Hawthorn Disease

[Dorannie]

Just returned from overseas and noticed my hawthorn hedge has patches of dying branches and leaves. The banches in infected areas are covered in a white/grey powdery scale. This is an old hawthorn and formed part of the original field boundry when the property was built over 70 years ago.
Can anyone help identify this problem and supply possible cure? Would hate to lose the lovely old hedge.

Dorannie

[bigdave60dog]

Wooly Aphids?

[Deb London]

Another possibility is powdery mildew:



Treatment is by spraying and pruning, according to the following:

Herb Society - Herb Of The Month - Hawthorn

[Beekeeper]

I have large hawthorn hedges around my garden around 150-200 yards of it and it is a similar age, about 83 years old now.

For years bits of it have died off due to this powdery substance but i just put it down to age, sometimes whole stems wil die off at the ground but invariably a new shoot will appear and take over after a while and form a completely new patch, also of course it seeds and these do germinate and fill in gaps.
I find as long as all dead bits are cut off as soon as they are discovered it seems to give a new lease of life to the particular section affected.

Never know wheather to call hawthorn a tree or a bush or what.

Ian

[Fuzzy-felt bloke]

[Never know wheather to call hawthorn a tree or a bush or what)

Single stem from the ground is a tree, multi stems is a bush, as a rule of thumb, so a hawthorn can be both!!!

Fuzzy-Felt Bloke

[Dorannie]

Thanks for all the advice. I think I'll have to start cutting out dead bits of the bush/tree (rather alot I'm afraid), as you suggested Ian.

Dorannie

[Beekeeper]

Dorannie, of course by cutting bits out you do end up with holes in it but it only takes a couple of years for these to fill in with new growth and before that happens there is the benefit of more light getting into the hedge which encourages new growth from stems which have remained dormant for years.

Over a period of time i went about removing as many brambles as i could and holly which had taken over in some places completely likewise had ivy, once it was gone the hedge looked a really sorry sight but now it looks beautiful;

I suppose all in all it has taken 10 years to do it but it was worth all the time and thorns in fingers to see the result now.

Fuzzy-felt bloke

Thank you for that, now i know.

Ian