A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2004 sick honeysuckle

We have two varieties of honeysuckle that are about 5yrs old. They've developed a white, chalky residue on the leaves and have nearly stopped blooming. The leaves themselves are turning yellow. In the spring the plants bloomed fabulously and were quite healthy. Two seasons ago we had experienced this problem, so that autumn we cut the plants back to within two feet of the ground. Seemed to have helped. However, it took nearly two seasons for the vines to grow and fill in as comepletely as it has this past spring. We don't want to cut back again if another solution exists. PLEASE HELP!!

Hi!
Sorry I don't know anything about honeysuckle, but wanted to welcome you to the forum.
Someone will come along to help you, though!

WELCOME!
Nice to meet you!
Cindy

Sean,
Just wanted to let you know I moved your post into the plants and flowers section..
It's a little more traveled thru by our gardener's who may be able to help you better!!!


I have some questions to ask you and you can answer them in the meantime while you're waiting for the gardener's!!!

Where is your plant planted?
Like Sun? How much or shade?
What kind of dirt is it in?
What did you do to the dirt when planting it?
ie; fertilizer or kind of dirt.
And what kind of dirt/soil you have where you garden?
Do you have a mulch around the base of the plant?
Is it right on the plants stem at the base or at the drip line?
And what are your watering practices? (times of the day you water and how much?)
And rain you've had?

Sometimes the growing conditions if they aren't met quite properly and that is the reason for the substance??
To me it sounds like a powdery mildew!!!
????????????????
I am sure there are other gardener's that will come thru and help you further or may ask more questions also!!!

Hope this helps!
Happy Gardening!

Weezie

P.S. Welcome to The Garden Helper's Forum by the way. We have a nice little cyber community here!

Weezie,

The honeysuckle are on the south side of house, in full sun. The dirt is well-drained and rich, with a moderate amount of clay. However, we didn't plant them, so I cannot tell you much about how the soil was prepared. This spring we laid about two inches of walk-on bark at the base of the plants(what is the "drip line?").
We haven't watered much due to lots of rain, and when we do water it's in the evening.

Thank you for your follow-up!

If I'm not mistaken, a simple cure for powdery mildew is 1 tsp baking soda to 1 qt water, just spray it on the leaves. The drip line is where the leaves from the plant drip off excess water. Am I right about this cure folks? Hope this helps Sean!

Great! We'll give that a try.

I'm glad I found this forum. I'm going to tell other gardeners about it. Very helpful, and friendly!

Thanks Weezie!

Sean,
Gladys may very well be right with the baking soda, I don't know the complete formula but I know it's here somewhere's...

And is right with the drip line and leaves...
When a plant grows, the branches, stems, etc.
grow, and where ever the length of the branch/stem with the leaves is, is where the drip line is *example, either hose your plant down and watch where the water runs off your full grown plant or stand in the rain, and do the same...
that one is my favorite, I LOVE THE RAIN!, anyhow)

That's the line you sprinkle fertilizers like epsom's salt, granular's, etc. at.
Where the roots can utilize the stuff when it rains.

Anyhow, don't water at night, if you can help it.
I had a long post here about watering at night, anyone *Karen* want to find that one for me/??
Please?

Keep us posted, and I've got this thread clicked with my E~mail notification on it too!!

Weezie