fungus on forsythia?

[arproffitt]

The whole south side of my house is lined by very large and well established forsythia bushes. I noticed last year that they have developed some sort of fungus. It had already spread quite profusely before I ever even noticed it, but I cut what I thought was all of it off. Apparently this was not the case because now its even worse. It seems as though I will just have to cut the bushes down to the ground to get rid of this stuff because there is no way I can trim each and every one of the infected branches - there are just too many. Does anyone know anything about this? I thought I'd read somewhere that it will go away on its own after a few years, is this true? I also read that it can spread to wisteria, which I have growing nearby. ? Is it necessary to cut the bushes down? If so, to what height and when should I do this? I live in TN in zone 7.

Thanks so much!!

[Timothy]

Good day Arproffitt. Before one could give you recommendations one way or the other, we (I) would need a better description of the fungus. Is the fungus attached to the leaves, stems or the trunk. Is the fungus white, black, grey or some other color? How does the fungus affest the shrub? Does it kill off leaves or whole stems?

As you may of noticed, more information is needed. There are some basic rules to follow.

1 Keep your area clean. This means keep all the fallen debris picked up and disposed of properly. All infected material should be removed and destroyed. DO NOT COMPOST!! Bag it and trash it or burn it. Composting it will most likely spread the fungus. 2 Clean your cutting tools. Just as you wouldn't want your doctor to use dirty tools on you, don't use dirty tools on your trees and shrubs. Many times one will spread diseases with their pruners as may of been the case with you and your forysthia. Clean the tools with a 50/50 mix of water and alcohol. If the fungus is bad, then clean your cutting tools more often. After everycut may be needed. 3 Air flow. Many funguses grow due to an enviroment that has little air flow and the shrubs stay moist through out the day. More air flow helps to dry out the foliage.

Good luck.

[arproffitt]

Hi Timothy. Thanks for taking time to respond. I didn't include a description of the fungus I guess because I thought only one type of fungus was likely to grow on a forsythia. I didn't realize there could be many different types of fungus. If you email me ( [e-mail]) I could reply with a photo. Otherwise, the fungus looks pretty much like brown/grey "spikey" balls. These grow on the stems, not the trunk or leaves. It did not affect flowering last year as the bushes looked just fine from a relative distance, but it does appear to have killed some of the branches, though not all. These bushes are very large and dense, so perhaps it was lacking proper airflow as you mentioned. Do you think I need to cut these down to a few inches or is there something I could treat the fungus with? I realize you don't know the exact problem here, but in general with things like this - what would one do?

Thanks again. Amber

[Lauren]

Are you sure it's a fungus and not scale?

[Tom J]

No matter which it is, wouldn't a stem taken to the local nursey get the proper fungiside/insecticide to treat the problem?

Tom J

[Travis M.]

Post a picture to alt.binaries.pictures.gardens.

[Lauren]

Not necessarily. The local nursery could be a Lowe's or Wal*Mart. Remember, the OP is in Tennessee.

[Tom J]

There is a guy in the nursery at the Lowe's near me that is very knowledgeable, although I know that's not always the case. There is a private nursery across the highway from them that doesn't have anyone that knows squat.

Tom J

[sockiescat]

No matter which it is, wouldn't a stem taken to the local nursey get the proper fungiside/insecticide to treat the problem?

Tom J

Not necessarily. The local nursery could be a Lowe's or Wal*Mart. Remember, the OP is in Tennessee.

There is a guy in the nursery at the Lowe's near me that is very knowledgeable, although I know that's not always the case. There is a private nursery across the highway from them that doesn't have anyone that knows squat.

Tom J

amber i dont know if this is going to help any but could it be tha your forsythia has crown gall growing on the branch areas and that it not a fungus at all. maybe take a peek here and see if this is what it is

luck sockiescat

-- sockiescat