Help identifying and treating disease pls

denise72CLDOYQMZ · August 2020

Hi, would anyone be able to ID what is going on with our garden. Various plans have become infected with similar but not identical visual signs (spots, rust, browning, etc) but all are loosing their leaves. Pic attached. Thanks!

Dovefromabove · August 2020

Hi @denise72CLDOYQMZ 😊
Can we see some pictures of the whole plants in situ please?

denise72CLDOYQMZ · August 2020

Of course. Thank you. Is this what you need? 2 in pots. Not next to each other and two from the same bed ... there are others but all in same bed.

Fairygirl · August 2020

It's normal for plants to have dead/dying foliage - at almost any time of year. It isn't necessarily a problem. No plant stays immaculate 365 days of the year

Whatever the plants in the pots are - they look very dehydrated. That will cause foliage to drop as the plant tries to maintain as much foliage as possible. Do you know what they are? I can't see the pix well enough, especially as they're sideways and it hurts my neck!

bertrand-mabel · August 2020

Agree, they look droughted. We have had a winter sweet tree for many years and it is now dying back very rapidly because of very very little rain. Have never had to water it apart from when it was first planted. Plants in pots/containers need more watering as they dry out so quickly.

denise72CLDOYQMZ · August 2020

Agree, in this weather watering is essential. I do keep up with it on the whole. My main concern is the spotting and rusting on the leaves. It started, I think on our Plum tree (one of the pots), it’s a relatively new addition. But very quickly the others started exhibiting the same symptoms. My worry is that whatever it is, is so aggressive that it might actually be damaging to the plants long term.

Dovefromabove · August 2020

Those pots are far far too small for those plants ... the compost cannot hold enough moisture for that amount of foliage for a day in this hot weather ... and that's if it's a loambased compost such as John Innes No 3, which may not be the case. How much water are you giving them? I would give them at least a bucket full each, twice a day in this weather.
Is the water running out of the bottom of the pots? If so that could be because it is potbound ... i.e. the pot is so full of roots there is no room for the water and it's running straight through.
They need to be in containers at least three times the size of the ones they're in, using John Innes No 3 loambased compost with the addition of some multipurpose compost at a ratio of 4:1.

As for your other shrubs, they too are showing signs of drought ("... the spotting and rusting on the leaves...."). They are in a raised bed which will dry out much more quicky than plants in the ground ... for now I would give each shrub two buckets full of water every other day, pouring it onto the root area slowly so that it soaks in and doesn't run off.
For the future I would purchase a seeper hose approx three times the length of the raised bed and weave it back and forth amongst the plants ... connect it via a hose to an outside tap and run it for at least a couple of hours three evenings a week during the summer, more during heatwaves.

I can see no sign of disease ... just normal wear and tear and damage caused by the plants being under stress due to drought, but remember that stressed plants succumb much more easily to disease.

I hope that helps.

denise72CLDOYQMZ · August 2020

Thank you! Looks like watering and bigger pots is in order. I appreciate the help.

Dovefromabove · August 2020

Glad to help ... don’t hesitate to ask if you’re not clear about anything ... and enjoy 😊

Help identifying and treating disease pls

Posts