What should I do with this unhappy honeysuckle?

[katewitch]

It was planted this year and has grown from about 60cm tall to the top of the fence. However...

1. As you can see, a ton of leaves have fallen off leaving huge areas bare. There are a few spots of new growth on these stems but it doesn't seem right to me, they've been bare since May... no flowers either.

2. Leaves have what may be powdery mildew on them - see photos! - how worried should I be about this?

They haven't flowered but are still growing at the top and needing to be pulled back from going over the fence so can't be completely unhappy surely?

I'm a newish gardener and not sure what to do for the best. When winter comes should I hard prune it when dormant and hope it comes back better next year? Should I give up on it and plant something else instead?

It's my only unhappy plant and it's making my trellis area look terrible please help me!

It actually doesn't look very unhappy to me. Just very young.

The key is the remember where honeysuckle like to grow - twining through existing shrubs and trees. So they need slight/dappled shade. If they are in full sun they can struggle. Plus, the habit of twining through existing foliage means they can grow with quite bare stems.

If your plant is in the right spot (partial shade) then I would be tempted to wait until the end of winter/start of spring then take all stems down to about 50cm to encourage new, vigourous growth next year. Keep your eye on that growth and train it into your trellis to give it a good base shape.

See how you go from there. I find honeysuckly sometimes takes a couple of years to get properly started - and they can be quite vigourous.

That may be the problem then - its in full sun as the place I bought it from listed that as fine...

So if I hard prune it in the winter and see how it goes next year it may do okay? I'd be tempted to relocate it and put a climbing rose in that spot instead but I don't have anywhere to move it to sadly

Spray or smear milk on the leaves with powdery mildew on when its a sunny day (hopefully you get this week's heatwave OP!) The enzymes in the milk react with the UV light to kill the fungus.

Mine is similar but older so bigger, it's defo the sun. This year is the best it's ever been in the 5yrs I've been here, because the weather wasn't so hot so early. Every Yr I think I'm going to plant something else but give it one more Yr...

It's in pride of place in the garden (clearly a poor choice!) so I may try to relocate the poor thing to a pot for a shadier area after pruning in the spring

Mildew on the leaves means it's not getting enough water at the roots. Honeysuckle is a hardy old plant. I cut mine back hard every now and then. By hard, I mean down to 10 or so cm. Each stem will send up new shoots next spring and become a bushy shrub.

@katewitch

That may be the problem then - its in full sun as the place I bought it from listed that as fine...

So if I hard prune it in the winter and see how it goes next year it may do okay? I'd be tempted to relocate it and put a climbing rose in that spot instead but I don't have anywhere to move it to sadly

Try and see how it does. As op said water it well now and then when you prune in spring, mulch with a manure/compost mix so it's well fed for the next growing season. Keep it well watered but not waterlogged next spring/summer.

My established one is in full sun in the afternoon in a west facing garden and it has always done well. Occasionally it has the same problem with leaves dying back and mildew. It doesn’t affect the following years growth, just makes it less pretty this year. I find they take a couple of years to really take off but once they do they are very vigorous.

You could plant the climbing rose beside it and then the honeysuckle will grow through it. Together they'll get pretty big though

Honeysuckle wants sun on its flowering growth but wants its roots moist. You could try a rock at the base to stop water evaporating from the soil - don’t put it in place till after winter when the soil is thoroughly soaked.

Powdery mildew is an indication of dry roots and moist air, treat it as a useful indicator rather than as something to be alarmed about.

You can prune honeysuckle quite hard in the early spring

It is probably lack of water as the other poster said. Try giving it a deep, long watering with a hose running very slowly at the roots once a week or so.

Powdery mildew. I gave up on our honeysuckle because of it. It was not in a good position. Too dry and poor soil