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Trachelospermum jasminoides
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Posted by lauriedog2003 (My Page) on Mon, Apr 9, 07 at 14:35
| Hi can anyone tell me why my above plant which was here when we bought our house 3 years ago, has black mould like stuff all over the stem and branches. No sign of pest. Still growing new leaves. It is in the ground against a south facing wall. Any ideas on why/how we can save it before we dig it out and give up on it? thanks |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Trachelospermum jasminoides
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| Sounds like scale. Look under the leaves for small, probably brown but maybe greyish, bumps. Also examine along the stems carefully got the same bumps. Scale insects drip nectar onto lower leaves which then goes mouldy. The mould is not damaging, it would eventually wash away, but the scale insects are damaging. Also look out for ants which will farm and protect the scale. |
RE: Trachelospermum jasminoides
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I tend to agree with Shrubsnbulbs as regards the pest- Scale is often a tough pest to spot and can blight many plants. While the previous post suggests that the mould is not damaging you do have a couple of issues. Such residue can block plant pores and also reduce photosynthesis by reducing the amount of light reaching the leaf surface.
Best control is via a systemic insecticide which will travel around the plant killing the pest. |
RE: Trachelospermum jasminoides
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| Rather than ditch a large, otherwise healthy specimen (I am assuming it is still producing flowers for you?) and if you don't want to spray you could try the less drastic measure of hosing the whole plant down a few times to see if that shifts a bit of the gunk. Another route would be to cut the plant down to within a foot or so of the ground and let it start again with fresh new growth. You'd lose this year's blooms but still have the plant. On my lemon tree I remove scale with baby wipes but the small leaves and pliable stems of T jasminoides would make that impossible. |
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