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Cotoneaster with mouldy berries and leaf loss

robdunfordrobdunford Posts: 11
in Problem solving
I have a well developed horizontalis grown up against a west facing fence. Last year all the berries o one half went mouldy and the leaves fell off. Nothing seems to come up on searches for this..although this year new shoots are appearing on last years branches.

Posts

  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    edited 28 January
    @robdunford I think it could be due to the very wet weather and cold winds. Yours as you say is C Horizontalis classed as semi evergreen.This may loose leaves in winter anyway.  

    This problem with the berries seems to be on the increase with wetter winters. Last year a large part of an old plant in my garden split. I think it was caused by the previous wet November then the minus temperatures of December.

    Your plant will be fine in spring if a little late to recover. This seems to be a reoccurring trend due to weather conditions.
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
  • robdunfordrobdunford Posts: 11
    GardenerSuze said:
    @robdunford I think it could be due to the very wet weather and cold winds. Yours as you say is C Horizontalis classed as semi evergreen.This may loose leaves in winter anyway.  

    This problem with the berries seems to be on the increase with wetter winters. Last year a large part of an old plant in my garden split. I think it was caused by the previous wet November then the minus temperatures of December.

    Your plant will be fine in spring if a little late to recover. This seems to be a reoccurring trend due to weather conditions.
    Thank you Suze, yes it’s been wet and windy down here in Weymouth. As you say it will most likely recover but be a bit late.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    It's normal for some berries to wither/drop if there's anoher, plentiful supply of food for birds. Happens here quite often as we have lots of hawthorn hedging etc in the general area so some cotoneasters can get left for a long time. 
    In milder autumns/winters like this current one [third in a row here] it's also normal because there's a lot more berries that are viable, so there's an excess. We always have a lot of rainfall, especially from October until the end of the year, so this autumn/winter wasn't particularly different from any other. 
    You can cut back any dead branches/stems to rejuvenate it. There can also be damage from larger birds landing on stems - pigeons are pretty clumsy in that regard, so there could simply be physical damage of that kind    :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
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