Asked October 17, 2024, 3:24 PM EDT
My neighbor gave me black eyed Susans a couple years ago and I planted them around my redbud street trees. I noticed this summer that some of them seemed to suddenly die. When I pull them up some of them have mycelia on the roots so I thought Southern blight might be the problem. But only once have I noticed something that looks like sclerotia. Many of them break off above the roots. I decided to dig up the top few inches of soil, but realized this is impractical. The trash bag was too heavy to pick up after a small corner of the bed! Plus I don't want to hurt the redbuds. I think it's too shady to solarize. Is it southern blight? Or just the regular short life cycle of Black Eyed Susans? What should I do? I included a picture of the only sclerotia I could find today. I transplanted some this spring. They don't seem affected.
Baltimore County Maryland