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Witch Hazel - What's Wrong?

4 years ago

Much of the new growth is too light in color with a red-brown tint. Holes forming in several leaves, old and new, and expanding. Some pale yellow spots on green leaves. A little of what looks like scorching or rust on the edges of some leaves. Any help would be appreciated.

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Comments (5)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
4 years ago
was it a recent transplant ... where are you.. it ...

whats spring weather been like ...

with no real history.. it looks like a bit like shipping and handling damage...

it looks minor.. the leaves are still doing their work.. converting sunshine into natural plant energy ... with that little damage ...

red new growth is not all that uncommon.. and it looks brown.. on a green leaf ... nbd ... at this time ...

how about a pic of the whole... just so we can see such ...

look to the new growth.. and i dont see any damage .. rather than the older leaves.. any chance you had a hail storm???

it really doesnt look all that bad.. so relax .. it sure wont hurt.. to figure out what happened.. back in time ...

welcome to the forums... if you can figure out how to add your location to your name.. that would be great.. if not.. always add it to the facts ... and if its there and i cant see it.. that favors adding it to your words ...

ken
Rick [6b - PA]
Original Author
4 years ago
Thanks, ken. I'm still figuring out how to use the forums.

I'm located in PA, zone 6b.

This is the plant's second year in the ground. We've had a lot of rain the past few weeks. No hail.

Here's the entire plant (it's about 3ft tall):
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NHBabs z4b-5a NH
4 years ago
The really warped leaves look like damage from sucking insects such as aphids. Flip the leaves over to see if they are there, and if so, typically a good stream of water from the hose will dislodge them. Repeat if they return.

The reddish tint may be usual color for new leaves since many witch hazel have a fair amount of red pigment that the chlorophyll green covers in mature leaves.

Sorry but I can’t help about the larger holes, but I would check early morning, flipping over leaves to see if you can find beetles or caterpillars. Or put a white sheet under the plant and shake firmly to see what drops out. That may or may not be what is eating the plant, so be sure to ID them.
gracie01 zone5 SW of Chicago
4 years ago
NHBabs is correct. Mine has been in the ground 5 years, and the new growth has a reddish tint.
Rick [6b - PA]
Original Author
4 years ago
Thank you, babs and gracie. I actually have two other witch hazels that haven't shown this reddish tint on new growth, which led me to wonder if something was wrong. But this one is a hybrid (hamamelis x intermedia) and the other two are not (hamamelis mollis).

I'll be sure to check for insects regularly to see if that's causing the leaf damage.

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