Pests Damaging Hedge
laurencegoodchild91
Posts: 1
Hi all,
A pest of some sort has been eating away at our garden hedge for several years now. Unfortunately I haven't a clue what type of plant the hedge is (sorry!), but I'll provide as much detail as I can along with the photos above. If somebody could help me identify what the problem appears to be that would be greatly appreciated.
The hedge is around 30 years old, and spans one side of our garden (roughly 20 feet). It is in a fairly sunny position and has always grown fairly well and needed substantial pruning. Over the last few years it has been effected by some kind of pest which is eating away at it's leaves.
Previously this wasn't too bad, but this year it has made the entire hedge look like a sieve. All of the foliage is peppered with bites that brown around their edges. Additionally on one side of the hedge (which tends to receive less light) the leaves are developing a white furry covering which looks very unhealthy.
If someone could assist me in diagnosing this, or make any suggestions at all that would help, that would be excellent.
Thanks in advance,
Laurence
Posts
I think that's Viburnum tinus after the Viburnum Beetles ave had dinner. But the poor thing is so afflicted I could have got the ID wrong.
I had two Viburnum tinus, one was so badly damaged I cut it right back to nothing. The other totally unaffected. I haven't investigated the life cycle, the beetles may not be there now. I don't use chemicals but someone will know if there's a chemical treatment
In the sticks near Peterborough
The white furry stuff looks like powdery mildew, which is a common fungal disease on plants stressed by too much, or too little, or irregular supplies, of water. Collect up and destroy fallen leaves. Like Nutcutlet I wouldn't use chemical controls, but if you're happy to use them there are various things in the garden centre you can spray on ornamental plants to control fungal diseases.
I think you can use pyrethrum-based sprays (approved for organic gardening) on the larvae of viburnum beetle, in April. The adult beetles also eat the leaves, later in the year. I think if you're determined to nobble the adults as well, you'll need a more noxious killer, which I personally wouldn't use; obviously if you can reduce the number of larvae you should reduce the number of adults eventually...
Definitely viburnum beetle. They lay eggs in cracks in dead wood, so cleaning the shrubs up a bit, removing the dead bits which inevitably get left inside the shrub, will help. In late spring give the whole hedge a severe chop back and a good feed. That'll remove the unsightly foliage, re-invigorate the shrubs and hopefully remove the beetles. But, do the clearing out of dead stuff soon.
H-C