Hello,

I planted 4 shrubs (euonymus [albo-marginata], green inner leaf and pale
yellow on the outside) a couple years ago and they were doing fine.
They are now about 2.5 feet high by about 2 feet wide.



In the last few months 3 of them were severely losing leaves and I noticed
white spots on the leaves and specks also on the stems and the bark was
falling off.



From what I read it sounds like a fungal growth but I wanted to confirm and
if it is, find out how to treat it (preferably with a bio-friendly method).

I did remove the fallen leaves from around the plant.



Thanks,

Mike.



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On Tue, 13 Nov 2007 15:56:55 -0500, "Mike" wrote:
I planted 4 shrubs (euonymus [albo-marginata], green inner leaf and pale
yellow on the outside) a couple years ago and they were doing fine.
They are now about 2.5 feet high by about 2 feet wide.
In the last few months 3 of them were severely losing leaves and I noticed
white spots on the leaves and specks also on the stems and the bark was
falling off.


Make sure it isn't euonymous scale. That's a common pest of those
shrubs, with very similar symptoms that you describe. Google it,
there's probably pictures online.

The only way I managed to get rid of it on variegated euonymous was
weekly sprayings with a systemic called Cygon. It might not be on the
market anymore. I sprayed 1x/week for three weeks, then skipped two
weeks, then repeated the three sprayings.

The problem with scale insects is their waxy shell which resists
normal sprays. I resorted to a systemic because oil sprays weren't
working...turns out my neighbor's evergreens were infested. Their
lawnservice was using topical sprays once a month, which is useless
against adult scales.

If it *is* scale, and you do get rid of it, your shrubs will come back
sooner or later, unless they get really bad. Once you see signs of
healthy new growth (without scale on them), you can trim back any dead
crispy branches back to the new growth. My shrubs filled back in
nicely after a couple of years, but I did have to repeat the spraying
a few more times. I started seeing new scales on the newer leaves...
which you will want to watch for as the new leaves grow out.

When you spray, don't just do the outside of the bush. Stick the nozle
INSIDE the bush from different angles and move it around. It is very
important to coat as much of the leaf surfaces as possible, inside and
out It is a pain to get rid of scale but it can be done. And it was
cheaper than replacing six shrubs and waiting 6 years for them to grow
big again.