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peony problem and spider mites maybe? #874315

Asked June 23, 2024, 4:18 PM EDT

hi ~ My peony is not looking well. The blooms this year were only good for a day or two and since then the plant leaves have been turning brown/drying out (even with watering) and the stems are turning brown/black at the bottom. Can it be saved? Also and maybe related, I've had lots of very fine cobwebs near the bottom of several plants this year. I took a picture today right before I sprayed it away with the hose. Are these spider mites? If so, what can I do to save my plants and get rid of them? If not, what could it be? I've had a few plants not looking well this year, while others have done amazing. I have a very small front garden, so anything that's going on will affect it all.

Howard County Maryland

Expert Response

The peony symptoms are consistent with Botrytis (also called Grey Mold), a very common fungal disease that can infect peonies. Our wet spring weather was likely complicit in higher rates of infection this year. You can trim off any stems with dieback or blackened lesions, like in the photos, but otherwise nothing needs to be done. (Fungicide won't cure existing disease, and the plant should regrow next spring if its roots are otherwise healthy.) You can keep monitoring it for watering needs, just to minimize any dry weather stress, by feeling the soil about five inches deep, watering only once it becomes somewhat dry to the touch at that depth. If damp when checked, watering is probably not needed, and we want to avoid over-watering so the roots don't die back from staying too soggy. When watering, try to avoid getting the leaves wet, but if that's not possible, just water early in the day so the foliage can dry off by nightfall. This helps reduce the plant's vulnerability to infection, since many pathogen spores more easily infect their host when leaf surfaces stay wet for long periods.

The webbing pictured does not look due to spider mites, especially since with that much silk, the foliage would look quite damaged (and it does not). Instead, it's just from spiders, which are helpful garden predators worth having around since they prey on insects. No intervention is needed in this case, and while hosing-off foliage can help suppress spider mite outbreaks, aside from that purpose, it is best avoided to discourage the kinds of infections mentioned above, including leaf spot diseases.

Miri
hi Miri ~

Thank you so much for your quick reply and your help! I'm glad it doesn't look like mites and that I have some good spiders in the garden. :)

~ Carrie

On Mon, Jun 24, 2024 at 5:45 PM Ask Extension <<personal data hidden>> wrote:
The Question Asker Replied June 28, 2024, 6:11 PM EDT

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