poorly lilac

I have a lilac (I believe) in a pot rescued from a late relative. Can anyone help me by explaining what is wrong with the leaves please? The new ones grow at the ends looking healthy enough but the others look really dry



That's it in its pot.

 

Looks like leaf miners, wouldn't worry too much at this end of the year, it'll be loosing the leaves soon.

 

Thank you. I thought leaf miner left trails, but maybe they've all filled in together! I think it has happened before so maybe it needs re-potting. It has been in there for years. Can I leave it in a pot (suitably refreshed) or is better in the ground?

 

That container looks much too small for the size of the plant, especially since Lilac roots grow really fast.

I have a dwarf Lilac in a 60cm pot. It was a fairly small plant when I bought it two years ago and I put it in a 50cm container.

When I repotted it this year, its roots had already filled the pot (and the root system was very heavy!).

This is the Lilac this summer in the 60cm wide pot - the roots will probably have filled this by now.



Although it seems happy enough in its pot, I plan to plant it in the ground once the leaves have dropped, since the roots clearly need a lot of space to expand and I have the perfect spot for it in my front garden

Aside from the leaf damage, your plant itself doesn't look very healthy so would probably benefit from some hard pruning. Is it in a sunny spot because they do like a lot of sun?

They don't need much in the way of fertiliser but some bonemeal in spring would be beneficial.

Hope this helps

 

Thank you for all that helpful info. It is in a sunny spot but now I have to decide if I want to keep it in a pot and severely prune it or send it to lilac heaven (nowhere for it in the garden.) It has a "friend" in a matching spot so I have two to worry about. That one is much healthier. Decisions decisions!

 

And, despite what Elkie Brooks says, don't make wine from it, it'll kill you.

 

If you need to keep it in a pot, get, one of those large ones you can get for trees would suit. Hartcanna do them in all sizes

If you don't want to keep it, how about donating it to a neighbour or a local communal gardens.

 

Good thought although I'm not sure who would want a moth eaten lilac!

 

Blimey...you learn something new every day