All of the leaves on my plants have turned black and are falling off. The buds came, but fell off before they bloomed. I have sprayed for both fungus and insect control with no results. I do see a lot of yellow jackets around them when I spray. I also had a lot of japanese beetles this year, but did keep them off fairly well.
Should I severly prune the plants at this time of the year? The plants are three years old and have not grown hardly any this year.
Advice should would be appreciated. Also the same thing happened to my wisteria trea.
Ron
Crepe Myrtles
I would scratch the trunk to see if the inside is green. That way you know maybe you can still try to save it.
And sometimes even if the trunk is dead, the roots are not, and you can cut it to the ground, and it will come back strong.I had a dwarf lavender that I babied along for three years, and this years "easter" freeze frost bit it good, and I called it curtins, and cut it to the ground, and it is bigger, and prettier than ever.Mike
When did you start spraying? If recently after you saw the black leaves, then it sounds like you may have sooty mold (but the leaves don't necessarily fall off due to that unless it is really bad). Sooty mold is a by product of aphids or other insects that produce honeydew (why do they call it honeydew anyway?). Control the insects and the mold is controlled.
http://ufinsect.ifas.ufl.edu/crape_myrtle.htm
http://pubs.caes.uga.edu/caespubs/pubcd/L331.htm
The plants are getting worse. The bark is still green so I know the plants are not dead. Should I go ahead and prune them back and see what happens?
Not sure, but it seems to me that all the crepe myrtles that I have noticed seem "less than", or is it just me?I'm sure , if it is then we can lay all this on the weather.There is an empty spot in looking for the beauty, and long bloom time in the myrtles. Mike