Dead Raspberries

[glallotments]

This year the raspberries that last year gave a bumper crop seem to have died -- a whole row of them! I cut out the old fruited stems leaving the young new canes which were tied in but this year the canes are just brown and mostly lifeless. One or two have tried to grow and even produced small fruit on nearly leafless stems but these have dried up and died.

One of our plot neighbours has had similar trouble and a raspberry supplier has suggested waterlogging. We have clay soil and it has been wet but I wouldn't have said we were in any way waterlogged.

Anyone else had problems?

[Geoff]

Regret I've been there - raspberry phytophthora root rot.
http://www.kenmuir.co.uk/image/data/pdf ... ieback.pdf
Various strains of Phytophthora have the potential to destroy much of what we cherish.

[FelixLeiter]

My mother's raspberries have gone the same way, too. Very gappy after the winter. They're starting to fruit now but there are very few and they are poor. I replanted half of the bed two years ago as the existing canes were getting on for twenty or so years and were diminished. The new canes made terrific progress their first year, but they've gone the same way too. It all points towards there being a wider malaise through the whole bed.

[Geoff]

I patched mine up with new ones at first until I realised what the problem was. I still have a row of Autumn Bliss that are reasonably happy but still with a few gaps but I gave up Summer Raspberries about five years ago. I am thinking about trying them again. I had hoped there would be a resistant variety available by now but they mustn't have fulfilled their early promise or they would have been released.

Here are some of the types of Phytophthora:

Phytophthora alni – causes alder root rot
Phytophthora cactorum – causes rhododendron root rot affecting rhododendrons, azaleas and causes bleeding canker in hardwood trees
Phytophthora capsici - infects Cucurbitaceae fruits, such as cucumbers and squash
Phytophthora cinnamomi - causes cinnamon root rot affecting woody ornamentals including arborvitae, azalea, Chamaecyparis, dogwood, forsythia, Fraser fir, hemlock, Japanese holly, juniper, Pieris, rhododendron, Taxus, white pine, American chestnut and Australian Jarrah.
Phytophthora fragariae - causes red root rot affecting strawberries
Phytophthora fragariae var. rubi - continues to be one of the most serious diseases of raspberry
Phytophthora infestans - is the infective agent of the potato blight
Phytophthora kernoviae - pathogen of beech and rhododendron, also occurring on other trees and shrubs including oak, and holm oak. First seen in Cornwall, UK, in 2003.
Phytophthora megakarya - one of the cocoa black pod disease species, is invasive and probably responsible for the greatest cocoa crop loss in Africa
Phytophthora palmivora - causes fruit rot in coconuts and betel nuts
Phytophthora ramorum – infects over 60 plant genera and over 100 host species - causes Sudden Oak Death
Phytophthora quercina – causes oak death
Phytophthora sojae - causes soybean root rot

Research beginning in the 1990s has placed some of the responsibility for European forest die-back on the activity of imported Asian Phytophthoras.

Until I started this post I hadn't thought that it was one of them attacking my Forsythias.

[glallotments]

Thanks Geoff - I guessed I would have to replant elsewhere - now I have to decide what I can plant where the raspberries were. I'm thinking a thornless blackberry and maybe a self fertile kiwi so it can pollinate my female one. The male bought at the same time has never yet flowered!!!

That list is scary!

[Geoff]

I'm considering asking RHS (or my wife is as she is the member) if it can spread to Blackberries as we have an unhappy one in the fruit cage.

[glallotments]

That would be useful to know Geoff

[Geoff]

Have found this on BASF website which suggests they do get it.
Paraat
Paraat is a fungicide with protectant activity against crown rot (Phytophthora cactorum) in strawberries and root rot (Phytophthora spp.) in raspberries and blackberries. Paraat will be most effective when applied as a protectant treatment immediately after planting, before disease symptoms appear
Use: A fungicide for use against crown rot (Phytophthora cactorum) in strawberries and root rot (Phytophthora spp.) in raspberries and blackberries.

Another quote "The genus Phytophthora (Greek for 'plant destroyer') belongs to the class of organisms known as oomycetes"

And another that might be of interest:
GIN PRODUCTION AT RISK FROM JUNIPER CRISIS
Juniper with its blueish green needles and green or black berries is easy to identify. We are asking people to help us by completing a survey form every time they see Juniper in Scotland. If however you notice any orange or brown bushes, there may be a risk of infection by Phytophthora austrocedrae

Too frightened to carry on Googling.