Help!! I have had great success the past 3-seasons with my lilac. Lots of blooms that doubled each spring. This spring, there is a large patch of my lilac that does not have any blooms or green leaves (I have attached photos of my lilac). I broke a small piece off but the section is not dead (there is green below the brown outer skin). What is wrong with my lovely bush? Is this problem temporary? Will the growth come back in the future? Should the tattered section be pruned out? Please advise as to how I should proceed.
Thanks Ron B. However, I do not believe this is the case. It is my understanding that Armillaria presence is frequently apparent with the presence of mushrooms and fungus. This does not exist on my lilac. Perhaps it is a case of leaf tatter? If so, what is the evidence of tatter? What is the treatment?
The mushrooms are seasonal and not necessarily produced right away. When the fungus goes for a shrub or tree it comes up onto the crown via dark stringy rhizomorphs and gets under the bark, somewhat like ground termites building mud tubes to bypass concrete house foundations. The objective is to kill the top near the soil and cause it to topple and provide more wood to decompose. Not that you necessarily have this problem at all. It's just a widespread pathogen that causes sudden top decline and is said to go for lilacs particularly. It also may kill just about anything with wood in it.
