Hardenbergia

10 years ago

I have this Hardenbergia vine growing on a trellis and every leaf seems to be affected by disease. There is a bluish mould underneath the leaves (powdery mildew?), along with little white insects, strange dots and white globules.

Is it worth trying to treat the plant, or should I just remove the whole thing?

Here is a picture of the whole plant along with close-up of the underside of a leaf.

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Comments (3)

Woko
10 years ago
Hi there Satisdee. I'm inclined to think your Hardenbergia is infested with lerps. I'm familiar with lerps on Eucalypts but not on Hardenbergia so I did an internet search but am none the wiser.

Assuming that you have lerps on your Hardenbergia I'd recommend that you leave the Hardenbergia in place. The lerps will provide wonderful food for Pardalotes, a small, very attractive native bird (there are several species).

The lerp is a tiny insect which builds a sugary coating to protect itself. Pardalotes remove the sugary coating to get to the lerp & you can often hear the click of their bills as they do so.

If you don't have Pardalotes in your neighbourhood then I recommend that you & your neighbours begin planting the native vegetation which will attract them. Putting up nest boxes with quite small holes will also attract them.

In the meantime you'll probably find your Hardenbergia will look a little sick. Unfortunately, that's a sign of imbalance in the environment which lerps can help to restore. In fact, Pardalotes provide wonderful protection for Eucalypts by controlling lerps. Hopefully, they'll eventually do the same for your Hardenbergia. You might find that living with a temporarily sick Hardenbergia will be well worth it if you can eventually attract the delightful Pardalotes or even Thornbills. That would be far preferable to using a chemical to control the lerps.
satisdee
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks Woko for that interesting information.

I did a google image search and it definitely looks like lerps on the Hardenbergia. It seems the lerps promote the growth of the powdery mildew. I'm in two minds about either using a pesticide/pulling it out or just leaving it be. Some of the leaves are beginning to go yellow and spotty.

I haven't seen pardalotes or thornbills in my area, although my neighbour has an entirely native garden and they attract blue tongues and bowerbirds (there is a bower right behind that fence you see in my first photo).
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Woko
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How fortunate is your neighbour! Has he/she seen any Pardalotes or Thornbills?