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privet hedge not growing, leaves discolored and falling off, bare spots
LMHmedchem
Posts: 15
Hello,
I have two sections of privet hedge that are not doing well. They have always grown too well and needed more trimming that I wanted. This year, the hedge is not growing at all. I trimmed it once a while ago and it hasn't grown since. There are bare spots and many of the leaves have a silvery look to them. The back of the leaves have white and brown material on them and they fall off easily. Below are pictures,
Overall damage,
Back of a leaf (sorry it's not quite in focus)
Front of leaves with silvery discoloration (also not well focused),
I sprayed with malathion the other day because I have some Azaleas that are infested with lace wing flies. This also causes discolored leaves that fall off, so I sprayed the privet at the same time.
I am leaning more toward spider mites at this point and might try some neam oil. Before I start spraying with every chemical known to man I thought I should do a better job of trying to identify what I am dealing with.
Any suggestions would be appreciated,
LMHmedchem
I have two sections of privet hedge that are not doing well. They have always grown too well and needed more trimming that I wanted. This year, the hedge is not growing at all. I trimmed it once a while ago and it hasn't grown since. There are bare spots and many of the leaves have a silvery look to them. The back of the leaves have white and brown material on them and they fall off easily. Below are pictures,
Overall damage,
Back of a leaf (sorry it's not quite in focus)
Front of leaves with silvery discoloration (also not well focused),
I sprayed with malathion the other day because I have some Azaleas that are infested with lace wing flies. This also causes discolored leaves that fall off, so I sprayed the privet at the same time.
I am leaning more toward spider mites at this point and might try some neam oil. Before I start spraying with every chemical known to man I thought I should do a better job of trying to identify what I am dealing with.
Any suggestions would be appreciated,
LMHmedchem
0
Posts
It certainly could be a fungus, but since I know I have lacewing files on neighboring bushes and have had spider mites in the past, that was my first thought.
I will try to get better pictures. It's hard to get the leaves in focus close up. I will try further away to get the focus right and hope that the resolution is high enough that the cropped picture will retain detail.
There is quite a variety in the condition of the leaves, so I will try to get examples of everything I can see.
LMHmedchem
Actually, in North America lace flies can do considerable damage to Azaleas and Rhododendrons. When I get an infestation, most of my leaves turn coffee colored, then brown, and then fall off. With some plants, almost every leaf is gone. They do come back eventually, but it is very hard on the plant and I have lost some.
Here are a couple of articles,
Azaleas, rhododendrons face severe threat from lace bugs
Azalea lace bug
At the request of Blue Onion I have taken some better close up pictures of the damage to the privet leaves. There are two varieties in the hedge and the problem looks a bit different on the two kinds of leaf, assuming it is the same thing on both. I haven't looked for damage on the branches or anywhere else, partly because I don't know what to look for. Much of it just looks dead, so I'm not sure where to go with that.
Variety 1, front:
Variety 1, back:
Variety 2, front:
Variety 2, back:
The damage on the front of the first variety looks silvery, but the picture above doesn't pick that up well and looks more creamy.
LMHmedchem
Bath is lovely by the way, especially in the summer.
LMHmedchem