dog

i dont have a dog and idk of any in the area. have not seen any running loose. id say if it was k9 it would have to be cayote or somthing.cut it out and try to keep them away from it?

what type of bark are you using? It looks like ash, gray, burnt looking. I have experienced that if I use fresh wood chips that is of certain types of wood; their sap remaining has caused me to get this on a few plants (both to conifers and japanese maples) a number of years ago, so if I get fresh wood chips I leave it piled in an area to age before using to mulch around the garden. Cheers,

those wood chips are over a year old..they used to be a nice jet black but have faded over time. if its animal urine id like to catch the animal doing it..i doubt it would do it again

Miketropic; you say it use to be jet black, was it one of "Scott's brand wood chips" -- dyed jet black or deep red from big box store (i.e.: Lowe's or Home depot)? If so; I was warned by them that the dye leaches out, it also attracts cats -- etc. to urinate. But; I still think the causes is from your bark mulch, since you notice no canine or other critters around. Scott's took it off the market two years ago; I spoke with their Western Regional Sales Rep., just a suspicion -- I experienced it about 4-5 years ago. Using fresh chip and another time this dyed bark mulch from Scotts; which I never touch anymore, I use a local produced natural bark mulches since then -- works great (except once in a while I have some morel mushrooms that pop up which I harvest to saute with my steak (LOL). Cheers,

i really couldnt tell you what kind it was. i mix and match regularly. if it was anything id say cat i think there may be wild ones around here. whatever it is i wish it would stop so the things can recover. i was recently shopping for predator urine to try to deter deer and anything else

one other option could be a small boy .... lol

There's a biological condition that causes this, I have seen it many times - scattered inky patches well above the ground, with healthy foliage between them is not animal urine. Somebody asked elsewhere on the internet awhile back about black areas on their 'Smaragd', I don't remember the answers they got being anything that left a lasting impression on me - I can't tell you what the cause is thought to be, by whoever knows. If you are in the US maybe if you can get samples to your local Cooperative Extension office during open hours they can say what it is. Blackening of garden plants is often bacterial in origin.

This is definitely animal urine. Most likely cat. I have seen it 1000s of times (I have 9 cats!). There are no bacteria that I am aware of that can cause this. The most similar biological phenomenon would be sooty mold growing on honeydew from aphids. That is usually covering large parts of plants, not spots and it is easily removed as it is growing on the surface. If you think it is bacterial, please show me some evidence. (I am a plant pathologist, by the way) - so interested!

Cat would seem more likely for me as I said I see no dogs running about. between the wind and the animals this winters has been horrible, even though its 20 degrees above normal! Just another thing to try and get resolved. If they keep this up and I cut out the bad will it eventually kill the trees if I can't keep them away?

Agree with the above^. There really is no question-this is animal urination causing this. I'll add my thousands of times to Sal's if it makes you feel any better. That is to say, I've seen this "many" times....and it's from some animal peeing on the lower foliage of this arb.

The consensus online (various extension service publications) is that blackened sprays of foliage occurring low on the plants is NOT pathogenic but environmental in origin. In fact, they assign it a name - 'black flagging': "The absence of disease organisms, insects, or mites associated with
this condition suggests the problem is due to stress of some sort. The
exact source of stress that results in black flagging is unknown. Water
stress, drying winds, high temperatures, injury to the roots, or damage
to lower stems are possibilities. In some instances, black flagging has
occurred when none of these conditions have been present."

Being sprayed with pet urine could certainly be included as an environmental stress.

Most of the sources that report this issue conclude that no pesticide application is necessary (there is nothing to "treat"), the issue is not likely to cause ongoing problems, the disfigured foliage should just be pruned out and care should be taken to provide the best cultural conditions possible (good air circulation, water as needed, fertilize as needed and protect from pets).

What I've seen here that looks like part of what is shown in these photos is scattered oily blackness in small, often quite discrete colony like patches that may be as high as head level off the ground. And presumably occur farther up also, where it is not as easy to notice them.

It often looks like somebody walked up and squirted the plant with used motor oil, with the foliage around the discoloration normal in appearance.

I realize this is an older thread but I am having this same issue with one of our Goldy's. We just put down fresh black mulch and came home to find our tree covered with black "tar" on one side.

Is there anything I need to treat it with? Does it recover on it's own. Any suggestions to deter the cat/animal responsible?

same issue ... you clearly relate it to the mulch .. so what does urine have to do with it???

plz start your own post ... add a pic or two... perhaps add black mulch to the tile ... rather than the plant name.. since neither problem seems to be related to the specific plant ...

may as well throw in big city location ... and any other out of the ordinary pertinent facts ....

ken