Hello,

I am in DESPERATE need of help!!!

Last Spring I purchased 3 plum trees, a Nectarine and 3 Blueberry bushes from a reputable fruit tree nursery (I've never had problems before).

Everything seemed fine at first, but towards the end of summer all the plums started dying, and one of the blueberries as well. They did not need water, although they appeared to be suffering from drought. By the fall they were dead.

I left them all until this spring, hoping they might come back. The plums are all dead, as is the one blueberry; another blueberry appeared dead, although it now seems to have a bit of new growth coming from the roots.

The 3 blueberries were planted in one large 6'x6' raised bed, with a lot of OM and fresh topsoil. One of the blueberries is fine - all new growth on the entire plant (no obvious dieback).

The 3 plums were all planted separately - 2 in 20 gallon pots (temporarily) with fresh soil, the other one planted high on the ground (about 6-8" above grade, after I amended the soil beneath, mounding fresh topsoil mixed with the native soil approx. 3 ft x 3 ft wide mound. Nothing else is planted near that plum for at least 5 feet.

The plants in the ground have newspaper (starting ~9" from plants) and heavy cedar mulch to keep out weeds and hold moisture. I never had to water much at all after the first 2 weeks.

As I said, the plums started dying towards the end of summer, but they had plenty of moisture in the soil, so I just used some organic fertilizer to give them a boost, but by fall they were all dead. The one blueberry succumbed to the same fate.

This spring I just removed the potted plums, without much thought, but yesterday I dug up the planted plum and analyzed the roots. They were dead and had NO FEEDER ROOTS at all!!! There were two earthworms embedded near the crown in some remaining soil, as well as some of those tiny white wiggle worms. I think these guys were eating the dead roots - not the cause of death. I cut one bit of root and the inside was a redish-brown.

I thought it could be nematodes (root lesion), but now I really suspect Phytophthora Root Rot.

Beacuse they were all planted separately in fresh soil, and all succumbed to the same fate, and they were all shipped in one box, I believe this disease was sent to me from the nursery.

I plan to contact the nursery about this, but now I'm deathly afraid to accept anything from them.

Oddly, the dwarf nectarine seems fine.

My question is this: What do I do about the soil? I was going to plant a Black Mulberry in place of the plum in the ground (I was going to replace an invasive White Mulberry with the black one, but I read that the invasive (Asian) white mulberry roots carry a pathogen that kills Red Mulberries, so I'm not taking any chances).

At this point I am willing to drench the soil with chemicals to kill this evil root rot, because it can spread to my Rhodis, Azaleas, Pieris and Mountain Laurels - I have TONS of those in my yard, and I cannot allow this deadly pathogen to spread to them.

I was thinking of removing all the mulch and soil from the mound and cooking it in the oven, but this would take a very long time. What about a bleach solution? I cannot afford to buy all new soil. I will add some sand into the soil to speed up drainage though. My real fear is that I have carried this pathogen around my entire yard on my shoes. I can disinfect my tools, but I have no idea where else it has spread to by now.

Is there a good fungicide that I can get at Lowes / Home Depot that will kill this in the soil? I do not want to plant my Mulberry until I have treated the soil. I will add some fresh compost after treatment to get the good organisms back.

Honestly, I just want to die after this discovery! I am SO AFRAID that it will spread to my broad-leaved evergreens and my oak trees.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated! Thanks.