Oops - accidentally deleted my post so no one knows what I'm babbling on about. I went to a local garden centre (visit unrelated to lilac) but mentioned the lilac. Their resident expert asked me various questions and I came away realising that I may have (and do indeed have) honey fungus in the garden. We cut down a plum tree in spring which died - cause of death was unknown at that time. The stump is still there, but not for much longer. Unfortunately we had also planted a 5ft tall ceanothus and 2 rose buses in the garden this spring - all of which are highly susceptible to this fungus apparently. Whilst I can dig up and pot the small roses, the ceanothus and lilac are on their own.
To be honest I'm not entirely sure but the signs seem to point that way. The fungus was under bark (between the bark and the tree wood) around the base which is where I was told to look for it. It smells really strongly of mushrooms. There is grass right up to the stump - we will be digging around this to have a look at the weekend to see if we can see these bootlace strands. The plum tree was more or less dead last summer and autumn saw massive mushroom heads grow around the base of it - which we ignored as it's not the first time we have seen mushrooms on our lawn....In spring we knew it was dead as all the branches snapped like twigs. Interestingly my neighbour on that side had a lilac almost at the foot of our plum tree and that lilac died about 2 or 3 years ago. I could be jumping to the wrong conclusion however...?
I was give a rooted lilac sapling years ago by a neighbour. It has grown well and produced other saplings which I have managed to pull up (with roots) and re-plant elsewhere in the garden. I now have 4 lilacs, but none of them had ever flowered. This year 3 of them have flowered (one of them being the "mother" plant). I can only put this down to the pruning, as the un-flowering one was cut back the most. This makes me think that I have been pruning too much, or at the wrong time of year. When is the right time to prune or should they just be left alone?
Oooh, now that's interesting. Thanks so much for the links. I will have to investigate the Armillatox further and see if it is something that's readily available so that I can get my hands on it.
I'm thinking I may not plant up the suckers. If it is honey fungus (and like you I think it's quite likely) and if the lilac is showing early signs of infection (lots of if's I know!) then I think I won't want to run the risk of trying to raise a potentially sick plant.
So. An update. My lilac tree has been cut down. It finished 'blooming' and the few leaves it had also disappeared and i got sad looking at bare twigs so took a saw to it..... I have left a couple of the suckers in situ to see what happens.
The stump of the dead plum tree was dug out. The mushroom smelling fungus was all over the roots....most of which are still deep under my lawn. Eek. For what it's worth though i didn't find the same fungus at the base of the lilac. Just playing a waiting game to see what else dies!
Can you help please?I have a young lilac tree which flowered for the first time this year.The tree appears generally in good condition but the leaves on one of the stems have started to go brown around the edges and to curl up.This has happened at the top of the stem and I have removed half a dozen leaves or so up to now and sprayed with a recommended bug killer although there is no visible signs of any pests.I have watered the tree well during the hot weather
There's no point in spraying unless you know what you're spraying against - and there are very few bugs that will affect syringia (lilac).
There is a blight condition which is spread by a bacterium - it usually affects lilacs that are stressed due to difficult growing conditions (under/over watering - too much nitrogenous fertiliser etc).
But also some lilacs are prone to browning and dropping their leaves early, and we are heading for autumn now (sorry folks )
If I were you, if the browning leaves are just on one shoot, I'd remove and burn it to be on the safe side. Then I'd make sure that there's a clear area of soil around the base of the shrub, and mulch it well with good garden compost, and then cross my fingers. It'll probably be fine
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Posts
Oops - accidentally deleted my post so no one knows what I'm babbling on about. I went to a local garden centre (visit unrelated to lilac) but mentioned the lilac. Their resident expert asked me various questions and I came away realising that I may have (and do indeed have) honey fungus in the garden. We cut down a plum tree in spring which died - cause of death was unknown at that time. The stump is still there, but not for much longer. Unfortunately we had also planted a 5ft tall ceanothus and 2 rose buses in the garden this spring - all of which are highly susceptible to this fungus apparently. Whilst I can dig up and pot the small roses, the ceanothus and lilac are on their own.
Are you sure it's honey fungus? Have you found the bootlace-like strands in the soil, for example?
To be honest I'm not entirely sure but the signs seem to point that way. The fungus was under bark (between the bark and the tree wood) around the base which is where I was told to look for it. It smells really strongly of mushrooms. There is grass right up to the stump - we will be digging around this to have a look at the weekend to see if we can see these bootlace strands. The plum tree was more or less dead last summer and autumn saw massive mushroom heads grow around the base of it - which we ignored as it's not the first time we have seen mushrooms on our lawn....In spring we knew it was dead as all the branches snapped like twigs. Interestingly my neighbour on that side had a lilac almost at the foot of our plum tree and that lilac died about 2 or 3 years ago. I could be jumping to the wrong conclusion however...?
I was give a rooted lilac sapling years ago by a neighbour. It has grown well and produced other saplings which I have managed to pull up (with roots) and re-plant elsewhere in the garden. I now have 4 lilacs, but none of them had ever flowered. This year 3 of them have flowered (one of them being the "mother" plant). I can only put this down to the pruning, as the un-flowering one was cut back the most. This makes me think that I have been pruning too much, or at the wrong time of year. When is the right time to prune or should they just be left alone?
Lilacs are generally left alone - prune them after flowering if you have to.
S Harrison, it does sound worrying. There is detailed information here, but it does sound as though that is your problem.
When you plant up your lilac suckers, plant them in pots to avoid spreading it.
You may also like to have a look at this site, particularly point vii.
Oooh, now that's interesting. Thanks so much for the links. I will have to investigate the Armillatox further and see if it is something that's readily available so that I can get my hands on it.
I'm thinking I may not plant up the suckers. If it is honey fungus (and like you I think it's quite likely) and if the lilac is showing early signs of infection (lots of if's I know!) then I think I won't want to run the risk of trying to raise a potentially sick plant.
The stump of the dead plum tree was dug out. The mushroom smelling fungus was all over the roots....most of which are still deep under my lawn. Eek. For what it's worth though i didn't find the same fungus at the base of the lilac. Just playing a waiting game to see what else dies!
did anything else die??
Can you help please?I have a young lilac tree which flowered for the first time this year.The tree appears generally in good condition but the leaves on one of the stems have started to go brown around the edges and to curl up.This has happened at the top of the stem and I have removed half a dozen leaves or so up to now and sprayed with a recommended bug killer although there is no visible signs of any pests.I have watered the tree well during the hot weather
There's no point in spraying unless you know what you're spraying against - and there are very few bugs that will affect syringia (lilac).
There is a blight condition which is spread by a bacterium - it usually affects lilacs that are stressed due to difficult growing conditions (under/over watering - too much nitrogenous fertiliser etc).
But also some lilacs are prone to browning and dropping their leaves early, and we are heading for autumn now (sorry folks
)
If I were you, if the browning leaves are just on one shoot, I'd remove and burn it to be on the safe side. Then I'd make sure that there's a clear area of soil around the base of the shrub, and mulch it well with good garden compost, and then cross my fingers. It'll probably be fine
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.