RASPBERRY AID REQUIRED!

[Jandra]

There's a fungus disease (leptosphaeria coniothyrium - long live my garden disease book) which causes dark spots near the soil on the stalks which stops the sap stream and causes the leaves to wilt. Can you see dark spots on the stalks near the soil? Or perhaps you could google the name of the fungus and find pics to compare with yours.


Jandra

[Millymollymandy]

I don't think any aphids would have done that damage - it would have looked wilted and a mess but the main stalk couldn't have gone that brown and dessicated that quickly even from a really bad aphid attack (I think!). I don't know what the answer is but I hope it is not too serious!

[Odsox]

Best thing to Susie if you haven't done it already is to dig/pull up an effected cane and see what the roots look like. If your supposition is correct then the poor cane will have very few, if any, roots and they are dying as a result.
So get out there and report back ..

[Millymollymandy]

If they are anything like our burrowing mice and voles they don't actually eat the roots, but because of the constant tunneling they leave plant roots danging in limbo unable to drink.

However I always know where they are because they leave raised tunnels (that's the mice) and mounds like mini mole hills (that's the voles).

I have tried to poison mine in the veg patch but they are wise little rodents and really aren't interested so I just put up with them and spend loads of time shoving soil back down the tunnels! They love my strawbs best because I suppose that damp soil = worms for them (if that is what they eat, I can only suppose). Anyway it's the damp soil that they like.

[frozenthunderbolt]

Chem supply store - dry ice. A coupple of killos down the various holes you can find. You'll choke the little buggers to death - the dry ice sublimates to co2 which naturally sinks so should permeate the tunnels.

[Millymollymandy]

No you're not, I've lost one of the canes I dug up and put in a pot to make a new rasp bed this autumn. The others aren't looking that brill to be honest cos they keep drying out despite being watered every day. I blame this hot dry weather - we're never content are we?

[Millymollymandy]

Tell me about it! Even when they've been munched by aphids and caterpillars they still seem to produce fruit......

[Odsox]

This might be a stupid question Susie but did you fertilise them ?
The reason I ask is that mine are suddenly not looking too brilliant with yellowing leaves and the growth is now definitely stunted.
Looking in my trusted gardening book it says that raspberries are prone to this if they are deficient in magnesium, but more importantly it goes on to say that even when there is more than enough magnesium in the soil the uptake is halted if there's too much potash as well.
Now, I bought some rose fertiliser in Lidls back in the spring, but when I got it home I found that it had miraculously turned into fruit tree fertiliser ... amazing and nothing to do with me not looking at what I was actually buying, anyway I thought I'd better use it and in the process fertilised the raspberry row. Looking at the ingredients yesterday I found that it is indeed high in potassium, so that is probably what mine are suffering from ... my stupidity.

Edited to say that the clincher is that the suckers that appear several miles .. well maybe yards, away from the row are as healthy as can be.

[Millymollymandy]

That's interesting Tony as I've just been looking up mag. deficiency in toms because I always have yellowing leaves and this year I have just applied Epsom Salts (a friend brought me some over last year) so I've just been learning about the too much potash/not enough magnesium thing. But then I have calcium deficiency in my toms in pots too (blossom end rot) apparently blimey one needs to be a bloomin' scientist to do this gardening lark!

I haven't done a 2nd fertilising of my fruits which is always with wood ash because no rain = waste of time but normally I wait until there is proper rain forecast then run around the orchard spreading it around. I'm sure I'm just fertilising the grass but hey ho.

I'm not sure if it is worth fertilising summer rasps a 2nd time when they are already fruiting but I think I should do the autumn ones as I've finally got the seep hose up and running around the rasps so they'll get it watered in. Must do the roses too although a lot of them are so dry they barely flowered a first time let alone any repeat growth/flowering.