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Florida Gardening

Black 'stuff' on my Crape Myrtles

16 years ago

What the heck is wrong with my myrtles? They look deathly ill. They have a black covering of their leaves and some of the stems. Must be some type of mildew, fungus or something similiar. Most importantly, will it kill them and what do I need to do?

Thanks,

Ron

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Comments (4)

manature
16 years ago
I am pretty sure Tom MacCubbin had a recent article about this and said it is pretty much harmless. I believe it is the residue from some sort of bug and it is more a cosmetic problem in the normal run of things. I think he offered a suggestion to clean it off (maybe just water spray?) but indicated it really wasn't necessary. I got the impression it will go away by itself.

Hopefully someone else read the same article and retained more of the details than I did! (I'm OOOOLD. Ya gotta give me a break!)

Marcia
drewsmaga
16 years ago
You probably have sooty mold. If you google it, you can learn more about it than you'd ever want to know! Bottom line: you can wash it off with a strong blast of H2O, soap spray works better. Find out what insect is causing it & eradicate it. It won't kill the Crape unless it gets soooo overwhelming that it doesn't allow the leaves to photosynthesize (that would be a rare circumstance.) My gardenias are alwayd getting it. . . . Looks ugly, but is generally not lethal.
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First, yes, you spelled it right (the generally accepted way)! I have a hard time accepting the cold-kill argument (especially for the one with no foliage on the larger trunks). It's possible, but hard to accept since you are in such a warm area (zone 8b/9a). We only rarely have significant cold-related dieback (more than a few inches from the growing tips) on crape myrtles here in Tennessee, where it gets much colder. Have you noticed any other symptoms before the total dieback (signs of disease, pests, etc)? Has anything changed (unusual weather, chemical applications, etc)? Have you contacted your local agriculture extension office and asked them for ideas? They may actually be one of your best sources of information, since they should be familiar with your local conditions and be able to take a first-hand look.
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I am in Australia and have been interested in the chat here. Crepe myrtles thrive here in an arid climate. All around town and in my garden. I have perfect conditions for trees everything grows double the size and twice the rate because I live on 30m of river soil on a flood plain. BUT the dark crepe myrtles are not only falling to thrive but slowing looking worse. We have had two very wet years but the soil has perfect drainage. Everything else in the garden around them is thriving. The common consensus here seems to be they are a weak plant. I might wait a year more and if they don't take off I am going to replace them. Thanks for thoughts everyone.
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manature
16 years ago
Yeah, that sounds about like what Tom MacCubbin said. Thanks, drewsmaga! Good info for me to have, too, since I inherited two pretty pink crapes when I moved here.

Marcia
cycadjungle
16 years ago
Yes, you just about have to have sooty mold. It is a mold that grows on the excretions from insects. Any time you see that on any bushes, you should look closer because you have some sort of insect problem. It can be scales, but in this case, it is probably aphids. It is common for large plants even in the wholesale nurseries to get black because of this mold, but it usually happens in another month or two. As others have said, it doesn't kill the plant but it looks ugly. I would spray the plants with something like Malathion, or any other general purpose insecticide to get rid of the aphids. If we had lots of rain, the mold would then wash off in a few weeks. An old remedy is to mix about 4 tablespoons of baking soda per gallon of water, and that is supposed to take out the mold in less than a week.

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