To follow up on my own post: In case anyone else out there has a similar
problem, I've decided that the weird things are actually Azalea [Leaf]
Galls.

According to the sources I found, the plant is only affected aesthetically,
and the treatment is to remove the galls (and dispose of them away from the
affected plants). I understand that plants that are severely affected might
benefit from fungicide, but I think I've caught it in time to avoid that.

Apparently, the fungus was probably always around, but the combination of a
wet spring & shaded area encourages the growth of the galls. (The plants
with the worst problems are the ones that I rescued 4 years ago when they
looked like dried sticks; oak leaves around them had not been raked up, so
the leaves had formed an inpenetrable mat around the plants.)

Anne Lurie
NE Raleigh





"Anne Lurie" wrote in message
. com...
Help!

Some of my azaleas have weird greenish-white things on the leaves -- the
plants look as though garden gnomes came in & stuck popcorn on the leaves!

These things are on the underside of a leaf, and there's a hole where
something apparently chewed its way out, if that makes any sense.

What should I do now? Should I spray the plants with pesticide? If these
things were caterpillar chrysalises(?), the caterpillars are gone.

So far, only my older azaleas seem to have this problem, but I'd obviously
like for it not to spread to the dozens of newer azaleas I've planted in
the
last few years.

Thanks,

Anne Lurie