Treatment for sick Lilly Pilly?

[jjz]

 

Hi all, first post I have a large Lilly pilly hedge that isn’t doing to well. Can anyone suggest a treatment and what it is?

cheers Joe

Community manager's note: Check out How to diagnose and revive a sick lilly pilly for expert advice.

[MitchellMc]

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @jjz. It's fantastic that you've joined us and many thanks for your question.

I'm sorry to hear that your Lilly Pilly is struggling. I'll need to call in our horticulturists @Noelle and @Adam_W as I'm not aware of what disease might have caused this on a Lilly Pilly. I suspect that most of the plant is now past saving as it appears to be re-shooting from a live section. The dead material should be removed and thrown in the bin.

Hopefully, our experts can offer a remedy for keeping the plant alive.

Mitchell

[Noelle]

Hi @jjz 

Your lillypilly is definitely is certainly the worse for wear and I would do as @MitchellMc suggested and cut off all the brown sections now. Dispose of them by wrapping in plastic and putting in the household rubbish. There is a chance this could be a fungal disease known as myrtle rust which is highly infectious and spreading rapidly.  It attacks members of the Myrtaceae family including lillypillies and eucalypts and is usually identified by yellow to red fungal spores over leaves and branches. However, this opinion is not definitive as the stems of the tree do not appear affected. If the entire hedge looks like the photos sent, then you have a real problem and the best advice would be to remove all the plants and start over with something else unrelated to lillypillies.

Alternatively, the problem may be due to uneven watering or complete dryness, in which case the trees are probably doomed. The small green shoots visible in the photos are not going to grow into a neat, upright hedge.  Sorry to be so gloomy but the options available are not promising at this stage.

[jjz]

Oh, that's not good news, it's a large hedge about 10m long   

I did notice what looks like eggs underneath some leaves, I thought it might be a bug of some description. I'll get a pic picture of the eggs and post it up.

Might help with identifying what the issue is.

I have photos showing green leaves in Feb, so its happened quickly.  I had the hedge trimmed recently I hope the landscaper wasn't the source of some disease.

[jjz]

 

 

[jjz]

There's definitely a lot of bugs under the leaves, just grabbed the first leaf and there's 100's of these little guys on it

[MitchellMc]

That certainly is an infestation @jjz. I'm not sure whether they would be the cause of your plant's demise or a secondary affliction.

Were you fairly certain this is a Lilly Pilly? I haven't seen a variety with the serrated edge to the leaf, nor does this appear to be one of the many common afflictions that Lilly Pillies suffer from. Commonly they have smooth edges to the leaves, but this could just be a variety that I haven't seen before. Regardless, I'd have to agree with @Noelle that your plant is just about past the point of saving. If all those brown leaves have turned crispy and you can snap the thin branches, then it's a good sign that most of it has already died back.

Mitchell

[Stuardo]

Hey @jjz  sorry to see your plant is so sick. From your photo those bugs are Thrips and they are nasty sap suckers who spread plant virus and fungi as they go through their life cycle in your garden. I agree with @Noelle and @MitchellMc the best you can do is limit the spread by cutting the bad sections out and plastic bagging them into the bin. You could then treat around the garden with a home made chilli and soap garden spray or if you have to a pyrethrum spray (which could affect your beneficial insects).

Stuart.

[Adam_W]

Definitely thrips!
As per other advice. You can spray them either with pyrethrum or something like eco-oil but... you need to cover every leaf surface so you'll need a larger sprayer with a lance so you can get under the leaves.
Personally... lilly pillys can take very hard pruning so I'd be pruning off all foliage, spraying every remaining part, trunk and all, with eco-oil, give it a good feed and wait for it to re-shoot.
When it does re-shoot spray all new foliage as a preventative.