Bare Lilac

Hi,

I've got a 12 year old lilac that has in the past been happy. This year however, I've lots of lovely white flowers but hardly any leaves. There appears to be something yellow (moss like but harder) on the branches. Is it dying?

 

Can you send a photo? The hard, yellow moss like stuff sounds like a lichen. That's perfectly harmless.

 

If I can figure out the technology, I'll post a picture tomorrow, thanks for your interest.

 

This is a sorry looking branch of my lilac.



Is the lack of leaves a result of whatever this is?

 

No. That is lichen and quite harmless. It will grow on tree bark, rocks and gravestones where the air is not too polluted. However, it is very slow growing - just a mm a year. That shows that the branch in your photo is very old. I note that you say that it is 12 years old.

Lilac leaves can fall because of soil deficiencies so a good organic fertiliser may help. Lilac blight produces angular brown spots on the leaves and young shoots die back. Disease can be a problem, but it just may need rejuvenating. You can only do that when the lilac is dormant in the winter. Then you would need to cut it hard back to 2 foot above ground level. Sounds drastic, but it would be kill or cure. If it's flowering well this year as you say it is, I would wait and just cut out dead wood and tidy it up in the autumn. Then see what happens next spring.

 

Thnakyou very much, I haven't given it any tlc since it was planted so you're probably right there.

I'll give it a good feed and cut it back in winter.

One last thing - there's self seeded campanula crowding its base - would it help if I cleared them away?