Something's eating the leaves of our ivory silk lilac

We recently planted an ivory silk lilac in our yard (within the last couple of weeks or so). We've been watering it regularly and by the look of the leaves it's getting plenty of moisture. However many of the leaves look as if some sort of pest has been chewing on them. Any ideas what it could be and how to get rid of it? There don't appear to be any visible insects. Any and all ideas are much appreciated!

 

Are all the leaves affected or just the leaves near the base? Are the leaves skeletonized?

 

KTdid, a good portion of the leaves throughout the entire plant are a little wilted at the edges and brown (I'm guessing that's due to transplant shock). The leaves that appear to have been eaten are almost all near the top of the plant. Not really any skeletonization that I can see.

Mr. Linux, good call - I'll get some pictures when I get home today and post them here.

Thanks to you both!

 

a little birdie told me there could be bunnies in your yard with something new on the menu...

I just put in some new plants over the weekend and spotted one of those cotton tails having a feast yesterday. Anyone know how to keep the bunnies away (without harming them)?

 

If they are bunnies, then only the lowest leaves will be eaten... as far as they can reach.

When I had this issue, someone once suggested that I sprinkle red pepper flakes near the plants.. the smell of that apparently keeps "predators" away. Unfortunately most of my plants were eaten thro' by the time I got around to it so I am not sure if that actually worked!

Of course - we are talking red pepper flakes here, which some folks can react to, and not advisable if you have little hands digging in your flower garden!!

 

Loudoun County Master Gardeners has a Help Desk which may be able to help you:

"If you are requesting a Plant ID or Pest ID and suggested treatment, please attach photos of the plant or pest and we will email you back with the information you need." Here's a link to their website.

I don't remember where I read about this, but I thought it was a nifty idea and tucked it away for future reference!

 

Are there any types of "bumps" on the leaves or stems? If so this might be blight.

If the leaves have squiggles, or a kind of red vein-ish appearance and/or a white kind of blotchy patch, you lilac most likely has leafminer.

Leafminer its mainly a cosmetic issue, but to remedy this you can prune your lilac...however a full systemic treatment maybe required to kill the eggs

Hope this helps.

 

Hi All,

Thanks for the great replies! Sorry it took me so long to get photos posted, but here they are. I included one of the full tree just so you can get an idea of the size and how high the leaves go, in addition to the brown edges on the lower leaves. They're not spectacular quality (tough trying to get the lighting right against the sky, but the plant is about 8 ft. tall so hard to get great angles). So far:
-due to the height of the plant, it couldn't be rabbits
-not all the leaves appear to have been eaten (although leaves throughout most of the plant have brown edges)
-not really any skeletonization yet, but it's possible that could happen if the problem goes on a bit longer
-I'm not seeing bumps, squiggles, or blotchy patching

 

Cav - now that I have picture...I am pretty sure the culprit(s) are "black vine weevils". A natural way to rid of these pest would be to buy Nematodes or you can spray a wide spectrum pesticide (sveven or bayer).

 

lilpea, thanks a ton! It's good to know there's a natural way to get rid of them that we can try before resorting to pesticides. It's frustrating that we just got this plant a few weeks ago and it came with pests.

 

Home improvement stores carry a spray called "Deer Away" that works on rabbits. Most other "pet away" sprays will not deter rabbits. The spray is garlic and putrified eggs, smells bad at first, but not so once it dries and works. Also, rabbits do not like the smell of blood meal, which is also a good fertilizer. I use this on my asiatic lily garden: rabbits don't eat them, and the lillies look great. I put it down as the start to sprout and then about every month until the lillies have finished blooming. (Don't confuse with "bone" meal).