Outdoor dead in days

[PorkSword]

Several of my OD plants have suddenly given up the ghost while in full bloom and I;m stumped as to what did it.

they looked fine one day and over a week they have yellowed, wilted and died. they are in the ground in an organic soil mix fed nothing but water every other day. there is straw mulch over the holes too. They have been phenomenal all summer until the last 2 weeks.

the only obvious thing I found was that the hollow stem was black with fungus. not good.

No pics as its kinds depressing to photo a 4' tall dead plant before I pulled em.

any ideas? i can get some pics of whats left if necessary later tonight.

 

[Herborizer]

Stem rot?

 

[Headbandf1]

stem rot

 

[guest8905]

stem rot perhaps fusarium?.......that quick and that drastic....sorry bro that sucks, lots of people dealing with rot this year it seems

 

[Herborizer]

I have never had it, but I was told by many to never water the base of the plant to avoid this.

 

[Tyson53]

you have to be careful with mulches you use...some mulches like hay and straw contain dormant fungus...that become active when conditions are ideal...I use cedar mulch or cedar shavings as a mulch...no fungus or mold from them..but a big plus it deters soil insects also...

 

[bongbong]

Termite damage is similiar. pull up the roots and look for them. If other plants are near they are in danger of the same fate.

 

[PorkSword]

no termites.
Would stem rot move from plant to plant?

My watering situation is less than ideal this year, I've been on hose duty VS. setting up drippers and yeah there has been a fair amount of watering around the base. I flop the hose into the hole and go do other things. the exterior of the stem looks solid although it is turning brown as the fungus travels.

 

[Headbandf1]

plus your mulch is conducive to stem rot