What is the white stuff on the shrub?????

Sandpiper · 10-06-2009, 12:26 PM

I noticed something white which must be growing on an Indian Hawthorne shrub in the front garden. It looks like snow, but it must be growing because it seems to be spreading upwards. Does anyone know what it is and what to do about it? Thanks!

2xg · 10-07-2009, 04:16 PM

I have them too, they look very nice, they grow and come out around this time of the year, their just part of the flowers I guess.

Sandpiper · 10-08-2009, 06:47 AM

Oh, sorry, I must not have explained this very well. The white stuff that looks like snow is on the trunk. It began down low, at the ground level, but it seems to be spreading up the trunk. This is why I say that it must be a disease of some sort, perhaps a fungus or something. I do not know. I want to know what it is and how to get rid of it. I am afraid it will spread throughout the shrub and possibly kill it.

2xg · 10-08-2009, 08:29 AM

oh no I don't have them then in my shrub....you shd go to Lowe's or Home Depot and find out what those are. they shd be able to help you.

wolfen1086 · 12-13-2009, 12:11 PM

It might be scales, find out, if its scales use dish washing detergent to get rid of them before they kill your shrub(s)

Look here for identification
http://www.extension.umn.edu/distrib...19.html#Scurfy

**pat mcgroin** · 12-14-2009, 06:30 AM

Here is another possible cause that I dealt with this year.http://plantclinic.cornell.edu/FactS...ry/powdery.htm

Tumbleweed36 · 12-14-2009, 07:57 AM

I am betting on a white wax scale. It is a wax formation to protect scale insects and they secrete a caraphace of wax to protect themselves. YOu must wreck the caraphace which destroys the tiny breathing tubes the insect builds into it and they sufficate. Spray it with Horticulture Oil and it will disolve the wax. If in summer, that spray can burn the foilage. They have both summer and winter oils available. If a small infestation, you can brush methylated spirits on to the scales with an old toothtruch and they will be knocked off and can't crawl back on. Of course, without seeing it, it is difficult to know for sure.

Sandpiper · 12-14-2009, 08:23 AM

Thanks for all of the helpful advice guys. The shrub is actually over grown, and I have not crawled underneath yet to take a close look. From what was posted, it would seem closer to scales, but I have noticed that it appears to have died back on its own. I need to take a closer look. Everything seems to be sick in my front garden right now, especially my big trash tree! It has mistletoe growing in it. I think I will wait until the spring to give it a good feeding and perhaps a spray. I have only been here six months, but it had been badly and seriously neglected for a long time.

wolfen1086 · 12-14-2009, 01:49 PM

You might also want to check and see if there's anything you can do in the fall and winter to slow or stop the spread, before your whole yard is contaminated.

Tumbleweed36 · 12-14-2009, 03:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wolfen1086

You might also want to check and see if there's anything you can do in the fall and winter to slow or stop the spread, before your whole yard is contaminated.

Excellent advice, the longer it goes, the worse the infestiation or growth whichever it is.

wolfen1086 · 12-15-2009, 06:07 PM

Thanks Tumbleweed36, we do that all the time here it never really gets cold enough to even kill mosquito larvae here at the beach, so we have actually bagged whole trees for fungicidal fumigation in January, and being a GK3 I have been involved with doing that before. Although I am a welder and fabricator now I did the Groundskeeper job for 5 years for the VA Beach Schools, I mainly specialized in athletic field maint, but I did plants too.