Re: Fatsia japonica

Tim Longville wrote:
> 
> I know this isn't strictly speaking a Medit-Plants question but
> desperation calls....
> 
> The question is:
> 
> What ails thee, rubber-plant in the ground, not alone but certainly
> palely loitering?
> 
> Seriously, does anyone know what mysterious illness it is which
> sometimes afflicts these creatures? I've now had the same symptoms in
> separate years with two separate plants. Both were vigorous sizeable
> specimens, say 8 feet high and wide. One day they were in rude health,
> the next day the stems went flaccid (lovely word!), the leaves ditto -
> and the latter shortly thereafter turn yellow, then (if they stay on
> long enough) black, then drop off. First time, I finally cut the whole
> plant to the ground in the hope that it would regenerate from
> sucker-growth. It has - and apparently healthily - but so dreadfully
> slowly I might have been better off digging it up and replacing it
> with something more sizeable and with more immediate impact. I'm too
> old to afford a decade for it to regrow!
> 
> In both cases this happened in the late spring. First time it happened
> after the for us unusually cold winter of 95/6 and I thought it might
> have been near-fatally weakened by that. But this time the winter has
> been mild. What's more, there's no sign of insect or aphid damage or
> presence that I've been able to detect. Both plants are in a
> semi-shaded sheltered situation, reasonably moist. The border in which
> they grow is quite narrow and the soil is neither deep nor rich. Might
> they simply have exhausted it?? Even if they have, would that lead to
> such drastic symptoms rather than just to, say, reduced rates of
> growth?
> 
> Any suggestions gratefully received. Otherwise, I can see the bowsaw
> coming out again forr Rubber Plant No 2.

Tim
This leaves me totally confused. The title of your posting is Fatsia
japonica, but the body of the message refers to rubber plants. In my
part of the world "rubber plant" is used exclusively for some species of
Ficus mainly (but not entirely) grown as indoor plants..

Could you please elucidate?
Moira
-- 
Tony & Moira Ryan <theryans@xtra.co.nz>
Wainuiomata, 
New Zealand (astride the "Ring of Fire" in the SW Pacific).
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