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What is wrong with my buddleia?

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  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Nothing really - a few aphids or similar, sucking the sap.
    It'll grow out of it as the season goes on.  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • sue101mullinsAMmduJn7sue101mullinsAMmduJn7 Posts: 4
    I did check for aphids, but there are none.  I was worried it might be a virus.  It has never looked like this before and I have had it for over 20 years.  It is very large.  I was wondering whether to prune it back really hard and get rid of the bad leaves.  90% of it is affected.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    It should certainly have been cut back hard every year in spring, as they flower on the new wood.  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • sue101mullinsAMmduJn7sue101mullinsAMmduJn7 Posts: 4
    Ha ha yes.  Not really had a spring yet.  Still waiting to be cut back!
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    If you don't prune it soon, you'll end up with flowers very high up, and/or not getting them until much later.
    I usually do mine in April, which is early spring here. Most folk further south do it much earlier, but our springs are always later anyway. Late winter/early spring is fine for them.

    The weather that many people are experiencing just now is the norm for us for the time of year.  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • Zoe41Zoe41 Posts: 1
    Hi, I have found the same thing that has appeared all of a sudden and has attacked my two buddlieias, one in the back garden, a self seeded Buddleja davidii and one in the front - Black Knight, pruned in early spring. I checked for aphids and saw none. I tore up leaves and put in a glass of water to see if it was eelworms inside the leaves but none appeared. I've had one for nearly twenty years and have never had a problem with it before, or ever seen leaf problems on a buddlieia before. I've cut back all the new branches. What did you do with your shrub, sue101mullinsAMmduJn7? Good luck. 


     
  • sue101mullinsAMmduJn7sue101mullinsAMmduJn7 Posts: 4
    I have not managed to prune it yet as it is a bit huge - they do that if you take your eye off them!  I am planning to prune it really hard to remove all the bad leaves and then mulch it and water it, and hope it survives.  I don't mind getting the flowers much later as it prolongs the butterfly/bee food.  I have another buddleia - a white one which is totally unaffected.

    It looks suspiciously like a virus to me, but I am hopeful it's just a passing thing and not the end of the road.
  • ypvg8p7vvctohJvbWFypvg8p7vvctohJvbWF Posts: 1
    I’m having the same problems, with two new buddleias, planted this year, and one we’ve had for several years, and seemed indestructible! I pruned it back in spring, and this is affecting the new growth. I’ve noticed other buddleias in the neighbourhood all seem to be suffering with the same thing. I’m also wondering what to do - cut them back or dig them up? They’ve been like this for a few weeks now. 
  • karma.beads1GAzU7r0bkarma.beads1GAzU7r0b Posts: 1
    edited June 2023
    Had the exact same thing happen this year on my two buddleias. Both plants a few years old, one is self seeded and the other in a planter, and both got a good pruning a few months ago. 
  • clematisdorsetclematisdorset Posts: 1,348
    Just wondering if the people with this current problem have their buddlejas in a particular part of the country? 
    Sorry to witness the demise of the forum. 😥😥😥😡😡😡I am Spartacus 
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