You must presumably have more nematode species there, Elaine, and they must surely have more time to do damage as compared to those in the cold areas where they have to spend part of the year just surviving winter (like the rest of us
)
Something toxic is a possibility that also crossed my mine but it sounds like a lot of amendments were added to try and alleviate the problem in a small area so it would have to have been very strong to kill plants even when the soil was diluted (or was it replaced completely??). I still wonder about waterlogging when a deciduous plant was kept watered through winter - does depend on how often it would have been watered though. As always, lots of questions needed to get to the bottom of a plant problem.
