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Help, my plants leaves are covered in tiny holes?

m68m68 Posts: 15
in Problem solving

Hi there,

 

I'd be very grateful if someone knowledgeable could assist me in identifying what is causing these holes in my plants leaves and how to do something about it. It seems that only certain bushes and plants are affected, the main issue is the bush where the leaves have thousands of tiny holes in them whereas some of the other plants have a lesser issue with larger holes and less of them. (I don't know if these are caused by different bugs, etc?)

 

Any help would be gratefully appreciated as I am a complete novice! Thank you in advance.

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  • m68m68 Posts: 15

    Thanks for the response! I was worried that if I left things as they are it could spread through the garden. Would you advise leaving it as is?

  • markunitedmarkunited Posts: 5

    Hi this is a common disease called shot hole

    it doesnt affect the plant 

    fish blood and bone is good to use also look at the website I found it helped .

    ashbridge tree limited

    there was great information on it  

  • m68m68 Posts: 15

    Thank you!

    I've just read up about this on the website you recommended!

    Please forgive my ignorance, but is the main plant affected at 'Laurel' (images 1,2,3,5,6 above)

  • m68m68 Posts: 15

    Sorry, is it a laurel

  • OnopordumOnopordum Posts: 390

    The damage to the leaves of the first shrub looks like Viburnum Beetle on Viburnum tinus (not laurel). This will only affect Viburnums - it's the beetle on your hand in the photo. Personally I wouldn't worry too much about it - it's normal for insects to eat leaves and the plants can usually tolerate quite a lot of damage without too much harm. You could cut out some of the worst affected bits. Most of the damage is caused by the beetle larvae in spring.

    I'm not sure what the last shrub is but the amount of damage is trivial - nothing to worry about.

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117

    Cornus I think Onopordum - but same as you've said already, nothing to worry about really. Tough shrubs.

    Hostas always look terrible if they're snail and slug ravaged. I've given up with them mostly. I have one that escapes any damage and that's the only one I'm keeping now. It's a faff to go out every night and pick them up ( I like to get some sleep ) and I really don't like slug pellets, so I'm taking the easy option image

    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • Dave HedgehogDave Hedgehog Posts: 377

    There aren't many pests that will eat laurels as they are somewhat poisonous to most creatures.

    Vine weevils, slugs and rabbits are somwhat resistant to the poisonous nature of laurels.If you have a tidy garden, slugs may be attracted to the laurels, once they've decimated your hostas.

    It looks more like a disease such as powdery mildew, leaf spot fungi or bacterial shothole.

    As for tour Vibernums, you need to prune off any dead wood as that's where the larvae creep into before they ritn into vibernum beetles.

    What worries me most about your pics is that Ground Elder appears to be growing under yoir vibernum. That weed is one of the worst of all and can take years to erradicate.

  • m68m68 Posts: 15

    Thanks so much for all the advice provided above - really appreciated.

    We have a small dog that uses the garden so if any intervention is needed it would have to be pet friendly. I was planning on trimming things back and seeing whether this improved things - which from what I've read it should do, if the issue is shot hole. A good course of action?

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