Second year lavender kind of falling apart at ground level

Question

I am in my second year of growing mostly Grosso plants for steam distillation and so far so good until very recently a disturbing number of first full year plants are having sections sort of separating from the rest of the plant at first followed by these same sections maybe a week later fall off of the plant when touched. They seem to easily snap at the sort of woody base. The problem seems to be getting worse as August 1 is just around the corner. They are being irrigated by Neta-Phim tubing at .6 GPH per plant and every 18″. We are at 4600 ft. northwest of Prescott, AZ . We are in the 90’s here this summer. The soil where the plants are being pulled out is not wet. We have good drainage here. Help?

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Answer 1

I would suspect the steam. Lavender likes a dry environment and doesn't tolerate humidity well.

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/herbs/lavender/how-to-grow-lavender-grosso.htm