Re: Film on bushes
Powdery mildew can be a real problem on many plant under humid and warm
conditions. Pruning, as Dawn suggests can be very helpful. When it
first shows up, if it is just on a few leaves, hand picking can prevent
or slow further spred. Folks with roses often inspect and pick off sick
leaves on a regular basis. On a sunny day when leaves can dry a
forceful spray of water can sometimes be effective, and a heavy
thunderstorm will sometimes clean up plants considerably. Actually, any
rain right now would help just about anything.
The best organic remedies: 1) baking soda spray (4 tsp per gallon of
water, with one tsp of liquid soap) or 2) spray with light horticultural
oil (follow directions for mixing, or you could add the oil instead of
soap in no.1).
These methods work well on my euonymus (though I have seem varieties
that are so prone to mildew that probably nothing will help), and is
good for most vegetables as well. In Dallas we know about humidy, heat,
and powdery mildew, and I just wish my neighbors would lay off the
chemical fungicides that are screwing other things up, and do not work
as well as organic ones anyway.
Don
"Dawn M. Ripley" wrote:
>
> At 08:45 PM 8/15/2000 -0400, David Taylor wrote:
> >Hello,
> >
> >I have a lilac bush and euonymus bushes that have a white film on the
> >leaves. The lilac bush has had this problem before but I can not remember
> >why this happens or how I treated the problem. Any ideas?
> >
>
> Tricia:
>
> Is it powdery looking? If so, it could be powdery mildew, a fungal disease
> to which both lilacs and euonymus bushes are prone, especially in hot and
> humid conditions where they don't get good air circulation to help dry out
> their foliage.
>
> There are no cures, only preventatives. I'd suggest first thinning them
> out, using the pruning rule of thirds: Remove only a third of the branches
> at a time, after they've flowered, per year over a three-year period. If
> thinning doesn't get the problem under control by increasing air
> circulation, and the cultivars are worth the effort of using synthetic
> chemical controls (which I really don't like), then you can apply a
> fungicide such as Cleary's 3336 in the spring once the leaves have fully
> emerged.
>
> Hope this helps,
>
> Dawn
>
> **********************
>
> Dawn M. Ripley
> County Extension Agent for Urban Programs
> Cooperative Extension Service, Jefferson County
> 8012 Vinecrest Avenue, Suite 1
> Louisville, Kentucky 40222-4690
>
> (502) 425-4482 dripley@ca.uky.edu
> (502) 425-0109 fax www.ca.uky.edu
>
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