Topic: sudden death!

[nitiram]

My rosemary and sage bushes have both just keeled over and died.No leaves, just dry wood. Untill then they have been full of foliage .  They are both about twelve years old  and well used for culinary purposes. have they just got too old?

[Marymary]

Are they in pots or in the ground?  Are they close to each other?  First thing that comes to mind is something attacking the roots - have you looked? 

[Robert_Brenchley]

How were they last year? Could the drought have weakened them to the point where they didn't get through the winter?

[Eristic]

Are there any dead trees in the vicinity? The symptoms and timing is classical for honey fungus which spreads through the soil by long thin black strands that look like roots. Once they find a damaged or weak root they penetrate the plant and destroy it. Death of the plant often occurs suddenly as the roots are unable to replace the moisture being lost to evaporation.

[Mrs Ava]

I never think of these herbs as long living plants, so if there are no other obvious symptons, I would put it down to old age...... :-\

[nitiram]

They were both in my herb garden at front of the house. It is 8 foot by 8 foot and full of softer herbs. They were not near to each other at all. Fine last yera and untill a couple of months ago I was picking the leaves to use regularly. perhaps I have just worked them to death! The bushes were reduced to dry wood and the sage bush I could just pull up with no resistance roots and all. the rosemary i had to saw down to ground level.

[Barnowl]

I started with an approx three year old Rosemary in a fairly narrow bed (about 18"). It went very woody 7 years later, although it didn't actually die it wasn't much use,  so I dug it up (took about 1 1/2 hours because it had grown under the paving). The replacement, planted in the same spot, seems quite happy so far.

[angle shades]

we had one that was outgrowing our garden shed :o

we had to cut a space  out for the window.

it suddenly went brown and died after about 7/8 years / shades x

[Hyacinth]

rosemary is easy to propagate by layering & sage by its seeds or cuttings, so you're always able to keep a spare going of both...

my original rosemary bush is almost 30 years old and still going strong and coming into flower; the first babies are now middle-aged laydees and the grandchildren are scattered round the homes of my friends, tho I've got a couple in the garden too....

my original sage bush isn't quite as venerable....a mere 19-20 years old :P but not menopausal yet...still making offspring 8)

these two past winters the sage has retained its leaves...

none get any special attention...they both get mulched in the spring then left to their own devices; the soil into which the rosemaries are planted is poor, the sages are in richer soil......none get watered by me in the summer.

[nitiram]

I have cuttings of the rosemary but not the sage. Do you know, have never seen sage seeds in the shops???  Will have to investigate this