Hi everyone,

Help! I'm desperate. My favourite Hebe has been afflicted by a
disease?/pest?/fungal problem? which has all but decimated it. It appears
on all young(er) shoots. There is some distortion, some (mostly) parallel
tunnelling, and some whitish powdery deposits. The deposits don't show up
too well, but you can see the tunnelling clearly.

Early signs of the tunnelling do not show up on photographs, but appear as
elongated areas of leaf surface separation, rather like blistering, yet the
two surfaces are green and appear healthy. It is very subtle at this stage.
However, the new shoot tip looks generally sickly. Some shoots, however,
have produced tight green flower spikes, although some of these appear dry
and brown (eventually black); some fall off while others remain in the
plant. Similarly, some dead (brown) leaves fall while other cling on.

The brown parallel tunnelling you see in the pics is, I believe, the same
'blistered' area as above, but it seems older, dryer and sometimes
distorted. In one sample I saw (not pictured), was a possible entry/exit
hole. However, this break in the tunnel may have been caused by mechanical
damage to the brittle leaf.

Older and different samples show the tunnels and other areas of damage
blackened.

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/Spider...09972487607730
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/Spider...10684343508322
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/Spider...10701671843986

This hebe has had a history of black spot, but had previously coped well
with it, with a little help. It was vigorous and put on lots of healthy
growth and copious flowers each year. This afternoon, as I trimmed it back
(to almost nothing :~(( ), I noted several froths of cuckoo spit complete
with leaf hopper; a tiny pear-shaped beige casing which may have been a
parasitised insect or a pupal case, and several spiders.

It was not in this state when it came through the winter. There was some
leaf spot and some frosted shoots, but these were pruned out. It had been
fed, watered and mulched about six weeks ago. I can't imagine it's
something I've done, but I just want to save it if possible. Any ideas
anyone?

TIA.
Spider