mold on my euoymus

I have several euonymus bushes and there is now a white mold growing on some of the leaves. It's not scale. The Pike Nursery guy said he could sell me some stuff that was very expensive that would take care of it. I don't just want to buy every expensive thing the sales guy recommends. Is there anything you can recommend?

If it is powdery mildew, I have heard of using baking soda mixed with water as a spray... I think about a table spoon to a gallon, but I'm not sure and have not done so myself.

Fungonil, Daconil, Liquid Copper, Serenade (aka Bacillus subtilis) and just about every other fungicide on the market can clear up powdery mildew on Euonymus. The question is, why does it have powdery mildew? Is the foliage being watered by a sprinkler? Is it in too much shade? Is it a bad cultivar for the south (like 'Manhattan')? Hmmmm? :)

Thanks for your comment. As to why my euonymus has mold I am stumped. I had plain green euonymus in that very same spot for 20 years then suddenly it got scale and died. This is a different euonymus taking it's place a two-toned green and cream colored euonymus . . . but it is still euonymus. The point is that I would conclude from this that euonymus can do well in this location. If I had recognized the scale in time I'd still have my 20 year old shrubs. So I don't know what could be causing this mold. Are the two-toned euonymus more fragile and delicate than the plain green? Any ideas you might have would be appreciated. I also want to thank you for the baking soda idea. I'll look into it and perhaps try it.

I mainly read these threads to learn, I'm not an expert and probably shouldn't be giving answers. But I can tell you what our local 'garden guru' tv personality says about powdery mildew, if that is indeed what you have... He says lack of water is the root cause (ha, is that a pun?) because wilting of the leaves weakens the leaf surface and allows the powdery mildew to take hold, once it's there, getting the leaves wet makes it worse. Whether he knows what he's talking about remains to be seen I guess. Good luck with your shrubs.

This message was edited May 20, 2011 1:54 PM

Umgowa, here is some info from Univ of GA ag sciences...there is also a link for additional info at the bottom of the first link. Cool nights, hot days and high humidity all contribute to the on set.

http://plantpath.caes.uga.edu/extension/plants/woodyornamentals/euonymuspowderymildew.html

Here, I rarely see mildew on the variegated ones unless they are planted in shade. 'Manhattan', the big green monster, is usually the worst for mildew. Hopefully it was just this spring's crazy weather and it won't be a permanent issue.