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Pyracantha leaves turning black
puschkinia
Posts: 229
Hi everyone
I planted this pyracantha red column around October last year. It was a little sad when I bought it from the GC (had white powder on the leaves) but it seems to perk up a bit after giving it some anti fungal spray.
It's planted in clay/chalk by our back, south-facing fence. It's completely shaded by the house until about mid-March but in Summer it'll be in full sun. Tbh I did neglect it a bit over this dry winter - I think it needed more watering than I gave it (approx half a bucket every 2 weeks or so).
Today I noticed that loads of the leaves are going black. Can anyone tell whether this is my neglect & it'll recover, or whether it's something like fireblight? If it's the latter can/should I just dig it out and plant a new one in there?
Thanks
ps those white specks are bird droppings
the feeder is closeby and our local starlings are a menace.
I planted this pyracantha red column around October last year. It was a little sad when I bought it from the GC (had white powder on the leaves) but it seems to perk up a bit after giving it some anti fungal spray.
It's planted in clay/chalk by our back, south-facing fence. It's completely shaded by the house until about mid-March but in Summer it'll be in full sun. Tbh I did neglect it a bit over this dry winter - I think it needed more watering than I gave it (approx half a bucket every 2 weeks or so).
Today I noticed that loads of the leaves are going black. Can anyone tell whether this is my neglect & it'll recover, or whether it's something like fireblight? If it's the latter can/should I just dig it out and plant a new one in there?
Thanks
ps those white specks are bird droppings
the feeder is closeby and our local starlings are a menace. 0
Posts
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
https://www.rhs.org.uk/disease/pyracantha-scab
However, l'm not sure as the rest of the plant seems healthy enough, and l'm wondering if it's just the older leaves showing signs of the stress it was previously under.
Have any of the leaves started to fall off ?
Anni - ah maybe, hopefully it's just that. Nope, no leaf drop that I can see. There weren't any berries in autumn, but maybe that's just because it's young and was in rubbish conditions at whatever industrial nursery it came from
It's not the end of the world if it is scab though- you can cut out all the diseased stuff, and it should come away again.
I had a bit on some of my mature pyracanthas a couple of years ago, and they're fine now. I'd never had it before and I've had them in several gardens over the years
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...