We have a large, 20 year old Japanese type garden in Port Moody BC. Up until last spring, it was lush and wonderful. There are well over 1,000 mature Vancouver Jade plants in this garden. Last spring we noticed a dead looking patch and thought it was winter kill although that has never happened before. This spring, there are many large dead looking patches. The leaves are gray/silver to black and both the leaves and the stems are brittle. "It" seems to be spreading. I cut back one of the dead looking plants right to the ground and it seems to have tiny new sprouts. That is not always the case as another one I cut back looks very dead. What is happening? What can I do to stop the spread of "it"? Thank you for any directions.
Leaf spots and dead patches are very common on manzanitas in this region, as they are on Arbutus. Natively growing bearberry is typical of hot barren slopes and well-ventilated positions in our area, your planting has probably over time developed some portions that are receiving too much shade or plant litter, remaining moist long enough for a blight to get hold. In both natural and artificial stands here blackening and dying out can often be seen to be occurring in the parts of the patch where there is shading and lingering dampness taking place.
Thank you, Ron Sounds like I need to do a major clean up of plant litter and cut all the dead bits back and hope. It is not a particularly sunny area (Port Moody is not known for sunshine!) If the worst happens and I lose most of it, what would be your suggestion - keep it cleaner and don't water it ( I think I may have watered it too much last summer) or replant? (ack!) What might be a better choice? Jan
