Laurel Bushes Dying

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jmikec

New Member
My wife and I have about 4 large Laurel bushes in front of our house. This summer we cut them back and trimmed them up and noticed that some of the leaves were dead and others were quickly dying. Upon further investigation we noticed that the branches and stems were covered all the way to the roots with white waxy looking stuff (that is even on some of the leaves that aren't dead now). We have other bushes and trees around these and they all appear to be clear except a tree that looks like it is starting to die but it doesn't have the white waxy things on it (that we can see).

Does anyone know what this is? Is it an insect infestation? A Disease?

Also, is there a way to treat it (like with a spray) or do we have to just rip out the Laurels and start over over with new shrubs?

Any advice on this is greatly appreciated. Thanks.
 

Blueaussi

New Member
Hi jmikec, and welcome to the group!

It sounds like you have some sort of scale insect, but it's a little hard to tell with no picture. You can google for Florida Wax scale, or just scale insects and see if any of the pictures match.
 

swindy

New Member
jmikec hi and welcome to GF sounds like you have problems but I can't help you either. I can suggest that you cut off apart of a branch that is affected and put in a seal-able bagggie and take it either to your county extension office or to a really good nursery in your area where they may be able to tell you what it is and how to treat it. You should do this asap as want to stop the spread asap.
 

jmikec

New Member
Thanks for the responses. I think I will cut a branch off and take it to a nursery. That's a really good idea (I hadn't thought of that).
 

jmikec

New Member
Okay, I took the advice received here yesterday and cut a piece off and took it to a local nursery that has on-site experts. The man took one look at this and said, looks like you have a scale problem. He sold me an Oil to spray on the Laurels once every seven days for 3 weeks to basically smother them.

Does anyone know if I should cut off the branches that have dead leaves on them or cut the Laural completely down after treatment to allow it to grow again?

The Mrs. and I talked last night and I still may take out the Laurels and replace them with something else but if I decide to keep them then I want to know the best the let them grow healthy again since on each Laurel half the branches have dead leaves on them. Thanks.
 

Kha

New Member
Okay, I took the advice received here yesterday and cut a piece off and took it to a local nursery that has on-site experts. The man took one look at this and said, looks like you have a scale problem. He sold me an Oil to spray on the Laurels once every seven days for 3 weeks to basically smother them.

Does anyone know if I should cut off the branches that have dead leaves on them or cut the Laural completely down after treatment to allow it to grow again?

The Mrs. and I talked last night and I still may take out the Laurels and replace them with something else but if I decide to keep them then I want to know the best the let them grow healthy again since on each Laurel half the branches have dead leaves on them. Thanks.

I'm also dealing with a scale problem on my magnolia, can you tell me the name of the product he sold you?
 

jmikec

New Member
I also meant to ask. How do you tell by scratching a little bark back if the Branch is still alive? Will it be noticeably different from a dead branch?
 

Kha

New Member
Scratch a wee bit of bark off the branches with dead leaves to see if they're still alive. If they're alive, they'll grow more leaves, so you don't want to cut them off.

Kha, here's a couple of articles about scale on magnolias:

http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2003.html

http://woodypests.cas.psu.edu/factsheets/InsectFactSheets/html/Magnolia_Scale.html

Ok, thanks! :)

The product they sold me was:

All Seasons Horticultural Oil - Ready to Use Quart

Thank you, I'll have to look this stuff up.
 


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