What's happening in my garden!
Louise6732
Posts: 2
I have a small city garden, we have decking and trellis so all my plants are in pots. We've been here for just over a year, so the majority of the plants are only this old. Through the summer, I'll admit I did put the plants under pressure as they dried out a fair amount of times as I forgot to water them!
I'm having problems with the following plants:
-Mint - a cutting from my mother-in-law, which was healthy and normal when it came to me, and is now speckled white
-Honeysuckle - growing well, but the leaves are all falling off the older part of the plant, is this normal? The leaves are also covered in a white coating, it looks like limescale!
-My scabious is also covered in white, it did very well through the summer, despite being infested with aphids, mostly brown ones. I tried natural control with ladybirds I bought online, it didn't really help!
-Pot buddleia leaves are being eaten by something, it's done ok through summer, flowered, but now the leaves are holey.
-Dicentra leaves are yellow and also being eaten by something, (no picture of these sorry but picture of ?larvae found when pruning)
Sorry for multiple problems in one post but they may be linked?
I also found caterpillars/larvae when cutting back the buddleia and dicentra.
I can't seem to attach photos from my computer, via the option when posting this, any advice for this?
Thank you in advance for any help/tips!
Posts
Well where to start! It is that time of year when things start to think about dying back and thats most likely why they are looking poorly or pot plants need to be kept watered and deadheading.Things eating your buddlia are the offspring of the butterflies you have been watching dont worry to much its time for things to go into winter mode .
the white stuff is mildew and all the plants you mention are susceptible. you can cut back the mint and scabious and if the honeysuckle is deciduous the leaves will drop off. As flowering rose says, it's that time of year
In the sticks near Peterborough
poedery mildew, due to drying out/ eratic watering.
where did you spot the larve in the dicentra pot nd what do they look like? some are worse than others.
I would suggest cutting down the Dicentra now. I did mine a few weeks ago. It will build up its root system for next spring.
The white stuff is Powdery Mildew as the others said above.
My honeysuckle and Dahlias have suffered from it this year, just collect any fallen leaves and dispose of them.
Thanks to everyone for the advice!
As all your plants are in pots they are entirely dependent on your for food and water. In summer, most pots need watering every day to keep the compost from drying out and stressing the plants.
Stressed plants succumb to disease and pests. Happy, well fed and watered plants fight them off. Water them well now, soaking them in a bucket if you can until no more bubbles appear, and then keep them watered till they go dormant. Stand them on pot feet or bricks for the winter so they don't sit in a puddle.
The white stuff is mildew and, as stated above happens to stressed plants. Mint likes moisture and shade form midday sun. Dicentra does tend to die back earlier than many plants. Honeysuckle and buddleia can be cut back next spring as new growth starts and then will need a good feed of slow release food to last them for a few months plus regular weekly liquid feeds of rose or tomato feed to keep them growing and flowering well.
Bin or burn any affected foliage you remove. Do not compost it.
"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
Hi Louise, re photos, I find they dont always download straight away on this site, you need to try it about 3 times (dont know why, probably a bit buggy!)]
Another tip, come the spring, top dress all your pots with a good layer of fresh compost to give the plants a boost. Good luck