Raspberry plant problem - yellowing wilting leaves... Any ideas?

[Russel Sprout]

Hi all

I have a long row of raspberries - a mixture of Autumn and Summer - and all seem to be doing well except one, which has yellowing, wilting leaves. Any ideas what might be causing it? And if so, is it contagious (i.e. do I need to dig it up before it affects all of the other plants!)?

Many thanks

Max

[cheops]

There is a possibility this yelowing/wilting is a sign of over fertilisation. You should know if this is likely in this case and if not continue to look for the cause.

[Russel Sprout]

Hi there

They have all had the same amount of fertiliser more or less, and this is the only plant showing the problem. The area had BF&B applied in early spring or thereabouts. And I gave all the summers a dose of tomato feed 3 days ago, but the problem has been therefore longer than that. So there's a small chance I was much more heavy handed with the BF&B around that plant when I applied it but I think it unlikely.

And sorry, I should have added that the plant had another three or so stems that were even worse but were cut off a few days ago.

Cheers

[Thelma Sanders]

Is there perhaps an ant's nest amongst the roots?

[Russel Sprout]

Ooh, I'll have to have a rummage and see... We do tend to get a fair few ants nests so it is always possible. Is that the kind of thing you would expect to happen to the plant if there were an ant's nest then?

Thanks for all the help

[Thelma Sanders]

They make the soil very dusty and open so that any rain/water drains away immediately, so the plants can dry out and die

[Russel Sprout]

Rummage complete and nothing much to report. Just the odd small insect but nothing major and no ant nest. However, I did notice on one of the neighbouring plants that there was some "foam"; kind of like foamy spit. About the size of a large pea. The plant that has that looks healthy though, and of course it could be completely unrelated. But I thought it worth a mention...

[Mr Bones]

I did notice on one of the neighbouring plants that there was some "foam"; kind of like foamy spit. About the size of a large pea.

That's Cuckoo Spit made by sap sucking frog-hoppers. Annoying but it takes quite a few to make any significant impact on a plant.
Your leaf veins appear to be affected before the rest of the leaf which could indicate the problem is coming up the plant.

[elsie-scot]

Rummage complete and nothing much to report. Just the odd small insect but nothing major and no ant nest. However, I did notice on one of the neighbouring plants that there was some "foam"; kind of like foamy spit. About the size of a large pea. The plant that has that looks healthy though, and of course it could be completely unrelated. But I thought it worth a mention...

cuckoo spit? - froghopper nymphs, they wouldn't cause your rasp problem

[Thelma Sanders]

on one of the neighbouring plants that there was some "foam"; kind of like foamy spit

That's a spittle bug, I just squash the little green bug that's inside the spit between my fingers..or give them a blast with the hose if I'm watering

[Russel Sprout]

Aha - well, now I've learnt what that is then! I've not seen it before and although I did not think it would be related (not least of all cos it was on a healthy plant) I still thought it worth a mention.

So what's affected the affected plant remains unknown then... It would be great to get to the bottom of it, but equally if not more important I guess is what I should do. So I'd be keen to hear what those with more experience would do if it was in their garden. Leave it and see what happens? Get rid of it asap in case it spreads? Anything thing else?

Thanks so much for all the help.

[vixylix]

Max I can't advise I'm afraid - but could you dig it up and move it (or dispose of it if you're feeling that way out) so you're at least reducing the risk of it spreading?

[Russel Sprout]

Many thanks vixylix. I did indeed go for the rip it up and don't run the risk approach in the end. Thought it was best to play it safe.

And thanks also to all the other responders

[It never rains..it pours]

Tend to agree with Mr Bones. Did the roots look odd ie were they brown and not the normal white ?
If they are in wet heavy winter soil and there was no white then it could be Phytophthora root rot, quite common on commercial plantations but they apply fungicides to control it

Link below from canada but alot of things are similar to uk ie I have seen some rust on mine

http://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/far...ipm_poster.pdf