What's wrong with my wisteria?

[nickybs]

Any idea what's causing this? Was growing fine at the start of the season but now curling and many of the leaves look blotchy and yellowed. It's one of 2 plants either side of my front door, both seem to be affected. The spot is quite windy and faces west. The plants have been in the ground about a year. I matured them at the start of the year and water them fairly frequently, though not daily. What do you think?

[nickybs]

Sorry, predictive text is a pain, I meant to put ' I manured them'!!

[WendyC]

Did they have some kind of aphid attack before the leaves opened leading to distortion as the leaves open?

[nickybs]

Not that I'm aware of, in fact, we haven't really had any aphid problems so far this year. However there is a rose near by so maybe.

[rustylady]

Are they in the ground or in containers Nicky?

[nickybs]

In the ground, see picture. Oh no, you're not thinking vine weevil I hope!!! I hate those things, munched their way through large swathes of rhododendron and laurel bushes at my last house, despite not being in containers either!!




Could it be sun damage do you think?

[rustylady]

No, not Vine Weevil. In fact I really don't think there's anything much wrong with them. Plants tend not to have perfect leaves all the time anyway.

One thing I would say is that you shouldn't really need to water them unless it's been really dry for more than a couple of weeks. If you do decide to water then give them a really good soak (at least a couple of buckets full each) and then leave them at least a week before giving any more. The idea is to get the roots going deep into the soil and if you keep watering the roots stay near the surface. That's why I asked about containers which you obviously do have to water often.

[Nicos]

What did you manure them with???

...just a thought.....

Aminopyralid affects wisteria

quote...."Controls more than 150 key weed and brush species, including thistles, wild carrot, poison hemlock, goldenrods, dandelion, false dandelion, marestail, knapweeds, blackberry, black and honey locust, wisteria and tree-of-heaven"

...hopefully it's either wind damage or root rot. Apparently they don't like clay soil.

They are pretty hard to kill- I'd be be looking for aphids/white fly as a first resort.

[nickybs]

Thanks guys. I manured them with a bag of farmyard manure from the local DIY centre and put plenty of garden centre compost in when I planted them about a year ago. I've been out to check for aphids, which are absent, but I've noticed lots of new growth coming in further back than the original growing tips so hopefully they're on the mend.