Cutting back completely is a good idea but no guarantee the problem will not recur.
forsythia galls

There are several possible causes for galls on forsythia, including fungus or bacterial infection or a genetic abnormality. With yours covered from top to bottom with the them, cutting back completely to the ground is really the only option. If it is a genetic abnormality in this case, the galls will soon reappear. Carefully dispose of what you cut off to avoid reinfection if it should prove to be fungal or bacterial and hope for the best. Sorry to be pessimistic, but an infection as extensive as this one will be hard to eradicate and you may be better off replacing the forsythia.

Oh no, I thought this might be the only option left to me. I first spotted this 2 years ago on just the bottom of the plant so I cut away all the stems that had the galls, dipping the loppers in alcohol in between cuts. This is a huge, many stemmed plant, so I'm positive that I missed some. Last fall, my neighbor helped me cut the plant back to a more desirable size, cutting old stems from the bottom of the trunk. I told him to be on the lookout for galls but we didn't see any at that time. This is such a shame. This will leave a huge hole in my garden. In the past this plant was quite the show stopper but for the past 3 springs there have been hardly any flowers at all. Would anyone know if that Is a symptom of the disease? I know there are other plants I can put in it's place that are naturally resistant to Forsythia gall. The problem is, I am not as young as I once was and will probably never see the plant get to the size this plant is now. I am really bummed out over this.

lovetogarden: How prevelant are the galls now? If there are only a few or so few that they are easily missed as was the case last fall, there really isn't any reason why you would need to cut the whole forsythia back to the ground. Cutting out the branches with galls, disinfecting the loppers as you go once again, should be sufficient.

As for not blooming: the most common reason is deep cold that kills the flower buds above the snow line. Certainly the last 2, probably 3, winters in Z4 were cold enough to do this to many forsythia varieties. In some cases, galls cause deterioration of the stem tissue above where the gall is located. This could prevent blooming, but you don't seem to have nearly enough galls to have effected the entire plant.

Don't feel you have to perform radical surgery. Hope for some more moderate winters and your forsythia should return to its former glory.

Thank you guys, but I can see galls interspersed throughout the shrub, many in places I wouldn't even be able to reach. I planned to go out with a bucket of bleach and water, loppers and pruning sheers, and a heavy plastic contractors bag to bag up the infected stems. My tall neighbor told me he'll help to get the high spots. I really can't see cutting this shrub down to the ground since it also provides much need privacy between me and my neighbors.

As far as the blooming I think you are right. The last show stopping event was about the time frame you mentioned. Haven't seen blooms like that in over 2 years. This year I used fish meal (super phosphate), besides my usual fertilizing routine, in the hopes that I would get a good display, but again no flowers.

Just curious. According to the what I've now read on the subject they believed this is caused by a bacterial infection. If that is the case, then I'm curious why no one has tried antibiotics for this? I wonder if anyone is doing research on the subject? Thanks for all your help. I really appreciate your optimism.

It is true that current research indicates that a pseudomonas bacterium causes the forsythia galls rather than a phomopis fungus which is still given as the cause in many references. There is also some evidence that a genetic abnormality in some varieties is involved. The trend in antibiotics is to use them much more sparingly than they have been in the past - the creation of antibiotic resistant strains of disease causing organisms is a very serious and very real problem. For this and other reasons, antibiotics for plants are unlikely to be appearing.

BTW: Fish meal is a high nitrogen fertilizer. Using too much could cause increased vegetative growth and a reduction in flower buds. Extreme cold is still the most likely cause for the lack of bloom, but like a lot of plants forsythia blooms best when not over fed.

IME, like many, many shrubs, forsythia blooms best if not fertilized at all.

Actually, it was fish bone meal. Believe it said a good source of super-phosphate on the packaging. I'm sure it also has other things in it that you stated. I went out today and cut off every stem where this was on. The stems were dead. From the link you sent me that is what the disease does - die off. The link also said that the plant can recover if you remove all the infected area (which I did and it ain't pretty) and fertilze well. According to that site you have to build up the plants immune system which can fight off the disease. Tomorrow I am going to get composted cow manure (which should help the soil in that area which seems to have turned to sand - guess it's pretty depleted), and use a good organic fertilizer, and top it all off with cedar chips. I'll say a prayer after that. LOL! Thanks for all your help guys and your postive imput. You've made me feel better already.

Sorry guys, I used my girlfriends laptop to post (at her house for dinner) failed to sign her out and myself in and it came up with her user name. Sorry, don't want anyone to be confused that you're dealing with 2 different people with the same problem. LOL

Forgot to mention that I have the weeping variety of Forsythia which is supposed to be pruned a whole other way than the upright variety, according to the garden seeker website. http://www.gardenseeker.com/pruning/pruning_forsythia.htm

Another facet of the relative paucity of pesticides, whether antifungal, antibacterial, or what have you, is that it takes big $$ to register a new pesticide. So if that has been developed to treat problems on say, corn, or soybeans, the relative payback is enormous. Not so for a product which will rarely be used, and then only in tiny quantities. It's all economics.

+oM