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

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

My azaleas have this condition also and this year is the worst ever, probably
because of the moisture. Some years, the condition disappears even though I
never spray fungicides. Here's an explanation:
http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/plantdise...5/450-605.html


Anne Lurie wrote:

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

Thanks, Meg!

The Virginia Tech website added one very important bit of information that I
did not see on the websites I checked:

"Infected leaf tissue is usually pale green in color during the early stages
of the disease; infected flowers are usually pinkish. Later in the season, a
white spore layer covers the infected plant parts."

I remember seeing "whitish stuff" on the stems of azaleas in the past, but I
never realized what it meant.

"Galls eventually turn brown and harden as the season progresses. Lower
leaves on plants are usually the most seriously damaged, but under humid
conditions and in shaded locations galls may occur at the ends of upper
branches."

I have a sneaking suspicion that if I checked the lower leaves of my larger
azalea plants, I might see signs of damage; since I prune my azaleas
sparingly and never get down on my hands & knees to do anything underneath
them, they could have had the problem in the past, but I never
noticed.......until this year, when the galls are at the ends of the top
branches.

I'm curious to see what some of my other "oldies but goodies" look like --
they're on the north side of my house, so they don't get much sun, but
they're never really shaded either.

Anne Lurie


"Meg Trauner" wrote in message
...
My azaleas have this condition also and this year is the worst ever,
probably
because of the moisture. Some years, the condition disappears even though
I
never spray fungicides. Here's an explanation:
http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/plantdise...5/450-605.html


Anne Lurie wrote:

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

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!


Not sure whether ours are the same thing, but in the recent past (haven't
checked lately) some of our azaleas---mostly Formosa---have had thick, fleshy
greenish-white things on the leaves. I don't have it on authority, but I've
assumed they're some sort of plant tumor. Also, I don't know if they cause the
plant(s) major hurt or if they're "contageous", so I've pulled off the infected
leaves and put them in the garbage to be taken away, NOT on the ground.

Patti