"The leaves are just opening and they are curled up, wrinkled and distorted. Small amout of black just on the very edge of some leaves." That sure sounds like pear blister mite to me. I partially agree with Scott. Many times the leaves damaged by blister mite are partially red or have red spots, but not always. Sometimes the leaves are crinkled with black edges as you describe. Depending on the stage, sometimes the leaves just look crinkled. In the Midwest, blister mite is one of the most common minor pests on pears in home orchards. It didn't show up on my trees for several years. An oil spray at, or slightly before green tip completely takes care of it for me. ABJJ, We get tons of wind here in KS and I've never seen wind damage on pears. I don't know much about salt damage, but it would seem strange to me for it to show up all the sudden.

I only planted these 1 year ago and they showed signs of the mildew within a couple weeks of planting them. Since then I have been plucking, spraying, pruning and watering properly. I even cleaned up the foilage in the fall. These plants are in a well drained southwest location, even out in the open so its a joke that all 7 have the mildew. I'm thinking about pulling out 4 of them. The nursery has already agreed to take them all back, its just a ton of work to take these 3 - 4ft out. My concern is that if its this bad this early, with maintinance and with conditions that aren't condusive to the PM that I'll be fighting with them forever. What happens when the get 6 ft tall? My other MAJOR concern is that the PM will spread to other plants. I have maple, spirea, pear, viburnum, forsythia and lilac within close proximity. I know the host my be specific but I can't get a straight as to the PM spreading or not. I guess I need to find a replacement that is more pest and disease resistant. Any suggestions for 7ft x 7ft plant that will get southwest exposure, likes a well drained soil that will get dry, so they need to be drought tolerant once established. Of course I need good shape, good branching and an ornamental feature since they are in a high visible area. Lastly needs to be PM resistant, lol.

My phlox plants, as opposed to creeping phlox, came back this year, and were thriving. Now the leaves on a group of phlox have become white with what I would call powdery mildew. On some other plants in another spot in the yard, the plant is rather defaced with a reddish cast - like possibly a fungus. The ones with powdery mildew are quite tall, maybe 4 feet. The white substance begins at or near the ground. Also the stems seem to be rather weak. Could any of you tell me how you grow your phlox, and what you do to make them look pretty in your yard? The ones with powdery mildew are three years old. Many others I bought last year or this year. I know the spring has caused the damage, but I am not sure what to do about it. On my roses, I just let them go. They eventually seem to drop the leaves, grow new ones and are ok. Please do not suggest a chemical spray. I would prefer to throw them away, and purchase something else. Sammy

That's interesting about there being plant specific... Nature is fun. I was just going to the extreme to stress the point that I think the important word would be "delay" vs "prevent" with pm. I have one planting of an older variant of phlox and pm always gets it early right as it starts to bloom. I remove the entire plant to the ground fairly early each year.... But it always hits the exact same time the next year. I have no other phlox and I live in a garden desert in my subdivision... I don't think a single home I pass in and out of the neighborhood has anything besides the original landscaped plants.... Non being phlox. The only other perennial that gets pm for me was an old peony... Which got the axe because of it. And then of course the late season squash get it. so to the original poster... Given your circumstances ..... And this isn't a plant that you are passionate about enough to put up with tight cultural practices.... And ...You would only being delaying the inevitable maybe a bit later in the season....(as others bring up.)....Looking into a replacement species would probably work better for you.