i am having a problem with what i now believe to be some form of severe stem disease. possibly a fungus. i actually believed that the problem was a rat or a squirrel, that had attacked some larger plants, as the damage was completely physical, in that it appeared as though a rat had sharpened his claws on the plant stems (at the base only).
now that i have some small new babes, it is OBVIOUS that this is a stem disease. very likely some sort of fungus. the symtoms as they appear now are as follows:

white powdery appearance.
stems have become brittle and woody (not mushy)
there appear to be small, tough and hard, burls or spurs or knuckles or something, at the base of some of the plants.

later, as i stated earlier, the stems have chunks literally falling off, but in dry strands, that do look as if they have been scratched of by some sort of animal.

i cannot stress how important it is to me to take care of this problem immediately. at this time i have sprayed them with a fungicide from ortho, called rose pride. also, i have added food grade hydrogen peroxide to the resivoirs (1 ml to 20 gallons).

if anyone has ANY advice or experience, i would really appreciate it. thanks in advance to everyone...

- mu
mutigen Reviewed by mutigen on . mysterious and destructive stem disease. i am having a problem with what i now believe to be some form of severe stem disease. possibly a fungus. i actually believed that the problem was a rat or a squirrel, that had attacked some larger plants, as the damage was completely physical, in that it appeared as though a rat had sharpened his claws on the plant stems (at the base only). now that i have some small new babes, it is OBVIOUS that this is a stem disease. very likely some sort of fungus. the symtoms as they appear now are Rating: 5