All over the space of a few days . Leaves turning black and entire branches dying. No strange bugs or spiders. I’m probably about toe lose the entire plant(s). Any idea what I can do ?
Did you check the soil for grubs? Vine weevil grubs can munch away on roots and destroy plants.
Other than that, it may have been sprayed with a herbicide? Or any sign of mechanical damage on the damaged branches?
updeyard
It’s a strange one alright. This can happen in very cold waterlogged conditions, more of a winter problem. It looks fungal like some kind of blight. So I looked up Aucuba japonica blight problems and it turns out there is one recently discovered in China but that’s maybe not here yet.
Cut back and destroy the affected stems and try a feed to help the plant recover? It’s kind of unusual so I’d be interested if anyone else had this and if they managed to sort it.
Wild card- any dogs or cats regularly using it as a toilet?
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Did you check the soil for grubs? Vine weevil grubs can munch away on roots and destroy plants.
Other than that, it may have been sprayed with a herbicide? Or any sign of mechanical damage on the damaged branches?
It’s a strange one alright. This can happen in very cold waterlogged conditions, more of a winter problem. It looks fungal like some kind of blight. So I looked up Aucuba japonica blight problems and it turns out there is one recently discovered in China but that’s maybe not here yet.
https://apsjournals.apsnet.org/doi/10.1094/PDIS-01-20-0201-PDN
Or it could be a crown rot/root rot problem.
https://www.plantsrescue.com/posts/aucuba-japonica#:~:text=Eventually%2C%20the%20black%20decay%20(necrosis,Phytophthora%20cinnamomi%20and%20Phytophthora%20citricola.
Cut back and destroy the affected stems and try a feed to help the plant recover? It’s kind of unusual so I’d be interested if anyone else had this and if they managed to sort it.
Wild card- any dogs or cats regularly using it as a toilet?
Looks like some sort of plant disease