you think just mowing down bramble means it is dead???

be nice to know where you are ...

why do you think they were the large heritage variety .. when they could have been one of the older lesser berried Rs???

it appears.. that your are presuming there is a disease issue.. but you arent certain.. but you are going to act on the presumption anyway ... why not confirm the diagnosis?

ken

I'm in St Louis, MO. We had record rainfall in the month of June, a condition which heightens the incidence of phytophthora. My soil had been like pudding, so saturated that it was like pudding. In general I think our summers are hotter than ideal for these berries, especially as I do not have water at this garden. Last year when we had a cooler summer than usual and a very nice amount of rainfall, the berries were rewardingly big, both in summer and autumn.

I think my plants were Heritage because that is what I think I remember buying about 15 years ago. Heritage gives berries summer and fall, does it not?

No, of course I don't think mowing the canes mean they are dead. In fact, some years, mowing them is part of my end of season management. I know that raspberries are normally vigorous plants that bounce right back from mowing.

They are diseased. They have silvery shriveled, dry leaves. On some canes, they were like that bottom to top. On others they were like that 3/4 of the way up the cane when I mowed them today. They have brown lesions on the canes, especially toward the bottom. They have paltry roots that pull up easily, and break off short. They have made no root suckers this year. Before the leaves turned silvery-dry shriveled, the leaves were uniformly pale.

My question is whether phytophthora affects non-woody plants. ( And no, I'm not going to send off samples to a lab for diagnosis.)

matthias_lang, Phytophtera infestans is believed to be the causative agent of the potato blight and resultant famine. The pathogen is particularly harmful to Solanaceae - to which family the potato, tomato and pepper belong. LINK

Judging from the conditions you describe, Pythium might be present also. LINK

Matthias_lang, I am sure you would have picked this up from the previous link. Raspberries

There are about 100 identified strains of phythophthora and an estimated several hundred that have not been identified. Most strains are host-specific although with some, the hosts may number in the 100's as well. And many of these strains can affect herbaceous plants as well.

Phytophthora root rot of raspberries has been attributed to around 6 different strains of the pathogen so without lab testing to identify the specific causal agent, it's impossible to say if what is affecting your berries could infect other, non-woody plants as well.

Thanks, all. I did some searching and reading last night and have decided to just replant with whatever else strikes me. I certainly agree with your final statement gardengal48.