Problems With Honeysuckle - Yellow/brown leaves
chris182
Posts: 6
In early spring I planted a new honeysuckle from a garden centre against a fence and trained it to climb. It is planted in a mainly shaded area but does catch some early afternoon sun, briefly.
It started off around 40cm high and within a couple of months it had reached the trellis 6ft up and provided a good screen. It kept growing and flowered and was also very bushy and thick with big, lush green leaves. I was really quite proud of it.
Over the last month or so, the leaves started to go yellow and brown. I have tried watering more often and less often, and also plant food, but the condition continues to deteriorate. Leaves are dying and falling off now and it is starting to look quite sparse. It doesn't seem limited to just one vine. I have included some photos. Can anybody help please? Is this some kind of blight or disease? Am I not watering it correctly? Thanks.
Posts
Keep it well watered and mulched chris, although saying that my honeysuckle which has been a wonderful display all summer is now starting to flag a little now. I suspect it's just nature now taking it's course. It's a woodland plant so moisture at the roots is the main concern, so mulching will help keep the ground moist. It will recover given time, but I think it may be towards the end of it's best this season.
I agree with Buddyboy - give it some Fish Blood and Bone in February.
Honeysuckle is tough - I'm sure it'll be fine.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I had the same problem with my honeysuckle back in early Aug. I assumed it was the heat and wet and cut in back to one foot high. I did not feed in case it spurted before the winter and it has now started to grow much healthier leaves and not too fast so I think it will make it! Definitely agree with not feeding it until after January. Honeysuckles do seem to be quite prone to sickness, especially the larger leafed ones. Good luck chris
I guess I will have to wait and see. I did give it some Fish Bone and Blood earlier in the summer though, and it has had some Miracle Gro too. I'm reluctant to cut it back yet. Fingers crossed!
One of mine is doing the same thing, and looking closely at the leaves I can see that there are signs of mildew. However, there are plenty of leaf buds so I am expecting the plant to make a full recovery. As Dove says, Honeysuckle is generally a survivor!
Hi Chris182,
If you're still following, just curious...did your plant ever recover from whatever issue it had almost 3 years ago. I've had mine for some time now and it's been doing beautifully until now...same issue as yours.
Hi Ally11,
It did recover. I am not really sure how, as it looked dead by the end of autumn 2014, but the following year it recovered and the die back happened later in the year, then last year the die back was even later. This year it is flourishing again and provides a great privacy screen. I did try the Fish Blood & Bone and plenty of watering so maybe that helped.