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Desease on my new honeysuckle

prestongrantprestongrant Posts: 9
in Plants
Hi everyone. About about 4months ago I bought this honeysuckle from dobbies. I can't seem to stop this desease  I water, I've added nutrients, I take off the desesed leaves  I've sprayed against fungus. I think I will loose it. Any advice please. Grant 
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  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited August 2018
    Hi Preston :)

    That looks very like powdery mildew ... it's a condition that often occurs when a plant is stressed, particularly by drought ... honeysuckle needs a deep cool damp rootrun with it's feet in the shade and it's face in the sun ... by nature it's a plant of hedgerows and woodland fringes.

    Can you show us a photograph of the whole plant and where it's growing please?

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • prestongrantprestongrant Posts: 9
    Hi dovefromabove  have included more pics. It looks a bit sorry for itself. It has never been short of water and has the sunshine for couple hours every day in that position. Thanks. 
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Honeysuckles rarely fare well in containers ... as I was saying, cool deep root runs are what they need.  What sort of compost is it in?   Ordinary multi-purpose is just too lightweight for permanent planting ... I would get it a bigger container ... twice the size if you can ... and pot it in a mix of two thirds John Innes No 3 loambased growing medium and one third 'Soil Improver' (in bags from the garden centre) or if you can't get the soil improver use multi-purpose compost to mix with the JI No. 3.  

    That combination will hold moisture much better than MPC on it's own and in a bigger container the honeysuckle will at least have a fighting chance of growing healthily. 

    Good luck  :)

    Love the old brick walls by the way  :)

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • prestongrantprestongrant Posts: 9
    edited August 2018
    Ok thanks very much for the advice, will replant today . The soil is from b and m for planting.. Hope it can be saved. The old shed is falling down, honeysuckle would go well  👍😉
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    prestongrant said:
     . The soil is from b and m for planting..
    Think that would be fine for pots of summer bedding ... pelargoniums, petunias etc, hanging baskets, that sort of thing ... but for permanent planting you need stuff with more 'substance' .

    You'll notice that an equivalent volume of John Innes is markedly heavier than the B&M stuff because it consists of proper soil and grit and stuff like that rather than just light fibrous matter like the MPC ... and that's just part of the difference ... it'll have more nutrients in it too.  :)

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    I'd agree completely with Dove - it's never going to thrive there. It's trying very hard, but you really need a very big container with the right medium to allow it to do it's thing properly   :)
    Can you get it into the ground? It would be far happier.- if you can get a suitable little spot for it.
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • prestongrantprestongrant Posts: 9
    edited August 2018
    Thanks for your suggestions, but I only have a concrete yard so using boxes. I'll double the size of the box and change the soil  but if maybe too late. Poor plant looking critical now. 👍😉. Will let you know. 
  • prestongrantprestongrant Posts: 9
    Have made a larger pot from a pallet. The plant still struggling, it is producing new growth from the top, but some of these are catching the desease. When I went to the garden centre to buy john innes number 1and 3, I noticed the young plants there also have mildew, which is shred mine came from. The staff didn't seem concerned, dobbies in Carlisle . 
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    A lot of plants are suffering from powdery mildew this year because of the long hot summer.  If it's in a bigger container and has the compost mix I spoke of earlier, then all you can do is ensure it doesn't dry out again, and cross your fingers.

    Powdery mildew is not often a killer of plants ... it weakens them by preventing the leaves from photosynthesising and thus providing energy for the plant ... but at this time of year the leaves will not be doing much other than shutting down and preparing to fall in autumn.  If you can keep the roots moist throughout next year it should make a good recovery.  A feed of Fish, Blood and Bone in the spring will help too.

    My big honeysuckles planted in the ground have all got a touch of the mildew this autumn.  Yours is not alone  :)

    Good luck 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • prestongrantprestongrant Posts: 9
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