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Thick twisted leaves on Sunflowers and Hydrangea

daniel.myattdaniel.myatt Posts: 6
in Problem solving
Hi.

I'm having issues with my sunflowers and Hydrangea Paniculata. I've grown these for the past 5 years or so with great results, but this year all have been affected by something that is causing the leaves to grown thick, twisted and pointed upwards.

This is affected about 30 of my sunflowers, across 6 different varieties, all planted in different spots.

I can't see any obvious pests on them either, no signs of aphids.

I'm not sure what's happening, but they do not look well. My other plants are doing exceptionally well this year though.

Any ideas?

Posts

  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,618
    edited July 2020
    Have they all had the same sort of compost?  I think there is a weedkiller contaminated batch doing the rounds.
  • daniel.myattdaniel.myatt Posts: 6
    My first though was some sort of weedkiller problem, as that's exactly what the leaves look like. I've used a few different types of compost, some of the seeds were self sown though without compost and still have the same issue, and the hydrangea is a few years old without compost added this year, so it can't be that. 
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    I would cut that stem right back to the ground on the hydrangea, how much of the plant is like that? 

    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • daniel.myattdaniel.myatt Posts: 6
    The hydrangea was growing fine, I didn't notice any issues with it until last week. About 50% of the new growth on the stems is coming out like that, whereas the other 50% of the stems look normal and healthy.

    It's making me wonder if it is weedkiller, but then all I have used is a box of weed and feed on the lawn in April, I've not used any sprays.
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    Maybe some of the weed/feed flicked on it, you can either use the opportunity to prune the hydrangea, take out the bad bits, but they are very hardy shrubs so you could leave it and see if it grows out.  It could well do that.  Leave it for another week or so then come back with another photo and we’ll have another  look then.   In the meantime I would cut the tips out, as shown in the photo where I’ve drawn the red line.

    I don’t know what to say about the other plant, I don’t grow them. 

    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

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