I headed back a butterfly bush to within 9” of ground level.
Some of the new shoots are dying back and have this nasty stuff on them. What is it?
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not exactly sure which one. But i think it’s a bacterial disease. bacteril diseases usualy slime. Where fungal ones grow into the plant and produce mushrooms.
Looks like a slime mold, aka dog vomit fungus. If so, it’s a saprophyte, growing on your mulch, and poses no threat to living plants.
Well, the shoots on that stem are dead.
Did the stumps bleed significantly after you cut them? I’m just guessing, but based on the picture, I’d say you have a bacterial or yeast colonization of the bleeding sap from the heading cuts.
I cut it way back this spring to 6" stumps (it grows back so fast it’s moot, but it makes spring cleanup easier).
They did not bleed when I cut them. They started growing normally, this slime showed up a few days ago, and the shoots on the affected stump dried up.