my Cotoneaster is crashing and I dont know why

[Corrado]

Ive had this cotoneaster for 10 years now (horizontalis) and it was always thriving and growing strongly. Then starting last year a branch or two died back. leaves would turn brown and shrivel up and the whole branch dies. I transplanted it to new soil this spring .Roots looked fine. Well draining soil. I feed it plenty and there are new green leaves but more branches dying off at the same time. I only have 4 branches left !

 

[penumbra]

It may have fire blight.

 

[Corrado]

Hmmm, is there anything I can do for that??

 

[SeanS]

I lost a cotoneaster last season with similar symptoms. I had repotted in spring, it flushed out nicely and flowered it’s little heart out. Then it just slowly started losing branches and dropping leaves. It finally died completely.

Good luck

 

[Corrado]

ok, so what I did after i cut off the dead branches I sprayed the whole plant with a bleach solution I believe was 10% and let it stay for one minute before i thoroughly rinsed it all off with water. The bleach solution says it kills 99.9% bacteria and viruses. Funny because my washington hawthorne tree is close to the cotoneaster and it too lost one branch all leaves fell off and it was bare.I sprayed that tree too. In 30 years of growing hawthorne I never seen not one branch die off. They get cedar rust time to time but that seems controllable. So I will report back later on what affect the bleach had and if the plant grows back again.

 

[Flowerhouse]

I lifted a bunch a Peking cotoneasters from my yard last summer. Several of them seemed to have some fungal issues after potting them up. I sprayed several times with whatever garden antifungal my local hardware store had. New growth last year was fine, and all new growth this year has been lush. There seem to be plenty of possible fungal problems with cotoneaster.

 

[Corrado]

I bet that bleach will knock out the fungus too!! LOL

 

[James W.]

I think it is fire blight. If so, there is very little you can do as the infection is systemic. Cut off infected branches well past the obvious infected point immediately. Use preventative anti fungal sprays and systemic fungal products. I believe it is the same infection as in roses.
I had a bunch of cotoneasters for a couple of years then lost them one or two at a time. I could slow the death rate but was unable execute an effective plan for cure and/or prevention.

 

[Corrado]

I think your right -fire blight. So far though its looking pretty well after I sprayed the 10% bleach solution for a one minute stay. I didnt let it go deep into the soil though.

 

[penumbra]

A couple of things here. As I suggested Friday, it could have fire blight. AS later stated, fire blight is systemic, therefore no amount of contact with bleach or any other sterilizer will have an effect. It is deep in the tissue. Fire blight is no a fungus, so no fungicide will have any effect. It is a bacterial blight spread by contact, frequently by bees. It can be controlled through diligent use of antibiotics, but it is really unlikely that there is anything you can do at this point that will save your plant. It is not a new thing and I remember fire blight infestations for 60 years ago and have seen it dozens of times since. I have seen it wipe out large planting of cotoneaster. I have seen it also on crab apples, pears, and hawthorns. There is quite a large list of host plants beyond these few.
Extra caution needs to be taken because it is highly spreadable by contact. Pruners are often the vector. Fire blight plants should be burned, and certainly kept away from other plants.

 

[Corrado]

Yikes, My washington hawthorne is close to it and so is my Crabapple!! Ill get it out of there. BUT it does look pretty good right now. How long will i know if I got rid of it with the bleach.

 

[penumbra]

Yikes, My washington hawthorne is close to it and so is my Crabapple!! Ill get it out of there. BUT it does look pretty good right now. How long will i know if I got rid of it with the bleach.

I prefaced both of my posts saying it Might have fire blight. It could be fungus. I wouldn't want to swear to it one way or another without seeing the plant. I am simply cautioning you to the possibility. If it is fire blight, the only use for bleach is to sterilize your pruning tools.
Tidbit........... where my wife works there is a weeping Candy Apple Crab that nearly died from fire blight over 20 years ago. Now every year it is sprayed with an antibiotic. Years ago streptomycin was used, but I would imagine she has used other antibiotics as well since then.

 

[Corrado]

Both of my Horizontalis Cotoneasters died from this horrible fire blight. I bleached the pots out. Bad luck., And my darn rough bark trident didnt make it thru winter either. Brent is out of those but if anyone has one to sell me ID be very happy.