Sweet Olive Osmanthus fragrans covered with a white powder?

My sweet olive is still in a large pot. I didn't want to put it in ground till fall. As we are overly dry I have been watering daily. I do not use fertilizer during these 100 + degree days.

This morning, I noticed this white powdery (dry)substance starting at the soil line and traveling up the stalk of the olive. It seems to have just shown up.

Over the years I have dealt with mealies, aphids and scale but never something like this. It appears to be similar to the fertilizer salts which one might see build up on a pot or surface soil but the top of the soil is fine. I have fertilized this plant rarely since I acquired it.

In this photo you can see the soil surface and the powder on the trunk.

This photo shows how it travels up the stalk and ends abruptly.

Any suggestions please?

It looks like Southern Blight. Here is a link. http://plantpathology.tamu.edu/Texlab/Multicrop/sb.html

I've never seen it climb the stem like that. I have only seen it at the soil level.....but....
Are you quite sure it isn't scale? Peach scale looks a lot like that, but I don't know if it occurs on sweet olive. Need to do more checking.

Thanks for the link Calalily ~ but I'm thinking not Southern Blight ~ the link states

The white stuff has circle the stems on a few limbs and it is still amongst the living ~ thankfully.

Upon closer inspection, the peach scale sounds more like it. I have only had experience with the hard shell scale. I will need to read up and see where to go with this.

Thanks for the suggestions and assistance. Wish me luck, I like this one and hope to keep it. The blooms are nondescript but the fragrance is exquisite!

podster - I have five of them, and had to move them around to find the spot where they are happiest. They get morning sun, well drained, but no PM sun. They have rewarded me by actually growing! Can't say they are the bushiest of plants, but I agree that their fragrance makes them all worthwhile!
In researching sweet olive, it appears their only concern is scale, and then it says usually only when growing conditions are poor.

You're lucky that you've only had experience with the one type of scale. They come in a wide variety of bothersome pests!

Part of the reason it is still potted (beyond being too dry) is I am unsure where I want to put it. I heard they are not impressive in appearance nor bloom but to place it where the fragrance can be enjoyed. Due to foundation work on the house, I was putting planting it off...

Can you tell me the best treatment for this type of scale?

I've never seen peach scale, I'd have never thought of that!
I had southern blight in a garden years ago in TN and I remember it climbing the stems, maybe about 3-4 inches. It's been a long time! I remember it was a pain to get rid of.

podster - I'd use the horticultural oil treatment. Soak 'em good, and repeat every week as necessary. Watch those temps though! It will say on the label.

I first had them planted against the foundation, but they got too much west sun, and suffered greatly. The heat reflecting off the brick didn't help. And they like an acidic soil, and soil near foundations tends to be more alkaline from the leaching of the concrete. They aren't a beautiful plant, so they need to be out ot the way or have something in front of them to distract from their lack of fulness. With just one, you should be able to tuck it away somewhere.

Cala - I have seen those fungal "balls" on the base of the plant, at soil level, but never higher. At that level the plant's system (phloem, xylem, cambium) is cut off and the plant dies. But just because I've never seen it, doesn't mean it can't happen, I guess. LOL! There's lots of things I haven't seen! I also didn't know you could get rid of it. We recommend pulling the plant, and not replanting with that family in that area for a few years, as it remains in the soil. We see it on tomatoes. I'll have to do some more research...

Ceejay, about 12-14 years ago I bought a phlox from a nursery. It died not too long after that. I saw the white stringy fungus at the base(with the little balls attached) but didn't know anything about SB. More plants would die, they'd be healthy, then wilt and dead three days later. SB was running rampant throughout my garden. I was working with UT and the 4-H program, so I saw a lot of the Ag agents. They tested some of the plants and it was southern blight and they recommended two things:raise the nitrogen content to very high levels(I can't remember why) and use Terrachlor. I had an applicator's license which was needed to buy Terrachlor. It smelled awful, required full gear to use and they recommended drenching the entire bed. Spot treatments were required from time to time, but I eventually won the battle. The plants were in a large demonstration garden at our garden center. I had to quarrantine the area while it was being treated.
I was on constant lookout for "white stuff" at the bases of plants for years! I don't know if some of the plants were tougher, or maybe host plants that didn't die. I took pictures, but no longer have access to them.

peach scale is the worst in my part of the world. it is so incredibly hard to get rid of and it really does kill a plant if left untreated. good luck, podster, and be careful not to let it spread to other plants. quarantine this puppy!

Hi Tracks ~ thanks for the warning. This is a totally new problem for me and I am reading on it. Need to further the education. Although I like this plant, if it will be a constant problem, I could survive...

Finding alkaline soil in e. Tx should not be a problem. Thanks for the advice Ceejay

Calalily ~ I can see why that would give you a knee jerk reaction to "white stuff"...

When quarantine was suggested, it made me wonder if this may have come from some Photinias that need removing. I had set the pot in that area due to construction work... Thanks for the information all. pod

pod, i first encountered this white peach scale when i lived in the keys. i brought it home, unknowingly, on a hibiscus. it spread rapidly to a trio of huge, ever-blooming yellow oleander (my favorite ones) and killed them slowly over a two year period. it would cover a stem and i'd spray, but the stem would die and they would move on to the next. i finally gave up and cut them to the ground. (they have since come up and are fine from what the neighbor says)

in the mean time, it spread to all sorts of odd hosts, like kalanchoe, etc. i had a county extension man come out and id it and he made several notes of plants he had not seen it on previously. it is particularly fond of oleander and once in a while i see it on the plants at lowes and home depot.

after we moved up here, i bought an orange jasmine (Murraya paniculata) and it was doing great, then one day i noticed a limb not looking quite right. after inspection, there it was, the dreaded white peach scale. i dug it up and hauled it away.

i'm assuming by your picture that that is what you have. it's what i would have said if ceejay hadn't. i always describe it as minute, elongated grains of salt, sprinkled on thickly, almost as if it had been dipped in powdered sugar. since it is a soft scale, you would think an oil treatment would work well, but as i said, it's a bear to deal with.

Ohhhh that does sound depressing. I got this plant in March and this seemed to surface so quickly. No recent plant additions but we have been so dry I have been watering daily. No telling what caused it.... It may have to retire to the burn pile. I wonder if peach scale would be chronic with Osmathus in general for me.

You could use Bayer Advanced Tree and Shrub Insect Control. It is imidacloprid and you pour it at the base of the shrub. Systemic, lasts for months and is listed for peach scale. It's another option....
http://www.bayeradvanced.com/product/Tree-Shrub-Insect-Control/concentrate.html

Soak it with oil and water in the Bayer = double whammy.

What did you spray with, trackin?

i used the dormant winter oil, volck, and i also tried orange oil(as suggested by the county man). they looked like they were working, but the dang stuff always came back and whatever limb/stem was infested, died.

i think the sweet olive is particularly prone to scale, as are camellias, etc..........

I have never had a problem with my sweet olives. Camellias, yes, which is why I no longer have camellias!

I still think that applications of the horticultural oil, along with the Bayer's should do the trick. The oil will suffocate whatever is live and moving about, and the Bayer's will get anything that decides to stick its beak into the plant and start sucking.... This may be one of those things where organic is just not an option.

you're right. we didn't have anything like bayer's when i had the problem.