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Rose of Sharon bushes dying of rot

16 years ago

Hello everyone, I have a couple of Rose of Sharon bushes in the front yard (sandy loam type soil) that have done very well until about two years ago. That's when I noticed that one developed some yellow, somewhat wilted leaves. The next year, the branches that were yellow the year before didn't grow, so I just chopped them off. There was a rotted patch at the base of the trunk where some new sprouts came up (this was last year). But now this year the entire thing is very much dead.

The other bush is sprouting leaves but the trunk at the base is rotted all the way around so I'm afraid there is no hope.

There are a few ants and earwigs in the area, perhaps that's just a normal thing for rotting wood.

I searched the forums and found some stuff on Cotton Root Rot, but I'm not absolutely certain that's what it is. Mainly because it happened over a couple of years' time and not as fast or in the exact same way that cotton root rot is supposed to.

Such a disappointment!

Any ideas?

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Comments (4)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
16 years ago
what , if anything, do you apply to the lawn?

ken
rwindiana
Original Author
16 years ago
Normally nothing, except some water. There is a flowerbed nearby where some composted (or partially rotted) manure is applied sometimes.
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it is not maintaining dormancy ... for one reason or another.. its has taken significant damage ... it MIGHT be trying to recover.. from the root mass ... if it can ... budding from way down low.. takes some time.. as the buds are not just sitting there.. waiting to emerge.. like on the rest of the plant ... they need to trigger.. develop and grow .. frankly.. if you dont see some life rather soon.. within a few weeks ... i wouldnt wait much longer ... these are not slow motion foo foo shrubs ... ken
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I just looked at mine and they're awful. Full of blooms but most of them have been eaten off. I see grasshoppers but no beetles on them, even though the JBeetles are out in full force. You'll love this. Since we live in the country we can have our own dumpster at the end of the driveway, and they empty it every two weeks. Well, the driver has to put the dumpster in an area which is easily accessible for the truck to pull in and back out. Guess where they put it? Right next to the Rose of Sharon! lol. Oh well, at least it's decorated. :)
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If you want to have your ROS somewhere else in the garden, I find that it is easy to make cuttings. These could be planted where you want them to be. Then you could remove the original troublesome bush. IF you want to kill it, there are some herbicides out there that will certainly take care of it. Round up works wonders on killing the plant, as does straight javex. When I was young, I recall my dad wanted to have the city remove a dying maple tree from the city boulevard, and they refused because it was not dead enough. A few copper nails worked wonders, and the next year they removed a completely dead tree, as he smiled from inside the house.
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There are not many shrubs more hardy than a ROS. Sounds like your two were long overdue for rejuvenation pruning. You did the right thing but cutting one down last weekend. I would cut the other down too. Both will come back with a vengeance. The older varieties of ROS also sucker and reseed prolifically so you shouldn't have any problems with both plants coming back in some shape, form, or fashion. You will be very happy with the new look and the abundance of flowers from the "new" plants.
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WendyB 5A/MA
16 years ago
I just had something similar happen with a viburnum. My case seems to be a borer.

Does it look anything like the picture here:

viburnum borer thread
rwindiana
Original Author
16 years ago
No, it looks normal except that they are simply not growing, and around the bottom the bark is soft (rotted) underneath so it's easy to penetrate and tear off.

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