I am growing 4 o’clocks from seeds as I do every summer. I noticed that some of the leaves have white marks on them. I’ve never had a problem like this with them. I tried to do some Googling but haven’t been able to find anything. Does anyone know what these marks might be?
As some background info, I saved these seeds from last year’s 4 o’clocks. I grew those ones from seeds that I purchased.
Thank you!
Possible leaf miner damage. There are several insect larvae that cause this. Perhaps Flapdoodle, who haunts the insect identification forum, can pinpoint the critter. Post it there. If it is leaf miners, though disfiguring, they don't usually kill the plant.
Flapdoodle said he doesn’t think this in an insect. More a disease or environmental process. Any ideas?
Is the problem worsening? If not, it's not likely disease because of the localized nature. It's not sunburn. I saw his response and am leaning toward environmental or, more likely, thrips. It's possible thrips started in on them and were averted by predators.
As an aside, when do your four o'clocks open? A friend gave me seed from his grandmother's garden years ago. They are slowly spreading on a difficult slope. At some point I realized they were coming back each year and not from seed. But mine must open at 4 a.m. because I only see them open if I'm in the garden at daybreak and then a few hours more.
Okay, a little online research indicates the temperature is too hot for them to open in my zone at an earlier time. Their opening is triggered by cooling temperatures. So I do have 4 a.m. o'clocks.
I does not seem to be worsening and the affected plants still seem to be growing fine. I’ll have to keep an eye on them and also google thrips.
Mine open well after 4:00pm. Usually around 6:00 or 7:00 depending on how soon it starts to cool down. They are usually still open when I leave for work around 8:30am (I live in Pennsylvania). Sometimes they stay open on a cloudy, cooler day.
Also, I do believe 4 o’clocks have tubers. I container garden and last year when I was emptying out my containers for the year I was trying to get what was left of my 4 o’clocks out and they weren’t budging. I dug into the container and the tubers were HUGE! Looking back I should have tried to overwinter them. Anyway, I bet that’s why yours keep coming back.
