Hi Everyone,
I have a problem with one of my trees, i think it’s a Devilwood “osmanthus x burkwoodii” please correct me if I am wrong as I found this lying under a pile of rubbish being thrown out.
I have had it now for just over 2 years and it has never put on any new leaves but each spring it flowers.
It has a strange white coating on its leaves and was wondering if this could be weakening the plant.
I have attached a series of photos below.
Thanks in advance for any help or advice.
Looks like powdery mildew perhaps.
My guess is mildew as well. I have one of these (Osmanthus) and the flowering is just coming to the end here in the UK, My experience of these is they are not as robust as some trees so I now handle it with slightly more caution that I did originally. Excessive pruning, especially soon after re-potting tends to slow it down quite a lot. I suspect in your case the mildew is the cause of the poor growth. The same can be observed on trees of other species that get mildew, foliar growth seems to grind to a halt. Treat with a fungicide and see if that helps. If it’s prone to mildew treat regularly (I think every 6-8 weeks but check the instructions) to keep on top of it.
Treated with a neem oil, bicarb & soap mix, thought I had killed it as all leaves fell off, but 1 week later new growth is pushing from everywhere on the tree. think it was definitely Mildew that was slowing down the tree. Will take some pics once I get 5 mins free.
Hope everyone is safe and well ?
Do you have hard water? Looks like calcium from your tap water.
