African Violets and Gesneriads: They're only Cylamen Mites., 1 by ineedacupoftea

ineedacupoftea wrote:
I observed tight crowns on some violets. I acquired violets from a place or two and did not quarentine properly.
Don't worry, this story ends nicely and Bertram finally marries Helen.
I repotted these and they started to recover. Others didn't. During this whole story, I was too busy outdoors or being in a another state to pay close attention. I read and read and between drying out too much, salt buildup from coir (in some mixes) and buildup from fertilizer salt, I could not pinpoint the problem that was beginning to show up more and more. Retrospect- some plants were sufferening the odd soil problems. And something else...

Meanwhile, I had done a simple plant phytotoxicity test on a Noid to see if Acephate (Ortho systemic) was damaging to violets. Nope.

I talked to some folks at the Missouri BG Home gardening research center and they were certain it was mites. Gery of "Pat's Pets" in Missouri said something wise- spray for bugs to narrow down and troubleshoot. Brilliant man.
I learned more about soil needs.
I started some leaves in fresh, plain MG potting mix and had happy pups. No problem. This confiused the mite diagnosis in my head. But then they slowed down. The kicker was when one of my (originally healthy and vibrant) AVs from Jill (Critterologist) started to act wrong. Yep. Had to be mites.
For the record, I am completely certain that Jill was not the source of mites. Symptoms that I now know were 100% mite-related showed up before her plants arrived)

A few weeks ago, I started the endevour. Oh boy. I carried all of the silly fuzzball plants each Friday (day off) to the patio, and wearing latex gloves with Acephate hand-spray, set about covering every square inch of every plant. Every week. I thas been several sprayings and certain plants proved to me that it was mites. Pictures are coming on this.

Last Saturday night- no, Saturday from 3pm to 1am, I sprayed and repotted every African Violet I have into a 1:2 Perlite: Miracle Grow potting mix. I couldn’t get a better one than MG standard, but knew it would work. My aversion to perlite is a silly different story.

Picture: Potting day on the patio. That is a seat that looks remarkably like a bag of MG mix. All of my AVs and some other gessies, and Cyclamen. All of those outdoors plants had been taking the rest of my time.