Refering to the picture of the 2 leaves, what is the discoloring caused by? Is this due to lack of water or some disease? Location is near Houston, Texas and the temps are like 95 during the day. It gets watered about every other day or two for about 15 minutes. I don't know the name of the bush but it's fairly common around here.
I'm inclined to think it is a sucking insect, like scale. Anything on the other side of the leaf, like little round scales or bumps? You might try spraying the plant, including undersides of the leaves, with Dawn and water. Rinse. If it was lack of water, I'd expect the leaves to me more uniformly affected. Could take a couple to a nursery or county extension office.
I didn't know of a "real" nursery nearby so I asked here. I'll have to look up where the local extension office is located. Thanks Oren again.
I didn't notice anything on the underside. I don't know of a "real" nursery nearby so I'll have to look up where the county extension office is located. Thanks Norminn.
Most larger extension agencies have master gardeners on hand; email might solve the problem. Some ext. offices also have entomologists. Take pix of the shrub, close up of any bugs or problem areas (both sides of leaves). Ext. folks would be knowledgeable of local conditions, pests and plants.
On the plant and somewhat larger would be good... :)
I'd tend to agree w/ Oren if it's a leaf-by-leaf thing.
Mites, red spiders, aphids, any number of other insects and some are so small takes real careful looking to spot.
It could, of course, be also other than insect damage. (How's that for covering bases? :) ) But really the pictures just aren't enough to be able to tell anything from, sorry...
Will do Norminn and thanks again !!
I'm not in Harris County but close enough for govt work . Thanks Oren again !!
I understand. I can take more pictures but still may not tell the whole picture. As I remember, the overall appearance from afar seems to be healthy but when I got close up, some leaves showed this ... I'll call it stress for now but in reality, I have no idea. Thanks dpb for the help or attempt to help (meant either way with respect).
p://s456.photobucket.com/albums/qq285/doug23314/Public/
A pic of the bush/shrub would possibly help identify it. Camelia?.... doe= s it have pink flowers with many flower petals lapping one another, sort of= rose-like, but more petals and more tightly folded over one another? What= is the size of a typical mature shrub? Full sun or not?
That kind of leaf tip die-off is typical of stress, especially of a thicker= waxy leafed plant (as opposed to a thinner leaf, i.e., pecan leaf (thin) v= s magnolia leaf (thick... and shiney latex coating). Flowering, of any p= lant, requires lots of energy. The tips of leaves are where the flowering = inducements begin... a chemical is produced by the cells in the tips of lea= ves, which triggers the subsequent flowering. During stressful times, the = plant will shut down the flowering process, to save energy, in order for th= e plant, as a whole, to survive.... live to flower another day.=20
A week or so (maybe 2 weeks) prior to these signs first showing up: Other than extra warm weather, has any digging, around the plant (disturbin= g the roots?), been done? Anything else having been done, near the plant, = to possibly subject it to an abnormal growing environment?
Sonny
Addendum: Too much or not enough watering and/or fertilizer, especially in potted plants.... page down to "Poor absorbtion of fertilizers or inappropriate fertilizers".
plants.... page down to "Poor absorbtion of fertilizers or inappropriate fertilizers".
Thanks Sonny. I'm going to check into this.
I don't know the answer to your question. You might check the Texas A&M website. A&M is a land grant university so they do research on ag related stuff. They might have branched out to other things. The University of Nebraska (Lincoln) puts out something called NebGuides. Maybe A&M does something similar.
They don't call them "Aggies" for nothing. ;-) ...and yes, like all Universities, they've branched out quite a bit (A&M == Agricultural and Mechanical so they're big into engineering, too).
Auburn (another land-grant school) does the same sort of thing. There is also a state "Extension Service" that is quite happy to answer questions from residents. That's what they're there for. I use them for soil tests on my lawn every year (it costs something like $7).
A lot of the farmers here use crop consultants, aka "Corn Gods". The local farmers' coops do soil sampling. I think farmers rely mostly on them. The USDA has merged some of their functions. I think they still have a county Hank Kimball but don't know for sure.
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