Verticillium wilt on blackberries?

[Galileogreens]

Hi!

I'm still relatively new in gardening.
A couple of weeks ago, I planted a blackberry bush in my garden. All went well until the past few days when I suddenly noticed that the lower leaves were turning yellow and withering.
The other leaves were also developing black contours on their edges and gradually turning brown...
I googled the problem and verticillium wilt came up as the most probable cause (
Looking closer at the bushes surrounding that blackberry bush (verbenna & melissa) I found that their leaves were also tinted yellow and brown...

Please give me your advice.
Does it look like the blackberry bush is contaminated with VW?
Should I take it out of the earth and pot it (to stop it spreading to surrounding plants)?
Thanks for your help!

 

[Dirtmechanic]

The shortest day of the year is less than a month away here. My suspicion is all the leaves will drop soon. When you only look for disease, then disease is all you will find. So I have to ask if you are south of the equator?

You should get some berries in the spring on those shoots from this year. Any shoots from last year will die this winter. I put a cup of balanced fertilizer around the big plants in early spring, and use some calcium nitrate as soon as the berries drop so they grow as much new growth as possible before next year since blackberries are on a bi-cycle.

 

[Galileogreens]

The shortest day of the year is less than a month away here. My suspicion is all the leaves will drop soon. When you only look for disease, then disease is all you will find. So I have to ask if you are south of the equator?

You should get some berries in the spring on those shoots from this year. Any shoots from last year will die this winter. I put a cup of balanced fertilizer around the big plants in early spring, and use some calcium nitrate as soon as the berries drop so they grow as much new growth as possible before next year since blackberries are on a bi-cycle.

Thanks for the advice. I'm not south of the equator but in the the Galilee region, a warm Mediterranean/ mountain climate. Our winters are rainy but temperatures rarely go bellow 32 F.

 

[Dirtmechanic]

Thanks for the advice. I'm not south of the equator but in the the Galilee region, a warm Mediterranean/ mountain climate. Our winters are rainy but temperatures rarely go bellow 32 F.

That sounds like Alabama. Near 38C summers sometimes, or cooler due to altitude or ocean? We are at a 33 N latitude but inland enough to be that last train stop for the arctic express and the first one inland for the rising humidity from the Gulf of Mexico.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Hi, welcome to the forum. Glad you joined.

I have a different theory. When I planted blackberries in Arkansas I did not plant a bush or plant. I took a piece of root maybe 25 to 30 cm long (10" to 12") and buried it about 5 cm (2") or so. I did that in the fall/winter when they were dormant. In the spring they sent up new shoots from the roots. I did have to wait a year on fruit as they produce on last year's canes. If they are in the right environment blackberries ae so hardy (you might say invasive) that you should be able to transplant roots any time of the year. If they take to your you may need to do some serious pruning in a couple of years to keep them confined. I did.

My theory is that when you transplanted it you disturbed the roots. They are not established enough to support that plant so it is dying back. Transplant shock. Since it is your wet season and you have such a mild climate some canes might survive enough to bear a few berries this following season, I would not expect much. I would expect you to get new canes sprouting from the roots, by then the roots will be well established. So even if the bush dies back you are still in good shape.

I had to water mine in the hot dry Arkansas summers. Some of that was just to keep them alive but it made a big difference in the harvest the next year.

Good luck and again,

 

[Galileogreens]

Hi, welcome to the forum. Glad you joined.

I have a different theory. When I planted blackberries in Arkansas I did not plant a bush or plant. I took a piece of root maybe 25 to 30 cm long (10" to 12") and buried it about 5 cm (2") or so. I did that in the fall/winter when they were dormant. In the spring they sent up new shoots from the roots. I did have to wait a year on fruit as they produce on last year's canes. If they are in the right environment blackberries ae so hardy (you might say invasive) that you should be able to transplant roots any time of the year. If they take to your you may need to do some serious pruning in a couple of years to keep them confined. I did.

My theory is that when you transplanted it you disturbed the roots. They are not established enough to support that plant so it is dying back. Transplant shock. Since it is your wet season and you have such a mild climate some canes might survive enough to bear a few berries this following season, I would not expect much. I would expect you to get new canes sprouting from the roots, by then the roots will be well established. So even if the bush dies back you are still in good shape.

I had to water mine in the hot dry Arkansas summers. Some of that was just to keep them alive but it made a big difference in the harvest the next year.

Good luck and again,

Thanks for the suggestion.
I hope you're right and it's just a matter of roots getting established. We'll find out in the coming months.
I wanted to plant other shrubs right by it but I'll just wait and see how this one evolves...

 

[Galileogreens]

That sounds like Alabama. Near 38C summers sometimes, or cooler due to altitude or ocean? We are at a 33 N latitude but inland enough to be that last train stop for the arctic express and the first one inland for the rising humidity from the Gulf of Mexico.

We're at 29 S latitude. Our summers are hot, dry and long (may to october) and temperatures easily reach 38 C. Winters are cooler because of the altitude (500-800 m) but still relatively mild.
But we're surrounded by micro-climates. Above us is Safed (+900m), where it sometimes snows in winter, bellow us is the Sea of Galilee/Tiberias at -200m altitude where temperatures can be extremely hot during summer.