Problems With Newish Frangipani Bush...

[naughtybadfurrimunki]

Hello,

My wife and I recently planted a new Frangipani bush in our small back garden. For the first few weeks it was fine, but now it's started developing a problem on the underside of young leaves and shoots, and the flowers tend to fall off before they've developed properly. It's not an orange rust, it's bigger than rust and it's white, not brown or orange. I've been spraying the underside of the leaves with water under relatively high pressure, this gets rid of it but by morning it starts to accumulate again. Could it be connected to ants? I ask as the large black ants seem to love crawling all over it! Many thanks for any input.

[harsu]

Do you have any photographs? The sap of the frangipani is a sticky white fluid - it might be this that's leaking out where sucking insects have been feasting during the night. Sometimes mine look like they have been dotted all over with white spots.Or it could be a mealy bug infestation -they are very prolific at this time of year - I fight mine off with a high powered blast of washing up liquid and water - this breaks down their white waxy protective coating better.If the infestation is bad, the whole leaf and stalk can look like they have a white, slightly fuzzy coating.

There are also loads of weird and wonderful fungal diseases around. if you can get a picture and post it here, I'm sure someone much more knowledgeable than me will be able to give you a correct diagnosis and treatment. Good luck.

[David006]

We have a dozen or so largish mature trees and some, not all, have this fungal looking stuff on which, as you indicate, ants seem to feed ( happens every year) ...my solution is to observe and then ignore as the trees still flower and have yet to see any negative effects.

If it "bugs" you you might take a leaf to a garden shop...maybe they will advise spraying with anti-fungal or something.

..as an aside we have propagated several new trees just by snapping off a branch and sticking in the dirt in the shade...amazing Thailand

[richardperry]

We have close to 300 trees at our house/farm North of Suphanburi which we sell, but have never seen anything of the condition that you have explained, somtimes we get the orange rust on older leaves but we just take the leaves off the tree.

[richardperry]

I have checked with my Wife and the trees have whats called "Pia Bang" it is caused because the trees are not getting enough sun light, it needs to be treated by spraying chemicals because it can kill young trees eventually, the main thing is that the trees need more direct sun light.