resin comes later - I will be alert to that, so thankyou. 
    Sorry to witness the demise of the forum. 😥😥😥😡😡😡I am Spartacus 
  • thevictorianthevictorian Posts: 1,279
    I'm not really sure what it was to be honest. Ours is enormous as I mentioned and split about 8ft up into two main thick branches, one of which completely died off. The sap could have been because of the size of the branches but diagnosis was a bit hard because it made all the cuts look blackened (could also be to do with the saw), so it was hard to see what was going on. The cuts healed over and we haven't had it again but it was similar to what you are describing, ie it grew normally in spring until it all just wilted and died. I'm sorry I don't know what it may have been or how you can help your plants but I hope you get a good outcome.  
  • clematisdorsetclematisdorset Posts: 1,348
    Thank you @thevictorian and apologies for the late reply - I was drafted in to do babysitting duties at the last moment. Yes, normal growth then sudden wilting. With your large, mature specimen, I can see there would be additional factors potentially at play. I must admit to being disappointed with such an inauspicious start with growing these cotinus. They were a replacement for one that was vandalised and subsequently died shortly after. (Someone dropped stuff on it  in the height of summer and its branches snapped). I will try not to give up yet. They are majestic plants, especially when they become tree-like.

    Thankyou everyone. I checked the largest cotinus this evening - no obvious changes (appearance has not worsened as far as I could tell). I scraped some bark back in several places and I did see green, but I have noticed it seems to be the highest stems and buds on each separate branch that are wilting. With my medium sized cotinus (relative to the largest one)  no obvious changes and it seems that the leaves from one stem only have wilted. Should anything further happen, I will update the thread. Further comments still welcome too.
    Sorry to witness the demise of the forum. 😥😥😥😡😡😡I am Spartacus 
  • clematisdorsetclematisdorset Posts: 1,348
    The cotinus with all the buds has no buds anymore: they all succumbed and wilted. I waited a few days and decided to prune off the worst of it, leaving some healthy leaves. The weird thing about this plant is that there was one very healthy stem out of all of the stems and this one had an insect on it. The frog spittle one/spittlebug, and I read they can carry the bacterial disease Xylella Fastidiosa. I am wondering if this may be what happened. However, the rest of the plant has not visibly changed in the days since I pruned it. The photos show 'after pruning' first,  and 'before pruning' last.
    Sorry to witness the demise of the forum. 😥😥😥😡😡😡I am Spartacus 
Sign In or Register to comment.