Blue muffin vibernum

by Kenneth B.
(Somonauk, Il. USA.)

Can I cut the witches brooms of of my viburnum plants? They are out of control.I am try not to reduce the height of the bushes too much.These are blocking the neighbors yard.

Comments for Blue muffin vibernum

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Feb 03, 2020

You can cut them off...
by: Jacki Cammidge, Certified Horticulturist

You can cut the witches brooms off, but it won't stop them. It may encourage more to form, because they are an infection in the stem of the plant, and obviously they're old plants so it won't get rid of them.

Cut off infected stems right at the base of the plant so it doesn't look so awful with stubs of cut off branches.

I don't know for sure what would have caused it, most likely the source you got the plants from had it in the nursery, right from the start. Taking cuttings from infected plants means that more plants have it.

What I would suggest is to do some research on other shrubs that would do the same thing (screen the neighbors) but not be as susceptible to this type of disease.

Here are some options of fast growing shrubs that might work.

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