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Pests and diseases of honeysuckle and their control are a hot topic for gardeners involved in growing this beautiful and unpretentious shrub. You can save honeysuckle from damage by diseases and insects if you carefully care for and monitor the development of the plant.
Honeysuckle diseases: description with photographs and methods of treatment
Honeysuckle is considered a fairly unpretentious plant that rarely suffers from fungal diseases. However, diseases still affect shrubs; the cause is most often improper care or difficult climatic conditions. To keep honeysuckle healthy, you need to know the symptoms of the most common diseases and be able to cope with them.
How to deal with powdery mildew on honeysuckle
The fungal disease powdery mildew is easily recognized by the appearance of a white “fluffy” coating on the underside of the leaves. When the disease is advanced, plaque appears on both sides of the leaf blades. Gradually, dark spots form in the places of plaque, the honeysuckle leaves turn brown and begin to dry, the branches become deformed and twisted. The disease can lead to complete premature leaf loss, as a result of which the shrub will stop bearing fruit and become less resistant to frost.
Powdery mildew is easily recognized by its whitish coating
The disease is treated with Thiovit, Chistotsvet and other fungicides. It is recommended to spray the plant twice or thrice in the spring, before and after flowering.
How to treat cercospora blight on honeysuckle
Cercospora blight is a fungal disease that causes round spots with a red-brown edge to appear on honeysuckle foliage. Cercospora blight leads to gradual drying of the leaves, and black fungal spores appear in the middle part of the dark spots.
Cercospora blight appears as brown spots with a reddish border
To cure honeysuckle leaf disease, you need to treat it Foundationazole or copper sulfate. Spraying is carried out in early spring, and then repeated twice more shortly before and after flowering. All shoots affected by the disease must be removed so that the fungal spores do not spread to healthy areas.
Treatment of rust on honeysuckle
In mid-summer, the shrub is often affected by rust, a disease that causes red-orange spots to appear on the foliage. Rust spreads especially quickly in conditions of high humidity. Honeysuckle changes its color, the plant's photosynthesis processes are disrupted, and premature leaf fall occurs.
The appearance of rust is indicated by browning of the leaves.
When rust appears on a bush, you must immediately remove the affected parts and treat the plant Bordeaux mixture. It is also recommended to inspect the area where the shrub grows and remove cereals or barberries from it, if they grow nearby, they are the main carriers of rust.
Treatment of honeysuckle leaf mottling
Viral mottle is a honeysuckle disease caused by nematode pests. Symptoms of mottling include spots and dots on the foliage of the shrub; they usually have an uneven arched shape. Mottling causes serious harm to the health of the bush, honeysuckle begins to dry out and shed its leaves, its endurance and fruiting volumes decrease.
Mottling appears as uneven spots on the foliage
Mottling can be cured by treating with fungicides, e.g. Foundationazole, copper sulfate, Bordeaux mixture. All affected shoots must be completely cut off. It will no longer be possible to restore their health, but the fungus can spread from them to healthy leaves.
Common cancer
A very dangerous disease for honeysuckle is a common cancer that affects the bark on the trunk and shoots of the plant. Cancer manifests itself as deep wounds on the body of the bush; the ulcers have swellings along the edges, which sometimes grow together and form cracks.As honeysuckle grows, the cracks in its bark widen, and deeper ulcers gradually form, causing the wood of the trunk and shoots to dry out.
Common canker attacks the trunk of a plant and leaves ulcers on it.
Symptoms of common cancer usually appear in the summer, and the disease spreads quite quickly to neighboring parts. To prevent the death of the bush, you need to immediately cut off all branches affected by cancer. Healthy parts of the plant are treated with Bordeaux mixture, sections on the tree trunk covered with oil paint or sprayed with copper sulfate.
Ramulariasis
Ramulariasis is another disease that poses an increased danger to honeysuckle. The disease can be recognized by gray-brown spots of irregular shape with a dark border; they appear already in the spring on young leaves of the bush. As the plant develops, the spots grow in size, and in cloudy rainy weather they can become covered with a white coating.
Ramularia is a disease that leaves spots on the leaves of the bush.
When affected by ramularia, the foliage of the bush cannot develop normally and dies. Because the plant has to devote resources to producing new leaves, this weakens the honeysuckle and reduces its health.
If honeysuckle is sick, then treatment of ramulariasis is carried out using popular fungicides - Foundationazole or copper sulfate. The first spraying should be carried out in the spring when the temperature reaches about 15 ° C; it is during this period that fungal spores begin to actively develop. To achieve the best effect, it is recommended to carry out the treatment 2 or 3 more times per season.
Rezuha mosaic
Honeysuckle mosaic is a viral disease of ornamental honeysuckle that occurs on the bush under the influence of the vital activity of nematode worms. The main symptoms of the disease are a decrease in internodes on honeysuckle and the appearance of numerous side shoots. Although at first glance the shrub is actively developing, its shoots become weaker and thinner, the leaves decrease in size and begin to dry out over time.
Mosaic of azuha leads to unhealthy growth of shrubs
Tuberculariosis
Drying of honeysuckle shoots, or tubercular disease, is characterized by the appearance of numerous red tubercles with fungal spores on the shoots of the bush. Already at the beginning of summer, honeysuckle affected by tubercular disease withers and sheds its leaves, which negatively affects fruiting and the endurance of the plant as a whole. The development of the disease occurs cyclically; at the end of summer, red tubercles with spores form on the shoots again, and the infection of the bush is repeated anew.
With tuberculosis, small reddish growths appear on the shoots of the plant
Measures to combat the disease are very simple - all diseased branches need to be cut and burn. The cut areas and healthy parts of the plant are treated with Bordeaux mixture and copper oxychloride to prevent a new round of the disease.
Frostweed honeysuckle
Honeysuckle has average resistance to frost and often suffers from return frosts in the spring.Sharp cold snaps during the period of active growing season lead to the fact that the bark of the bush cracks and bursts, leaving wounds on the trunk and shoots in which the saprotrophic fungus settles. As a result, a dark coating forms on the surface of the wounds, negative processes begin, and the plant shoots dry out and die.
Frost holes are cracks in the trunk of a bush.
It is very difficult to completely prevent honeysuckle trunk diseases. If frost holes appeared after spring frosts, it is recommended to remove the affected branches completely. If the bush is seriously damaged, and it is impossible to carry out full sanitary pruning, then the frost holes need to be treated Bordeaux mixture after flowering.
Honeysuckle pests and their control
Not only fungal diseases are dangerous for honeysuckle, but also harmful insects. Pests that settle on the leaves and branches of a bush can seriously disrupt its life processes and lead to weakening of the plant.
How to treat honeysuckle against aphids
Honeysuckle aphid is a dangerous pest that can destroy shrubs in a short time. Typically, two types of aphids can be observed on honeysuckle:
- apical - the insect attacks the tops of the shoots, the leaves curl and the growth of the plant stops;
- green - such aphids spread evenly throughout the bush and feed on the juices of the leaves.
Symptoms of honeysuckle pests in spring include yellowing and curling of leaves. Upon careful examination, small green or grayish insects can be seen on the leaf blades. Aphids usually appear in early summer, with a second wave of infection occurring in early July.
When spread strongly, aphids can destroy the entire green mass
Pest control is carried out using insecticidal preparations - Aktary, Rogora and others. It is best to treat the shrub preventively in early spring, before buds appear, in order to eliminate the pest larvae. Summer treatment against aphids brings poor results; it is quite difficult to eliminate insects with a massive infestation.
How to treat honeysuckle against scale insects
Scale insects of various types are a common pest of most berry bushes. They also attack honeysuckle; infection usually occurs in the spring with the arrival of warmer weather, when the larvae of the pest awaken.
The adult scale insect is a small insect with a hard shell, hence the name. Pests settle mainly on the lower surface of foliage and in places where cuttings are attached to branches. Since the scale insect draws vital juices from leaves and shoots, honeysuckle under its influence quickly weakens and begins to lose green mass.
The scale insect draws juices from the shoots and leads to the death of the bush
You need to fight scale insects with insecticides Aktellik or Rogor. The treatment is carried out in mid-summer; the bush must be sprayed twice with a break of 14 days. Spring preventative spraying of the bush will also not hurt; it will allow you to cope with the pest at the larval stage.
Honeysuckle mite
If honeysuckle grows in the shade and with high humidity, the bush is often affected by the honeysuckle mite. You can recognize this pest by uneven spots on the lower surface of the leaves and by the browning of the foliage closer to August.Infection with a honeysuckle mite leads to the fact that the edges of the leaf plates are first deformed, a dark coating appears on the surface of the leaves, and then the crown of the bush simply falls off.
Mite pests cause leaves to turn brown and fall off
You can eliminate the honeysuckle mite using special solutions - Aktellika, Maurica, Tediona and others. The first spraying should be carried out in June, then treat the honeysuckle twice more until the end of the growing season.
Honeysuckle fingerwing
The development of the honeysuckle bush in the garden is harmed by the fingerwing, a small gray butterfly whose caterpillars feed on the fruits of the plant and even its seeds. The honeysuckle moth causes damage mainly to the crop; due to its influence, the fruits darken, shrink, do not ripen to the end and fall to the ground.
The fingerwing pest eats developing honeysuckle fruits
You can remove honeysuckle fingerwing using Inta-Vir solution, which is safe for ripening ovaries, and using homemade tinctures on potato and tomato tops. Aggressive insecticidal preparations are not recommended for saving honeysuckle fruits. The harvest after such spraying will become unfit for consumption, and in any case you will have to say goodbye to it.
Rose leaf roller
The leaf roller is a small brown butterfly that lays eggs on the bark and leaves of honeysuckle. Caterpillars hatching from eggs feed on the juices of foliage, buds and shoots, and in the process of life, wrap the damaged areas of the bush in a light web.If you do not fight the leaf roller, it can seriously damage the honeysuckle and destroy the green parts of the bush.
The rose leaf roller can destroy the green mass of honeysuckle bushes
Insecticides help well against the leaf roller pest Aktellik and Elesar. It is recommended to treat plantings several times a season. The first spraying should be carried out at the end of April or beginning of May in order to immediately eliminate most of the awakened larvae.
How to treat honeysuckle against pests and diseases in spring
Different pests and fungal diseases of honeysuckle manifest themselves at different times. Some diseases begin to develop with the arrival of warmer weather, while the symptoms of others appear only in mid- or late summer.
To protect honeysuckle from pests and diseases, it is customary to carry out annual preventive treatment. It is carried out in the spring, at a time when stable temperatures above 5 ° C have established, but the buds have not yet begun to bloom. Typically, several sprayings are carried out throughout the spring and summer, this eliminates the larvae of most pests and fungal spores:
- It is allowed to spray honeysuckle with any garden insecticides and fungicides. The most proven products are Actellik, Fundazol, Bordeaux mixture and copper sulfate, Aktara and others.
- If honeysuckle is slightly damaged by pests, you can also use home remedies, for example, a regular soap solution.
- It should be taken into account that if the lesion is advanced, folk remedies may not bring results.
After the first preventive spraying in early spring, it is recommended to repeat the procedure 2 or 3 more times to achieve maximum results.It should be borne in mind that honeysuckle cannot be sprayed directly during flowering; chemicals can disrupt the pollination process.
You can spray bushes not only with chemicals, but also with boiling water
Some gardeners also treat honeysuckle with boiling water in the spring. It is performed immediately after the snow melts and before the buds open; the roots of the bush are covered with dense material, and the above-ground part of the bush is doused with hot water. This treatment eliminates most of the larvae and fungal spores in the bark.
To protect honeysuckle from diseases and pests, it is important to carefully monitor the sanitary condition of the garden. Every spring, the honeysuckle bush is inspected for damage and dry, broken, and twisted branches are promptly removed. If the bush is dense and there are diseased shoots, the likelihood of developing fungal diseases increases greatly.
Conclusion
Honeysuckle pests and diseases and their control is a topic that every gardener should become familiar with. Regular inspections of the bush, as well as spring preventive treatment, can protect honeysuckle from damage and prevent the development of diseases.
