Whats wrong with my rosemary ?

Sorry, no photos but whats wrong with my rosemary ? !! Its not just me, I have seen many rosemary plants with the same problem - They seem to defoliate from underneath upwards until they r a skeleton and then that seems to be end of story . Have seen in upright , prostrate and the fully pendulous varieties , whats going on ? !!! : )

 

Are the leaves going brown, then black?

Does it seem to start with one stem, then spread to the others?

There is a disease that affects Rosemary, where it dies in the manner I've just described. I saw it on a gardening program once, and the advice was to immediately cut off the affected stem(s) and discard them either in the bin or by fire, ie not in the compost heap.

It is also possible (but unlikely) that the weather has had them. They are quite hardy, but the winter we've just had could have done some damage. Also lack of light upsets them, or if their roots have been stood in waterlogged soil for too long they hate that too.

Rosemary does also get 'leggy' after a few years. Could it just be that?

 

Thany u clueless , The leaves dont turn black , they just die (brown) and fall off . I did wonder if it was the cold as even here in Cornwall things r being struck down - hebes,ceanothus , cordylines etc. It seems strange that it starts underneath tho , I would have thought that if it was the cold it would have been tips and top surfaces that would have been hit first , hmmmm mystery deepens : ) !! Thanx for the imput tho : )

 

My Rosemary has died this year, i've had it for about 3 years and it was fantastic last year, but i think the snow and continuous low temperatures have just been too much. It went brown on one side and all the leaves started to drop off them recently the other half has done the same, even though i moved it to a much sunnier place. You win some you lose some. I'll have to buy another as i love to cook with it.

 

Hello wozwoz.

Rosemary is very like Lavender. It prefers to be kept on the dryish side or it gets a bit mouldy looking. Also like Lavender it gets woody with age. If when it is young you trim it regularly, it will keep its appearance for years but if you let it get leggy, then there lies the problem because, as with Lavender you should not cut into the old wood.

It grows wild here and I have what would be considered by British standards to be a large shrub on my lane outside my gates. I just let it 'do it's thing' and don't cut it back or anything and it's about 1,5 meters tall. The difference is my dry climate (although we have a very wet winter here but no rain in the summer at all) so you may have to replace yours every few years ... which is easy to do by tip cuttings.

 

Yesterday ,i saw the plants of rosemary and i felt that it leaves its leafs....

 

Could it be the Rosemary beetle? I posted a photo of it on here before. It is a beautiful looking beetle when adult but the grubs and young beetles are hard to spot. The leaves go brown and crumbly.