A: We treat fungal leaf diseases differently this time of year, and the difference largely lies in whether the plant in question is deciduous (drops its leaves) or evergreen.
The leaves on deciduous plants only have about four to eight weeks left before they drop. It’s hard to justify buying fungicide and treating your plants two to three times across a two week period to knock down a disease when the diseased leaves will drop off of their own accord soon. In Northeast Texas, oaks, elms, crape myrtles, hydrangeas and roses tend to fall in to this category. Roses rarely drop all of their leaves in our area, but they’ll naturally thin, and then normal February pruning will remove any remaining diseased leaves.
Honeysuckle is generally a partial evergreen around here. You may wish to treat them so they will look their best because it’s a darn shame for honeysuckle blooming as pretty as this is to look bad due to mildew.
If your wax ligustrums had leaf spot disease this spring, they have probably already dropped the majority of their diseased leaves. Always rake fallen leaf litter away and remove it to help prevent re-infection. To ensure your plants don’t see new damage in the cool, moist fall days ahead, apply a preventive shot of ferti-lome Systemic Fungicide now. Keep an eye on the plantings throughout the winter and early spring to make sure this outbreak is done.