escallonia's lost its leaves?????

rony · Rank attained: Hazel Tree Joined: 20 Mar 2009 Posts: 1

hi,

i'm new here so take it easy on me!!!!!!!! i have a pretty large escallonia hedge about 150 feet long and 5 foot high but in the last 6 months almost all the leaves are gone. its appears that there is some new growth and budding happening now but the poor hedge looks in an awful sorry state.

i was told by a friend that the escallonia got a form of potato blight after 2 wet summers so i set about looking at other escallonias in neighbours gardens etc etc and sure enough their hedges look to be surrfering the same plight (blight!!) Crying or Very sad

is this true and is it possible for them to get blight??? if so how do i help them come back to ther former glory?? i live on the coast of county waterford if that helps any.

thanks in advance,

Ronan

Sive · Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2009 8:32 am Post subject:

Hi Ronan, While I'm sorry your hedge looks the way it does, I'm relieved also, as I have a new escallonia hedge, planted a year ago, and it is now bare, so your post has reassured me, in a way.
My hedge seems to have lots of new buds and I'm hoping it will recover, but I am wondering will this be a regular problem, and should I choose a different type of hedge ?
I will be talking to a professional hedge-specialist soon, and if I get any answers I'll post them!
Incidentally, I'm about 4 miles from the sea in County Wexford.

verge

Sive · Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2009 1:11 pm Post subject:

Thanks Verge, checked that link and I'm not sure whether I've made the right choice of hedge! I'll give it another year......

Liparis · Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2009 10:50 pm Post subject:

While Escallonia is a hardy type of hedge to plant, it's not acurate to call it an evergreen. Like Privet, it's semi-evergreen.
It can and does, like all shrubs and trees, suffer from disease. Although it's possible, it's unlikely that disease has caused this problem over such a large area at one time. Even disease needs time to spread. I think the answer may be in the bigger picture, we've had more frosts than usual, not more than is normal, but usual. the last few winters have been mild and wet, I think semi-evergreens have held onto leaves longer the previous few years, but this year has seen a decimation in leaves. My privet shrubs are practically bare this year. It's been too easy to forget how many leaves are usually lost on these plants in a normal winter.
If you're getting a good healhy flush of leaf buds coming and the are relatively spread over the whole shrub/hedge, then I wouldn't worry, but I bet you get a better flush of blossom this year.
Bill.

Sive · Posted: Sun Mar 22, 2009 8:47 am Post subject:

Thanks Liparis, that's all very sensible and helpful....I've never grown escallonia as a hedge, so I'm clueless. I hope your optimism is correct!

Sive · Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 3:56 pm Post subject:

Just got the bad news about my year-old escallonia hedge....it has a fungal disease which seems to be spreading widely around the country., exacerbated by our two bad summers.
It is called something like microsporidium escallonia , and can be controlled by spraying. I'm prepared to try this for one year, and see how the summer goes, but as I don't like using chemicals, I am already thinking I might have to replace the hedge completely.
I think the anti-fungal spray is called something like Boscalid (made by BASF)

Liparis · Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 9:50 pm Post subject:

Can I ask where your information came from?
Boscalid is an fungicide used for treating Botrytis in strawberries and some other food crops. Microsporidium is a parasitic fungus which infects animals and insects, attacking the immune system.
Before doing anything about this check your sources facts, or if you misheard the name.
If a fungal attack has been evident in your Escallonia, Botrytis is the one I would suspect. If so, then all you need to do is ensure you clean up all fallen leaves from the ground and burn them, then thin out your hedge some. Botryitis needs moist, still air. It hates light, air movement and dry. Lots of air through your hedge will keep it at bay, if it attacks, then you may have to use a fungicide.
One point I'd like to make, if your hedge does end up suffering from a fungal, or even a viral attack, you may not like using chemicals, but it would be irrisponsible not to and risk the disease spreading. Sometimes we have to bite the bullet and do what's needed.
Give it a spray. It's not as if you are becoming a member of the spray everything in site brigade.
God, I hope I don't get athletes foot, I might be put down Laughing

Treat your plants with the same respect you would treat yourself, give them a chance, no need to dig them up and burn them because of a fungal attack.
Now, we need Walitall to do us some googling which I'm useless at, but i'm almost certain that microsporidium is a parasitic fungus as I decribe above. I think it attacks people with HIV but I may be wrong.
Bill.

Sive · Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 10:02 pm Post subject:

Hi Liparis,
I may easily have mistaken the name of the spray.....the man who planted the hedge couldn't remember the exact name of the spray, except that it started with B-O-S and was made by BASF, so I googled it and could easily have jumped to conclusions about Boscalid....it may not be what he was talking about at all.....
He will do the spraying for me....and the hedge is very young, by the way, and if there is one thing it is not short of is PLENTY of air !! We're on the top of a hill here and the wind is ferocious!
I'll certainly see how it goes over the summer before I make a decision, don't worry.
Thanks for all your input, and if I get any more information, I'll let you know.

cooler · Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 11:29 pm Post subject:

I think dithane is the spray usually recommended for use against leaf spot fungus on Escallonia.

michael brenock · Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2009 4:56 pm Post subject:

i have the disease on my escallonia since last autumn. hedge is nearly 40 years old and 10 ft tall. i have the disease diagnosed as micasphaerella with this one seeming to be specific to escallonia, my variety is bigger than langleyensis but smaller than macrantha (leaves i mean). I have not sprayed and will not be spraying and if it dies i will replace it with either viburnum tinus or Prunus laureocerassus
michael brenock horticultural advisor (rtd)

Daithic · Posted: Wed Apr 21, 2010 3:28 pm Post subject:

I have had a similar concern over the winter with my Escallonia hedge that was planted three years ago. In my case I don't think it is disease as a row of the hedge (about 30 feet long) is more bare on one end than on the other. The end it is not bare on is a little more sheltered from wind by a boundary wall so I am hoping the problem is physical, i.e., more exposure at one end to cold wind over this particularly cold winter.

I had thought to put some general fertiliser down as I want to promote the hedge's height by another foot or so (about 4.5 feet tall now) - Is this a wise idea or a waste of time does anybody know? Thanks.

michael brenock · Posted: Wed Apr 21, 2010 6:13 pm Post subject:

the disease is spread by the wind and favoured by wet conditions like last summer.if it is necessary to spray a hedge just to keep it alive then it is hardly worth it, try a different type. fertiliser will not help the situation.
michael brenock horticultural advisor (retired)

Sive · Posted: Wed Apr 21, 2010 6:42 pm Post subject:

I have had this problem for the last two years with a very young escallonia hedge, but the strange thing is, it is absolutely full of young leaves now and growing well.
I decided to give it another year to see what happens.......this disease doesn't seem to affect its vigour at all.......well not as yet anyway.
Michael, if we had a really good summer this year, do you think the disease will ebb away ?

Daithic · Posted: Wed Apr 21, 2010 9:14 pm Post subject:

What I don't understand in my situation is that literally one end of the hedge looks more ragged than the other. So logically, one would think that if this is a disease that can spread it should affect the whole hedge and not just one end. I took a close look today and there seems to be plenty of buds on now so hopefully as the temperatures rise and we get a bit of rain next week they'll start to fill out. Here's hoping!!