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Wilting Peonies #751236

Asked May 21, 2021, 9:41 AM EDT

Hello - I am not sure if this question is one that can be answered by this service or not. I planted 2 peonies last fall and they seemed to be doing well this spring up until about a week ago. A few stems seem to be wilting and one even fell off when I went to take a picture of it. The majority of the plant is doing well however and it has several buds on it. I included some images here, some of the leaves and one of the stem where it fell off from the plant. Some quick googling makes me think it could be verticillium wilt, however I am unsure of this. Can you help me identify what might be happening with these plants?

St. Clair County Michigan

Expert Response

Emily,

Thanks for the pictures. The symptoms do appear to be consistent with verticillium wilt. Unfortunately the only thing that can be done in this instance, if it is in fact verticillium wilt, is to remove the peony and replant something other than peony in that location. The picture of the stem was a little blurry. To confirm it is verticillium wilt, cut one of the wilting stems in half, closer to the base of the stem and look for brown banding. I've included some articles that have example pictures.

https://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/handle/11299/50166/1/01153.pdf

https://extension.psu.edu/peony-diseases

An Ask Extension Expert Replied May 25, 2021, 9:45 AM EDT
Thank you so much for your reply. I have boxwoods in the same area of these peonies, but the boxwoods seem to be doing well. When I planted the peonies last fall I added some bagged compost to the soil (my soil is clay, so trying to amend it). Since the boxwoods are doing fine could the verticillium wilt be from the bagged compost I used when planting the peonies? Could I dig out the soil in this area to get rid of the fungus? 
On Tue, May 25, 2021 at 9:45 AM Ask Extension <<personal data hidden>> wrote:
The Question Asker Replied May 25, 2021, 10:06 AM EDT

Verticillium wilt is present in the soil and is fairly ubiquitous. While the pathogen could've come from compost, it's impossible to be certain. It is also possible that it was already present in the soil and something caused either an increase in concentration of the pathogen or the plant became less resistant. There are also many species of verticillium so one species could very well affect peony plants but not boxwood.

An Ask Extension Expert Replied May 25, 2021, 10:14 AM EDT

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