Chinese flowering dogwood leaf problem
by Izabela
(London ON)
Dogwood leaves
Hi Doug,
I planted a Chinese flowering dogwood last fall in my front lawn. We enjoyed about 10 to 15 blooms this spring/summer, but now the tree is not looking very healthy. I'd love for it to thrive.... Please help!!!
My house faces east and the tree is in the front yard. At this time it looks pretty droopy, the leaves look dry and have been eaten by some sort of a bug. On top of everything, the new growth is not looking healthy either. The new buds look burnt or dry. I mulched around it in the spring and we had a lot of rain, so I didn't think that was a problem. I attached a picture for you to get a visual of what I'm trying to describe.
Do you have any ideas? Should I be spraying with a soap solution now to give it a good chance for the spring? Thanks a million for your help!!!
Izabela
Doug says it rather looks like Anthracnose (and/or powdery mildew) from this picture. This is a very common problem with this plant and it indeed wiped out native stands in the U.S. You're going to have to make sure you
1) water from the bottom - getting water on these leaves only encourages the fungus. In a wet year, it will be worse than a dry year.
2) choose disease resistant varieties of the plant. For example, ‘Appalachian Spring’, ‘Cherokee Princess’, ‘Cherokee Sunset’, and ‘Springtime’. ‘Cherokee Brave’, C. kousa, and C. kousa x C. florida crosses. These are resistant to the problem but still get it.
3) Make sure the plant is given perfect growing conditions to eliminate stress.
4) Remove all infected debris. You can compost it if you have a hot compost, otherwise get rid of it.
5) Fungicides - such as lime sulphur will work on many fungal problems.
Having said all that - powdery mildew also looks like this on Dogwoods and can in fact be present in combination with the Anthracnose. So you get two for the price of one.
Frankly, while this is a lovely plant, it is often more trouble than it's worth because of the susceptibility to this fungal problem.
