They have a number of natural enemies that will pick them off when the lilac is stronger and less appealing. Effective management centers around keeping the lilac healthy and happy, since sick plants are much more likely to attract borers. These tiny caterpillars spend most of their lives inside the stems and branches of your plant, only emerging to mate. When they’re clustered together in one section of the plant, pruning them out is an excellent option.īorers – The larvae of the clearwing moth is a boring insect that prefers to feed on lilacs. Scales are best treated with repeated applications of neem oil, spaced seven to 14 days apart. If you lift their covers though, you’ll find very small, brightly colored insects underneath. Many species look like cottony or waxy growths on the stems and branches of landscape shrubs. Scales – Scales can be difficult to detect. However, if either of these pests appear, it’s time for action: Lilacs attract just a few serious pests, most of the caterpillars and leaf miners that may visit aren’t anything to be worried about. As with powdery mildew, this problem is a result of high local humidity, so thin that shrub and clean up all fallen debris to prevent future infections. When you see tan spots appear on your lilac leaves, with or without causing the leaves to fall, you’ve likely got one of the many leaf spot diseases on your hands. Leaf spots – Leaf spots are another fungal problem caused by a variety of pathogens. Increasing the air circulation around infected leaves is the best treatment, so make sure to thin your plants yearly. It’s caused by a variety of fungal pathogens that result in leaves with a powdered appearance, either in tightly organized spots or spread across the surfaces. Powdery mildew – Powdery mildew is probably the most common problem in lilacs. Pruning away the diseased material and thinning the inside of the shrub is the best way to control this disease, but if the infection is widespread, a copper fungicide will help kill it quickly. Blossoms may become limp or turn brown suddenly. Those spots turn brown with yellow margins and begin to die. When this disease affects plants, their flower clusters. Be on the lookout for these diseases:īacterial blight – The bacteria Pseudomonas syringae causes early shoot and branch dieback, distorted leaves, and leaf spots that start out olive green but soon develop water-soaked areas. Bacterial blight may also result in formation of black spots confined by a pale circle on the leaves. Common Diseases of LilacsĪlthough lilacs are a hardy bunch, they can succumb to problems like any other landscape shrub. Even so, it’s best to be prepared if you have a run-in with lilac pests and diseases, so we made up a list of common lilac problems you may encounter. These beautiful, hardy bushes are a great addition to your landscape because they tend to be easy to care for, and the problems with lilac bushes are mostly minor. Shakespeare memorialized the sweet smell of the rose, but obviously, he hadn’t so much as sniffed a lilac, the undisputed perfumed queen of the spring.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |