Sick brugs

I have three brugs that aren't doing too well. Their leaves are mottled and dropping off. I can't see any bugs, but I've sprayed them anyway. This started about 2 weeks ago. Do you think they have a virus? If so, I'll throw them in the dumpster. I have two more brugs that are away from these that I don't want to take a chance of getting this, whatever it is. With only having 5 brugs still alive after wintering them over, I don't want to lose all of them if I can help it.

Thanks for any help you can offer. I'm going to be posting several pictures from different angles.

Joan

Picture 2

Picture 3

Picture 4

Picture 5, the last one. Thanks again for any help or advice you can offer.

I don't know much at all about brugs but just wanted to say that it looks like you have them in the house, right? One of mine did the same thing and once I took it outside it perked back up and the new leaves were fine, but like I said, I don't really know. Would hate to see you throw them away though if there's nothing really wrong. Hope someone comes along really quick to give you a professional answer as there are so many brug experts here. Thank goodness for those of us who have no clue :o)

JoanJ, The new growth looks like it wants to be healthy, I would not give up on them yet.
John

Yes, they are in the house. I started these from cuttings last year and then brought them in the house last fall when it got cold. I put them in the crawl space and let them go dormant. I brought them out around a month ago and started watering them, fed them some plant food and they started growing again. They will go outside just as soon as the weather stays warm enough. I lost some of the ones I wintered over that way, but I still have 5 live ones. These three got sick a couple weeks ago and I don't know what to do with them. It will be about 3 more weeks before they can go outside, so I'm hoping someone can tell me what to do with them. However, if they have a virus, I will throw them out in order to save the two other ones that aren't sick.

like Brugmania said above, the new leaves look like they are coming out healthy. Don't give up. It could be too that they are in shock from being in the dark, perhaps? I had mine infront of the glass sliding doors all winter long where they got plenty of sun and they did their own thing by loosing all of their leaves and as it got sunnier and warmer, the leaves started to grow like mad. At first they were all speckled and floppy like yours but I just let them go, hoping that all was ok and now they are fine. Don't give up on them yet :o)

Thanks John! Do you have any idea what's wrong with them or if it will spread to my two healthy ones?

Susan, these leaves are all new since I brought them out of dormancy. They had no leaves left after they spent the winter in the crawl space of the house. These leaves got sick after they were growing for awhile.

This message was edited Wednesday, Apr 23rd 11:05 PM

Poor you! Gee from here I would say a bad case of spider mites. Have you looked on the bottom side of the leaves for them?

Hi JoanJ I have had the same thing happen to mine, it seems to me they need to be drier during the winter, you can try letting them completely dry out before watering. Also try mixing a little sand in with your potting mix, they seem to like a little sandier soils. I have a varigated leaf Brug and it started doing this a couple of weeks ago, so I moved it to a really sunny location and stopped watering it and low and behold it popped back up. Hope this helps you. Carnyhoe

Kell, I have looked at all the leaves and don't see a thing. I even sprayed them just in case I was missing something, but that didn't seem to help either.

carnyhoe, I will let them dry out and see if they get better. I do keep them watered, because I always thought that was what brugs wanted. Maybe I was wrong. After they dry out I'll repot them into different potting soil and add some sand too.

Thanks everyone. I won't throw them out yet unless someone tells me that it might be a virus.

hmmmmm..........mine always went limp if they didn't have enough water. Mine are always thursty and during the winter if I didn't water them they would start to let their leaves go limp. As soon as I watered they would perk back up.........weird. Good luck Joan, they will be alright, I'm sure :o)

Don't toss them Joan. They probably just need some good old sunshine and outside temps when the time is right. I had a couple that did that and since I'm moved them outside, they are putting on new and beautiful growth. Give them time.

Nothing to be worried about. You are in 4 I am in 7. It is normal for much brugs to have such strange looking leafes.
Soon they will have good leafes again.

No, don`t toss them. I can be mistaken. Do you have them in a window, where the sun often shines through?

If you are worried, just keep them separated from your other 2 until they shape up! Maybe Monika or Cala will show up, I bet they would know. I do remember Cala telling me that there was a mite that you could not see that was attacking brugs. I just wonder because of the white I see on the top of the leaves. My brugs look like that when a mite infestation has gotten out of control.

Yes, they are sitting by the big patio door and get sun all day long. I did move my other two brugs away from these, and they are in the bay window. If they can hold on for about 3 more weeks, they can go outside. Still a little too cold here for them though.

Joan, the one that I had closest to the patio glass door got spots just like that and the one that was further away didn't. Just don't toss them!!! They will be fine :o)

So how are you my friend? Hope you're doing alright.

Joan, here is one of my mite ridden leaves that your pic reminded me of, but the mites were obvious on the backside. They are gone now, just the damage left behind............ thank goodness!

Joan,I bellieve they are ok.They just need to be outside for a while.Too little light,too much water and or cool temps cause this.Another thing that can cause deformed leaves is strong insecticides.

kell, yes, those do look like my brug leaves. I don't now why I don't see the mites though.

gone2seed, yes, I did spray them with an insecticide after this all started, but that didn't seem to make this whole process quit right away. But now, there is some new growth that isn't bad, so maybe..just maybe.. keeping my fingers crossed here. I'm waiting a few days for the soil to dry out and then I'm going to repot them into fresh soil with some sand added. I'm going to try everything I can.

Thanks everyone for all the help. I was so afraid it was a virus or something. Newbie brug addicts must be the worst for you people, with all our stressing out over everything. :)

I'll keep you posted on their status.

Joan

Maybe then you did have mites and that they are gone now which is why the new growth looks good.

Everytime I see something wrong with my brugs I am sure I have a virus Joan! Ask Tonny! I have emailed him in a panic sure my brugs were doomed. I am afraid to have daturas, geraniums or impatiens near my brugs now. Liz once emailed me back not to worry about any virus unless it had black spots. I felt so relieved for about 2 days and then I noticed black spots on one of my sangs........LOL! So do no worry, I think everyone has fears! I have tried to find pictures of brugs with a virus, but haven't come across any.