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Pleas help identify CEANOTHUS problem!

hate2bogiehate2bogie Posts: 4
in Problem solving


This is a photo of Ceanothus from my garden in Pacific Northwest Washington State USA.  There is a lot of crumbly, flaky looking brown debris on the leaves and the flowers are a mass of brown crumbles. I don’t find anything that looks like a bug. Does anyone know what is wrong and if I can cure the problem?

Posts

  • robairdmacraignilrobairdmacraignil Posts: 782
    How long was it flowering for? My ceanothus plants have flowers that turn brown after they are done flowering. The flowers don't last forever and on the plants I have stay on the plant as brown crumbly bits for a long time after they finish active flowering and I never thought of this as being something wrong. The leaves in the picture are generally a healthy colour but do show some signs of being eaten by something (possibly caterpillars of some sort). They could have turned into moths or butterflies by now and no longer be a problem for your plant. A picture of the full plant might give an indication if you have a more serious problem.
    https://www.youtube.com/user/sustainableveg/videos
  • hate2bogiehate2bogie Posts: 4
    Thank you so much for your reply.  The blossoms set on in April, but turned brown immediately,  never purple. We bought the property 2 yrs. ago, and the tree was beautiful last year with 200 to 300 bees and long lasting flowers.  I didn’t notice any crumbly bits after it finished blooming last year.  Last week I pruned the tree, and that is when I took the photos.  Inside the canopy, I crawled in to prune, it looked spindly, crumbly, with 3” brown spikes along the branch.  I pruned it to open up and get more sun and air circulation.  The new growth leaves look good.
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    The inside being brown is most likely because it wasn't getting any light before you pruned it. Most shrubs that are fairly dense in habit will have all the growth on the outside.
    Did you have a very dry spring this year like we did in the UK? If so that might possibly be a reason for this year's flower buds dying and turning brown before they opened. It looks healthy enough in today's picture, so I suggest wait and see what it does next spring, and if you think dryness might have been the issue, give it a good drink when you see the flower buds forming.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • robairdmacraignilrobairdmacraignil Posts: 782
    I think the new growth being healthy is a very good sign and have had a ceanothus shrub looking much worse than the one in the photo come back to full health again afterwards without doing anything to help it. I have about five in the garden and the flowering can vary a bit from year to year. They do seem to put more effort into putting leaves where they can get some light and allow some parts not have any. One that flowered well last year had a very short flowering time this year and looks a bit less healthy than the others still while another one near to it was more than half dead last year but flowered well and looks very healthy now. I'd be hopeful that your plant just decided to take a bit of rest this year and will be back to flowering properly next year.
    https://www.youtube.com/user/sustainableveg/videos
  • hate2bogiehate2bogie Posts: 4
    I want to send thanks for the replies.  I just didn’t know if there was something to do or where to turn.  Then I found this website and am so happy to get some input!  It seemed like a big problem.  I now think my pruning might help, so will wait and see next year!
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