Fungicide or Insecticide?

My burning bush's leaves are curling at the tips of the branches at the top of the bush. This happened withing the last two to three weeks. The leaves aren't dropping, just curling. Even the new baby leaves curl as they just emerge. What's wrong, bugs or fungus? Help quick. Thanks. Jan

Moisture stress can cause BB's leaves to curl; has anything changed with the soil or amount of water it's getting lately? How long has it been planted - is it an established shrub? If you examine the leaves closely, do you see any insects or evidence of insect damage?

This message was edited Jun 8, 2005 6:53 PM

We had a pretty cold spring, but no excessive moisture. The bush is about 20 years old and usually gorgeous. I did find some red spots on leaves here and there and I could flip them off, but these were on healthy leaves and didn't appear to cause any damage to the leaf they were "residing" on. I had sprayed a fungicide on my flowering crabapple (about 30-40 ft. away) about a month ago after it finished blooming because it showed evidence of apple scab. Did I maybe cause damage to my burning bush when I did that? I haven't seen visible insects anyplace. Would it hurt to just prune the bush back to past the curled leaves? It needs pruned anyway since it has bloomed already. Thanks.

I don't know what pruning would do to help, but I say that because new growth seems to be affected, too. Maybe someone else here can pipe up and give suggestions. We have a big old burning bush, too, but it's doing well as far as I can see. They are beautiful shrubs!

Thanks for the information about the moisture, though. In the future, I'll keep that in mind. My husband wants to give that bush a haircut every spring--really early--and I won't let him. First I want it to bloom and then in the fall I want the beauty of the red. It's huge now, but he just can (or won't) appreciate the color like I do. He just says "It's too big". Some men!

Winter is a good time to prune them, anyway. ;)

Go take a close look at the curled leaves. Especially the underneath of them. This happened to one of mine and it was infested with aphids. They were spreading to the bushes beside it because a few of the top leaves were starting to curl and there were aphids present. I treated the bushes with lady beetles I ordered from Gardens Alive, which did the trick, but I would recommend an insecticide for aphids, because I probably wouldn't do the lady beetles again.

Let us know what you find out once you look at the bush.

If aphid infestation on a burning bush is like that on roses, a good blast with a garden hose will dislodge many of them, too.