pleasantville
Newly Registered
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Aug 06, 2006 11:09 pm

Brown leaves on lilac bush

I have a dwarf Korean lilac that I planted last fall. It was so green and healthy up until 2 weeks ago when the weather turned to a scorching 95 or above for several consecutive days and the humidity was terrible. Now the majority of the leaves are wilting and have turned brown. We have pretty poor clay soil, so I'm not sure if it's a lack of nutrients vs not enough water. It's planted in the backyard in the landscape surrounding our in-ground pool, and the soil tends to hold the moisture very well, in fact sometimes it's a little too wet. We've had some rainfall but perhaps not enough to get down deep to the roots? Is it possible for a lilac bush to turn brown if it's getting too much water or do you think I should go ahead and water deeply and see what happens?

Newt
Greener Thumb
Posts: 1868
Joined: Tue May 25, 2004 10:44 pm
Location: Maryland zone 7

Hi Pleasantville,

Yes, plants can get brown leaves from too much water. I would suggest you pull back some of the mulch and stick your finger in the soil to see if it's moist or dry. They can also get something called bacterial blight. Do the leaves look anything like this?
https://plantclinic.cornell.edu/FactSheets/LilacBactBlight/lilacbactblight.htm

Newt



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