Content
Honeysuckle (honeysuckle) is a climbing shrub that is often used to create a hedge on a site. A healthy plant not only has a beautiful appearance, but also tasty, healthy fruits. Despite the fact that the culture is unpretentious, in some cases gardeners are faced with the fact that the honeysuckle has dried out. To save the plantings, it is necessary to find out the cause as early as possible and carry out a set of protective measures.
Why does honeysuckle dry out?
There are several main reasons why honeysuckle has dried out:
- natural and climatic;
- agrotechnical;
- infectious and fungal diseases;
- insect pests.
To prevent honeysuckle from drying out, it is necessary to maintain an optimal level of soil moisture. Especially in dry, hot weather and prolonged absence of precipitation.
The root system of honeysuckle is located in the upper layers of the soil. It is easy to damage during loosening the soil. The underground activity of shrews and moles can also damage roots.
An equally important reason that honeysuckle has dried out is violation of planting rules and improper care.A poorly chosen location, characterized by heavy acidic soil, a lack or excess of light weakens honeysuckle and makes it susceptible to infection by fungal and infectious diseases.
Common reasons why honeysuckle withers
If, when determining the reason why honeysuckle has dried up, climatic and agrotechnical factors are excluded, the most common is the impact of infections and pests. Diseases that cause plant death are divided into fungal and infectious.
Fungal diseases of honeysuckle:
- Cercospora is manifested by the formation of spots on the foliage with a brown edge, the color of which varies from dark green to gray. Fungal spores in the form of black dust multiply under the affected areas, destroying the leaf surface.
When infected with cercospora blight, honeysuckle becomes covered with dark spots.
- Powdery mildew. The fungus forms a white, cobweb-like coating on the shoots. Plants growing in the shade are most often affected by this disease.
The main cause of powdery mildew is lack of water.
- Ramulariasis, white spotting can cause the honeysuckle to dry out. The disease affects the stems and leaf surfaces with gray-brown spots with a white core.
High humidity causes powdery stains to grow larger
- If the honeysuckle bush dries out, the cause may be tubercularosis. It can be easily identified by the tubercles that appear on the branches, within which fungi multiply.
Drop-shaped swellings visible to the naked eye that appear on the branches are a symptom of a dangerous fungal disease
- If, before the honeysuckle dries, the leaves turn a dirty brown color, it means that the plant has been affected rust. The fungus is especially dangerous during humid summers, when favorable conditions are created for its intensive spread.
The brown color of the leaves indicates the presence of a disease such as rust.
- Frostbreakers. In spring, when night frosts may return, the bark on young branches cracks, creating conditions for the proliferation of saprotrophic fungus.
Branches that have burst due to frost are covered with a gray coating
Viral diseases that cause honeysuckle to dry out are less common than fungal diseases:
- Rhea mosaic virus. Leads to excessive bushiness of honeysuckle. There is increased growth of lateral shoots and shortening of internodes. The leaves stop developing, which leads to the death of the entire bush.
Rezuha mosaic can destroy an entire plant
- Leaf mottling. The appearance of this disease is indicated by variegated spots and stains that appear on the foliage. If honeysuckle leaves have dried out, the cause may be soil nematodes - roundworms.
Affected foliage has uneven color and dried out areas
- Mosaic. First, the leaf surface near the veins brightens. Then yellow dots appear, which increase in size and turn into faded areas. If after this the honeysuckle dries out, it means that time was lost and timely measures were not taken.
The leaves of plants affected by mosaic turn yellow and curl
Honeysuckle branches also dry out from the pathogenic effects of insects and pests:
- leaf roller - a small brown butterfly, covered with fluff, whose caterpillars eat young foliage.
The most dangerous are rose and variegated leaf rollers.
- Honeysuckle aphid. It develops in huge quantities and actively sucks the juice from young shoots, depriving the plant of its strength.
Several generations of aphids develop throughout the growing season.
- Willow and acacia scale insects they attach to shoots and, like aphids, suck out the juice, inhibiting the growth of honeysuckle.
Scale insects, sucking juice from shoots, suppress the vital activity of plants
- If the underside of the leaves is covered with spots of different sizes, and by the end of summer all the foliage has turned brown, curled, and in August the honeysuckle has dried up, this is the result of activity honeysuckle mite, having microscopic dimensions.
Dense, shaded plantings and high humidity create favorable conditions for the reproduction of the honeysuckle mite-Rincaphytoptus
- Zlatka - a golden-green beetle that lays eggs in the tissue of branches. While developing, the larvae gnaw out the stems from the inside. This causes the foliage to wilt and the edible honeysuckle dries out.
The larvae of the borer gnaw out wide passages under the bark of the roots, descending to a depth of 30 cm
- Gooseberry moth (harlequin). A large motley-colored butterfly lays eggs on plants in mid-July. The emerging caterpillars feed on young shoots and foliage.
Females lay up to 300 eggs on the underside of leaves between the veins
Timely detection of insect pests and taking protective measures can save honeysuckle plantings, even if they are partially dried out.
What to do if honeysuckle dries out
When the first signs of the disease are detected, the affected leaves must be removed and the bush treated with special preparations containing copper, for example, Bordeaux or Burgundy liquid. The fight against viral diseases comes down to limiting the spread, removing the affected areas and preventive treatment of healthy areas.
To prevent the foliage from drying out, the crown of the bushes should not be allowed to thicken. Thinning pruning is recommended to be carried out at 4-5 years of plant life. In the first years, sanitary pruning can be carried out, consisting of removing broken and dried shoots.
During fruit ripening, honeysuckle especially needs sufficient moisture. In May-June, 4-6 good waterings should be carried out, spending up to 5 buckets of water on each bush.
Advice from experienced gardeners
Damaged areas of honeysuckle must be cut off, including the healthy part. The cut site is treated with garden varnish.
Experienced gardeners recommend following simple preventive measures that can help prevent honeysuckle diseases and reduce the fight against them to a minimum.
To do this you need:
- bring only healthy seedlings into the ground;
- provide a sufficient level of humidity;
- weed and mulch the space around the trunks;
- choose varieties that are not susceptible to diseases;
- trim bushes regularly;
- treat plants against pests.
To prevent honeysuckle from drying out due to the active activity of sucking insects, in early spring the bushes are treated with such products as Elexar, Aktara, Aktellik.
Experienced gardeners recommend using the microbiological agent “Baikal EM-1”. The drug not only introduces beneficial bacteria into the soil, improving its fertility, but also protects honeysuckle from pests. One watering can with a fine spray is enough for 5 bushes.
Conclusion
Improper care, pests and diseases can cause honeysuckle to dry out. To avoid this, it is necessary to carefully prepare the place and soil for planting, regularly inspect the plants, carry out timely pruning and preventive treatment. When signs of drying are first detected, the necessary measures should be taken to protect and save the honeysuckle bushes from death.
