Lilac help!

I have a 'Miss Kim' lilac in the front of my Zone 5 house. It looks like it has some kind of disease. The leaves have gone yellow in many spots and the yellowed leaves have brown patches on them. The leaves do not appear or feel dried out even though we've had a brutally dry summer. It bloomed nicely this spring and then....this. I am a novice gardener but I thought the problem could be a soil nutrient deficiency. I have fertilized it with a Gardens Alive general fertilizer, but it hasn't helped. My front yard gets only partial sun, and I know this plant would be happier in my much sunnier back yard, but I am reluctant to attempt to move it. If anyone could identify this problem and help me save this poor bush I would really appreciate it.

How long has it been growing in its present location? If not long, you could move it in late fall when dormant. I've had great success moving shrubs like that. If it's been there a few years and is blooming well, I would'nt move it. I don't know how to direct you, but you could search for pics of lilac diseases and pest damage and perhaps find the culprit and remedy the problem. A lot of lilacs get really ugly this time of year, but bloom and perform well in spring. I'm not an advocate of chemicals, so I plant those more suseptible varieties behind other things that will obscure them in late summer. Good luck, Neal.

I don't think this is a nutrient deficiency and the fertilizing you are doing might be stressing the plant and aggravating the situation. You might want to stop fertilizing the plant.

What you described is not sounding the greatest considering I live in Illinois and have seen quite a few lilacs go down to Bacterial Blight. Anyway, check this and see if this might not be the culprit- Pseudomonis syringae.

Please do a google web search for images of Bacterial Blight on Lilacs.

If this is what you have, there are some options.

Oops, I've just done some quick searching and I misspelled the word I told you to go and search. Here is the correct spelling- Pseudomonas syringae. Great help I was sending you on a wild goose chase. Really sorry.

Here's a few links I found for you to take a look at-

Bacterial Blight on Lilac leaves-
http://www.extension.iastate.edu/Pages/plantpath/diseases/bact-pict.html

Little bit more info-
http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/hortnews/1994/5-25-1994/lilac.html
Hint, I spray all of my tools with Lysol spray after I dip them in a mild dilution of bleach water and let them dry. I mix my bleach water at about 1 part to 5 or 6.

More information-
http://cecommerce.uwex.edu/pdfs/A2538.PDF#search='bacterial%20blight%20lilac'
I wouldn't recommend using the chemical they suggested or any other comparable product. My experience is that it staves off the inevitable and the plant just ends up with the infection again the following year. Even using a chemical is tricky in that you need to begin applying this at 7 day intervals starting about the month before bud break in spring reapplying if it rains. If you are consistent, it may help to reduce symptoms but I don't think I know anyone out there who had Bacterial Blight who was ever able to get rid of it even if they were food about using a chemical conscientiously and according to the label. Other prune affected branches. Seems as if by the time they are done pruning 1' below all affected areas, there isn't much lilac left.

There were quite a few sites I found on this so you might want to search on your own.

Are you able to post photos of your leaves?