Angel's Trumpet Bush Problems

I recently moved back home with my mom because of her failing health. She loved her yard but it died because she wasn't able to care for it. I'm a complete novice when it comes to gardening.

In May this plant had one leaf. I started feeding it. By June it had started to bloom but was covered with aphids, gnats, spider mites, and whiteflies. I used the Bayer 3 in 1 granules and it appeared to solve the problems except for small holes in the leaves and something eating the edges of the leaves. I've tried all of the major brands of granules and liquid pesticides and something is still eating the plant. Additionally, I've got yellowing leaves but young and old.

Can someone tell me what's eating this plant and what I should use to get rid of them?

I have a lot to learn. I've got hydrangeas blooming again, irises blooming, snap dragons still budding, and azaleas and camellias blooming and my mom tells me this is all wrong!

I love this site and hope I can get things right before I kill everything off.

This picture was taken on December 13th and there is one new bud about to bloom.

Hi Shorty -- That's an interesting landscape you have there. Some nice plants in that photo.

There are a number of things that can cause problems for Angel's Trumpets. Among them are watering problems (over or under watering), lack of certain nutrients, the insects you mentioned. It's difficult to tell about the leaf problems from that shot. Could you get a better closeup picture?

Hi Cville_Gardener

Here are a few more pictures. I hope they provide a little more detail.

You need to really look very carefully at All the Angels Trumpet leaves, stems / branches, root area and how much feed / watering it gets.

If there are very fine web's spun around the tips for the new growth, you have heavy infestation of Red Spider Mites and they have normally destroyed a lot of the foliage before you even notice the fine webs, the TINY little spiders are on the underside of the leaf and may need to use a magnifying glass to actually see just how many of these aphids you have.
They are very hard to get rid of as they bread at the rate of lightning however, misting the plant and underside of the leaf helps as they don't like damp or humid conditions, the misting wont kill the insects but it slows down there beading, there is a small insect that you can purchase and it ONLY lives on spider mites, go on line for that, it really does work BUT don't spray any chemicals before adding this spider eating insect.


Things that eat the actual leaves are a leaf eating wasp, the common ear-wig, they come out at night only and eat flowers, buds too and they also eat leaves, to capture them, use a garden cane set beside the plant, fill a plant pot with shredded paper, place the paper filled pot upside down onto the cane and either empty the pot into a bucket of hot water each morning or set the paper on fire and it kills the pests off.

I would guess you also need to improve the soil in the yard by adding as much rich humus as you can get your hands on, shop or home made compost is good but my favourite is WELL ROTTED horse manure, most places that keep horses are happy for gardeners to take away the manure as they have more than enough, the manure you need is ODOUR FREE, IF it smells, you need to pile it away till it rot's down some more, then it should be crumbley, look like a nice brown soil and it will add nutrients to the soil, allow the soil to hold onto moisture a little longer and it also allows air into the soil, all needed for healthy growth, Healthy plants normally can survive a few infestations of bugs but when they are already in poor health, well like us, their resistance is low and they will suffer even more, just like us humans, IF we already feel poorly, then we are attached by another bug, we take even longer to recover.

If I were you, I would spend time improving the yards soil condition just a bit at a time will work wonders, lay the humus about 3-4 inches thick around the root area of your plants and then as time allows, fork it into the soil and also add a quick feed like multi purpose fertilisers, I prefer blood/fish/bore meal as it works over a longer period and not just a fast pick-me-up.

Hope this helps a bit, Good luck, hope your Mum can get pleasure from the yard once again,
Kindest Regards.
WeeNel.

WeeNel, thanks so much for the tips.

I've been checking the leaves with a magnifying glass and don't see any mites.

I agree that I need to work on the soil condition. It is almost pure clay.

We have clay soil here as well. Amending the soil should go a long way in solving the problem. I find that dry conditions and drying of the leaves on my Trumpets causes the tips and edges to become dry, brown and brittle and then the dry part will flake or break off some. I hope amending your soil helps.

From those gnarly, woody trunks, it looks like frost hasn't hit this plant in a while, rare I'm sure in Z10. When that happens here, the above-ground parts die back and new growth comes on in the spring. Before it frosts again, they get 3 times that tall. I wonder if that spot is too shady? After you get a look at that flower that's almost ready, I might cut the whole thing to the ground for a flush of fresh, vigorous growth. Any critters that were bugging the foliage will have to go elsewhere. You can stick the pieces you cut off in the ground to make new plants if you would like to have more.

Outdoor plants are the food source for many critters, and not expected to have perfect foliage all of the time, or every leaf. There are many critters that nibble on outdoor plants, and trying to kill them all is usually pointless (since by the time a problem is discovered, the time for new eggs to be laid may have passed, damage mostly completed,) expensive, and unnecessarily and indiscriminately poisonous (to people as well as critters.) There are beneficial bugs out there for about every type of pest, so killing them as well in the process is counter-productive. Some nibblers turn into beautiful butterflies or other desirable critters, though I couldn't find any info about Brugmansia being a host plant for any butterfly caterpillars. If you can see a caterpillar, you can cut it with scissors or remove it and step on it or throw it somewhere else about as easily as spraying it with something (and for free.)

Pest issues on outdoor plants are usually transient, often seasonal, often restricted to plants struggling from improper placement or poor conditions. Your plant could be struggling from the unprecedented drought I've been hearing about on the news, if you are in the part of the state affected by that. Have you been watering this plant much?

Yellow leaves often indicate chlorosis from some reason (not possible to determine from pics alone) and some plants turn yellow from drought stress. Drought stress can be from simple drought, or from overcompensation (watering too much) for drought which can cause roots to rot and lose their ability to deliver moisture to the rest of the plant.

Hope your Mom is feeling as well as possible and that you are both able to enjoy your pretty flower. If it's like the ones I have, you'll want to sniff it when it's dark outside to see what kind of scent it has to offer. You probably already knew that part, good luck!

Hi,
I got a bunch of angel's trumpet and they are blooming right now.
I can see in the photo that you really have dry hard clay. They need lots of water and heavy feeder so if your soil is bone dried the roots won't able to take up the Bayer 3 in 1. Mine is grown organically but they do like a lot of fertilizer. I have very bad rocky clay soil but once I water it more and fertilize the plant is happy. If I forget to fertilize it will look very yellow like the leaves that you have. Don't worry too much about the pests. Once mine was attack by little cabbage worms and almost lost all the leaves. It comes back strong in the winter. I didn't do anything special. But remember to water.

purpleinopp and lancer 23, thanks for your tips.

Yes there I'm in the area of LA that has only had 3 inches of rain this year. I can't remember when there was a measureable amount of frost. I have sprinklers on a timer and water twice a week unless it's very hot then I water daily. Temperatures have been in the high 70's to low 80's the past week. They dropped about 10 degrees today and are supposed to drop to the high 50's tomorrow but only about a quarter of inch of rain is expected for the remainder of the year.

I have been concerned that I might be over treating the pest problem which is causing the yellow leaves.

I'll up the water since it's not likely we'll get measurable amounts of rain any time soon and try to improve the soil.

That's a good place to start. I hope amending the soil and reducing pest treatments will solve the problems. Angel Trumpets are such beautiful and interesting plants. :)

Yellow leaves are tell tale signs of lack of nutrients, Maybe mainly nitrogen, and lack of trace elements of manganese and calcium which prevent the nitrogen intake. Crush a few egg shells and old coffee grounds and buried under the plant. I see my neighbors trumpet got a little frost damage on top. Mine is fine because its under big trees. Even though your plant have a little problem it will recover fast. I can root and get a pretty good size plant in 6 months. Every-times I transplant it into a pot from the ground or vise versa, it will droop a lot. The only way to make it come back is to sink the entire pot inside a container 25% fill with water at least for 3 days. So water 2X per week is probably the least you can do. A little more water won't hurt in a drought. The only insect problem I have in SF is the cabbage worm and scale. I just cut off the branch that's badly infested and throw it away. Pick off insect with my hand. Hope all is well soon.

@lancer23 Thanks for the tips. What type of fertilizer should I be using? I've been using Ortho 3-1 Flower and Rose granules every eight weeks and Miracle Grow liquid once per month.

Hi again,
Any fertilizer is find. Remember to water well,like soaking it all the way. A lot of time, the water runs off and wash off all fertilizers to surrounding areas. I think you have to water regularly first and then fertilize once per month is fine too. I know once its establish you don't have to water that much or fertilize. I don't even fertilize that much maybe 4x per yr. But I can read a problem once it comes up and mine is a mature tree. This is a very carefree plant. Has the trumpet bounce back since you posted?

Hi Lancer23,

It seems that part of the problem is my gardener rakes and blows leaves around the plant weekly so the granules I'm using for fertilizer and pest control aren't providing benefits for more than a week.

There are fewer yellow leaves today and not as many of them have holes in them. I will be putting down mulch today and using liquid fertilizer and pest control until spring when the leaves stop falling.

OMG, you blow away your fertility and also water retention on your plant by using a blower.
A simple solution is to create a little ditch/well around the tree to make sure the water stay long enough to soak in. I only do that with newly transplanted trees; its entirely not necessary once the plant is acclimated. Use lots of mulch so you don't have to water as much. I save water this way. For the trumpet, once problem of lack of water is corrected the leaves will grow back fast. Its rewarding to see things can get better in a jiffy unlike other plants that needs a long period of recovery. But when things go bad on a trumpet it goes down fast too. Its a highly receptive plant.

If I were you trying to add water to the roots of plants that are in soil that is as hard a rock at the top inch, is !!!!!! dig a hole, 2-4 around any large root area, cut the bottom off some clear plastic juice containers, remove the cap, sink the container (narrow end) down into the holes and back fill with soil, fill the containers with water several times, instead of watering every day and watching the water run off the top soil (with the plant feed) this method allows the water /feed to get down to the roots where most needed, you wont need to use so much fertilisers OR water as it will soak way down into the soil.

When I plant a tree or shrub that will grow large, I do this and leave the containers in the soil for several years, IF you get the containers deep enough and you leave just a couple of inches above the soil eventually they are not noticed,
IF you have too much leaf drop, you can place ladies panty hoze over the opening of the container, it allows the water and liquid feed to get into the container but, keep debris out. or place a store over the container and remove when feeding or watering, the guy with the blower MUST be warned to leave the watering containers in situ.
Good luck. Hope this helps you out and gives you more time between watering, you might have to do it more in hot summer though.
best Regards. Weenel.

Leaves around the base are a good mulch, which will help prevent the moisture from evaporating so quickly.

Fertilizer granules are usually time-release, effective for months. Applying them weekly is probably way too often. There should be instructions on the package. Using too much of any fertilizer could make a plant very ill.

I agree with Purpleinopp when mentioning the leaves act as a mulch and help prevent moisture being able to evaporate therefore the roots don't get a chance to take up enough moisture when rain or hand watering takes place.

To enable the leaves to work as a blanket / mulch for preventing evaporation, the soil needs to be well soaked and broken up thereafter plenty of water is required to soak the roots then add the mulch.
If you need to feed in emergency situations, best to use a liquid feed making sure the water with the feed added gets through the crusted top soil allowing it to reach the roots, the up-turned containers I mentioned is a quick way to get ANT liquid down to the roots and helps until the soil is amended with leaf mould, manure, compost dug into the soil around the growing area, but in HOT climates, the container method allows for LESS watering especially for gardeners who perhaps are out at work or unable to water every other day.

Good luck, hope you can slowly amend your soil over the season so it becomes easier for you to manage AND for healthier plant that will flourish for years to come both for you, but also for your Family too.
Good luck and Kindest Regards.
WeeNel.

Whenever the soil is disturbed, the natural layers are compromised, as well as the drainage (which also means ability to accept and hold moisture, not just that excess does not puddle up.) I would not disturb the ground to add mulch. Just start adding organic material when it presents itself, leaves are always good. I don't actually buy mulch, but beds are 'mulched.'

Wow, these are great suggestions! Thanks everyone for all of your suggestions.

You that the Angel Trumpet is a poisonous plant. So be careful when working with them.
From my experience with Angel Trumpets, they require a great deal of water.

They DO all need a fare amount of water regularly which is why amending the soil by adding any amount of humus you can get is a must, especially in a HOT climate where it may be weeks or even months before rain helps with the deeper watering required around the roots of these lovely plants.

From looking at the last picture of the group posted and showing the soil, I would suggest there is NO soil structure left in that area, there is a hard layer of baked CLAY type soil evident and to help break up this concrete feeling soil it requires forking, adding humus and watering, feeding helps to give a quick boost and regular feeding done by adding liquid feed to the watering is faster way to boost the plants health.
Once you have the soil amended and it feels lighter, getting air into the soil and humus to help moisture retention is the only way to go.

It was stated that Shorty moved home to care for her Mother due to ill health and stated also the garden has been neglected due to Mum's health so this alone tells us that the soil has also been neglected over a long period of time, this is in no way a slight against Mum's situation BUT a fact that MUST be noted when giving advice as to how to help get the garden AND the beautiful contents back to health again and maybe even boosting MUM's health without even considering that part of the problem.
I would say Shorty, just take your time, try NOT to over-doo the gardening and spend some more time with MUM as well as helping with the garden, ONCE the soil is amended, the plants can then more or less take care of themselves apart from general watering and feeding.

Just try to enjoy and good luck. Hugs to your mum also as she has obviously spent many years and happy times creating her garden.
Best Regards.
WeeNel.