Rose canker is typically the same fungus in Botrytis. Unfortunately, Botrytis is not something that's on the list for Banner Maxx or Bayer. Your choices are Daconil or Mancozeb/Pentathlon. Canker can be a real bear in cooler temps. It can get into the tips of freshly pruned canes and the fungus can easily spread through your pruners, as well. Once in the cane, there's little you can do except to prune down below it with some sterilized pruners. It's important to have the fungus knocked down with some spray, though, or it will introduce itself. During seasons with bad canker, I carried around a spray bottle of Daconil and sprayed the cane tips after I pruned them. If you're using a good spray program every year - which includes an occasional knock-down with Mancozeb/Pentathlon, the chances of infection go way down.

Steve's comments about the threat to oak trees in CA and the attendant media hoopla reminds me of the untold millions of elm trees of fond, and fairly recent, memory. In the desert southwest those trees were planted by the tens of thousands during the 1940s. They thrived in a tough environment -- turning towns throughout the region into oases of spring and summer green surrounded by vast and inhospitable expanses of dry, scrubland shaded brown, tan, sandy red. When word of Dutch elm disease began to filter in from various parts of the country, we blithely assumed that our remoteness would insulate us and our trees from the scourge. Then in the 70s, those trees (elms, BTW, have a life expectancy 150-300 years) began to decline -- a few at first, then a lot more, finally ALL of them. Every single one of them. The decline was inexorable, and the trees' demise was fairly swift. I don't know where kids there go to play in the shade these days. Next to buildings, I guess. I'm fortunate that my elm-shaded childhood was lived before all the media hype about dutch elm disease became cruel reality. Its happened before. Living now the eastern U.S., I occasionally encounter people who still mourn the American chestnut tree. It once made up 25% of eastern forests. Now there are virtually none. Mature American chestnuts were truly majestic trees . . . or so I'm told.

Read your post. Sounds like a classic case of overwatering. I have bamboo in South Texas (zone 10). I started out overwatering as well. Bamboo does not like to be soaked. If you can, dig down a little ways and look at the node (culm lines). You can visibly see a drowning plant. All of the tissue will be mushy and brown around the node. You need to let this dry out to try to get some new growth and root, but do not leave it exposed to air after you view it. Cut back your watering drastically. If you see the leaves start to curl in, then you will know it is too dry and time to water again. As to fertilizer - ABSOLUTELY. Bamboo is a grass and so LOVES a very high nitrogen count fertilizer. You can feed it monthly (or less with a slow release fertilizer). You can buy a very inexpensive grass fertilizer like a 32-0-10 or 29-0-0 at Lowes or Home Depot. Make sure it is NOT a weed and feed variety or you can kill the plant. The Scotts sells for $35 for a 50 lb. bag or $13 for a smaller bag. For my full grown, 5-foot diameter plants, I put a full coffee cup per plant. If your Alphonse Karr plant is new and about a 5 gallon size, I would put 1/4 to 1/2 coffee cup of the fertilizer spread all around the plant, not just directly on the roots, and maybe a little more after you see it start to respond. Water a little to soak it in and then watch the leaves turn brilliant green over the next couple weeks. If you have a high alkaline soil, you can also add a few minerals like Calcium and Magnesium, or just some garden sulpher. That's why I buy the grass fertilizer with added 2% sulpher. If it looks like you are going to lose the plant, I would dig it up and let it recover in a mix of 1 part sand, 1 part peat moss and 1/4 part compost until it starts to shoot again. Remember, it likes full sun 5-6 hours a day. Good luck. Alphonse is a beautiful peach-shooting plant!

Thanks for the link Luis. That is what my leaves are doing before they get crispy brown. They look wilted, as if they needed water, and then dry up. Eventually, I can then break the twig off. I may have injured the new growth when I planted the newer camellia. I've also planted a small Tama No Ura that I broke a dead twig off. It's easy to bump new growth. However, all these camellias came from the same source, and I'm not sure who this camellia nursery gets their stock from. I suspect a variety of places. It makes me wonder. I also discovered in my web searches that there had been a problem with camellias coming from Monrovia at one time, and that there had been a quarantine. Perhaps some Florida nursery stock got contaminated and is spreading something. However, I do not want to blame this local nursery for anything that may not even be remotely their issue. Once infected, is the plant always infected, or can it be pruned away quickly enough? In the case of my Rutledge, I did go ahead and dig a section of the roots and pulled up enough to look at the roots. This probably hasn't done this bush much good, but it may be very ill anyway. One thing I discovered is that there was a half inch diameter root mingled with this camellia's root from a Drake Elm we had growing 25 feet or so away. The Drake Elm was removed about a year ago, as we were concerned about hurricaine issues, our septic system, and the foundation of the house. Some of the elm roots keep sprouting and I have to keep after them, but I'm hoping some of them are dying. This may be a factor in the decline of this camellia, although the ones next to it planted at the same time are fine. Lady Vansittart is still the picture of health, but she may be a stronger camellia. The other thing that I saw, although I didn't actually dig them up extensively, is that many of the roots surrounding the trunk are a reddish color, while some of the ones further extending from the rootball are still white. I'm wondering if this is root rot, or is this a normal coloration? The soil was not soggy at all. We obviously have sandy soil here in Florida, even with ammendments mixed in. The soil was still a nice mixture of sand and the compost/ peat mix that had been broken down. I did read somewhere that camellias can get root rot even if growing conditions are ideal. We have been extremely dry and haven't had rain in 2 months. I irrigate, but it isn't the same. I would still think this camellia would have adapted. I am worried about soil contamination, and am wondering if another camellia can be planted in the same spot. I can't find much detailed information anywhere. I don't feel our coopperative extension has much knowledge in this particular area. About all I get from them is the typical "canned" answers. So far, I have gotten the healthiest, most beautiful camellias from Erinon Nursery in Plymouth, Forida. I won't be purchasing from anywhere else now.