Photo courtesy of Got Xiney? at flickr.com.
Raspberries, blackberries, and related plants often suffer from crown or cane gall, a nasty bacterial disease that shows up as warty growths on the canes and roots. As with the dreaded black spot that attacks roses, there’s just one solution: prune away and destroy the affected parts of the plant.
Don’t put them into your compost bin, and never use them for mulch. To help the injured plants recover more quickly, spray them with compost tea and mulch their roots with two inches of fresh compost.
While the jury’s still out on the science, it appears that fatty acids in compost can control or kill the bacteria that cause cane gall.
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