I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, near the southern end of the bay. A few days ago, I discovered that the leaves on one of my Southern Indica azaleas (a variety called 'Southern Charm') had curled up along their length. Other than the curling, the plant looks perfectly healthy. The leaves aren't discolored and show no signs of distress or insects.
Here's a closeup of one cluster of curled leaves:
And a photo of the full tree (note the happy bush-form Southern Indicas below it):
That leaves me wondering about a fungus. But wouldn't that cause more damage than just curling?
I put some ground-up oak leaves around the plant a couple of weeks ago, along with some coir mulch (Mulch Block). I kept the mulch a few inches away from the trunk of the azalea (it's a standard/topiary form), but I treated the oak leaves as a soil amendment and let them get quite close to the trunk. Was that a mistake? I did the same thing a few months ago with no problems, but maybe it wasn't a good idea in rainy weather? I've now pushed everything out several inches, although if it did allow a fungus to take hold, I realize that moving the leaves and mulch isn't enough to solve the problem.
As you saw if you looked at the wide-angle photo, I have other Southern Indicas in the same landscaping bed, and they're all looking great. They were put in two years ago; the Southern Charm went in last spring. So the others are better established, if that matters.
Should I put some fungicide on the roots, or could something else be causing the leaf curl?
Thanks! Patty