Azalea white tips on leaves, lace bug and blight help

14 years ago

HI ALL!

I have about 30 Azeleas and am not making progress. I have been here three years, the second year, I sprayed for the lace bug twice in the fall but I believe I waited too long to do the second spray. This spring, I sprayed twice, about 4 weeks apart when the bugs seemed active and destroying new growth. I have not been able to get rid of the lace bug.

Now, this last month, the new growth has white on the edges of the leaves (nutrition deficiency?? ) and they cur as well. You can see it a little in the picture. Now I noticed on a few of them, I have blight starting (on a rose bush next to them), and I can't figure out what to do with them. This is mostly affecting the plants in one area on the front of the house.

I sprayed with Malathion, drenched them as well as I could, inside, upsidedown and out.

I just read there is a systemic treatment I could give them, anyone have good luck with it?

Then to the blight? It seems to have hit only a few so far.

Then what do think the white edges on the leaves are and curling..

I am tempted to just dig up the poorly growing plants and burn them. It is way too much trouble for me and they are not nicely shaped and ..and, unless this can be fixed fairly easliy, it is hard for me to take care of all of this over and over again. Any suggestions would be great.

Thanks,

Lizzy

Here is a link that might be useful: Azalia leaf picture

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Comments (2)

akamainegrower
14 years ago
The white areas of the leaf on the far left may be nothing more than a newly developing leaf that has yet to develop the green color. It's also possible that it is the beginning of one or more leaf galls. These are swollen, puffy areas on the leaves which remain pale and nearly white. Just cut them off and dispose.

The middle picture shows some sort of leaf spotting. There are a number of fungi which can cause this. Usually it is unsightly but not a fatal condition. "Blight" in azaleas and rhododendrons usually refers to ovulinia petal blight. It effects the flowers, not the leaves.

The third leaf shows lace bug damage.

I have had very good results from using Bayer Advanced Azalea, Camellia and Rhododendron Insect and Disease Control, a systemic drench. I'm not sure if this is still being manufactured, but seems readily available online and Bayer recommends some alternatives with different names. Anything used to control lace bug has to be applied early enough - not in the fall - to catch the first generation or the leaves will suffer the kind of damage shown in the picture. Your County Extension Service or state agriculture department can tell you when that is for your area.
rhodyman
14 years ago
Lace bug results when an azalea is planted in the wrong place. Some varieties are susceptible to lace bug when planted in sunny locations. If these same plants are moved to a shadier location, and you stop spraying, the problem should go away.

There are spiders that are the natural enemy of lace bug. These spiders can't survive in sunny locations and they don't like pesticides. Some azaleas that do very well in sun are:

Autumn Amethyst - Encore low lavender
Autumn Cheer - Encore low reddish pink
Autumn Rouge - Encore low bright pink
Autumn Royalty - Encore medium purplish pink
Autumn Sangria - Encore medium dark pink
Autumn Twist - Encore medium white and purple with random patterns.
Klondyke - Deciduous upright fragrant yellowish orange.
Flame Creeper - Late dwarf red.
Hino Crimson - Early low red
Hinode-giri - Early medium red.
Stewartsonian - Early medium red
Weston's Innocence - Late deciduous upright fragrant white.

I am not a fan of the Encore azaleas, but the others do very well.

The other problems are fairly normal and I just ignore them. Any plant that is struggling when in full sun will be susceptible to more problems.
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