Hey you TX gardeners,
It is my first year to garden and it was going fantastic but suddenly, everything (almost) is dying on me. Is it the heat? It is 100+ every day and full sun here in Austin. I'm really bummed.
I have a large lavendar penta that is turning yellow and dying. Hibiscus that is suddenly turning a mottled yellow/green on the leaves. Crepe Myrtle that has been fighting a zillion aphids and so losing all its leaves. Tomato plants that finally got a bunch of fruit but now has some leaf mold and blight. My salvias are dying as well as my pentunias. My french marigolds have some weird deal on their leaves...looks like white speckles all over...spider mites? Vincas are dying as well. My Vitex is turning yellow from the bottom leaves and creeping up. Croton is also dying.
On the good side, my beauty berry is gorgeous with turning purple, my bougies look pretty good, my ficus has gone bonkers, the blue plumbago has gone crazy growing like a weed. The zinnias look good too. The pink penta is still doing fantastic. OH and I have one pink petunia that is doing great.
So is it the heat? Do I have tons of bugs? I find these dang worms all the time on everything.
Does anyone have suggestions or am I just a brown thumb and should give up?
Thanks, Michelle
Almost everything dying! what is the malfunction?
On your pentas and tomatoes check for rust, it will be yellow spots on top of the leaves and rust pustules on the undersides.
For the others, can you get us pictures?
Are they dying from the top down, or from the soil up? Did they wilt first, lose their leaves, have mold or mildew on the stem? Spray your aphids with soapy water, any dish detergent mixed in water will do, you can even add rubbing alcohol for an added punch!
I am the champion TX plant killer, can't have you killing more plants than I have!
Michelle, don't give up! I am sure we have all gone through this. The lavender penta may be suffering from too much water. If they are in potting soil that has slow release fertilizer, they can burn when given extra water in this extreme heat. I have lost a lot of plants due to the potting soil I usually buy having had fertilier added to it which I had not noticed was written on the bags when I purchased it. It used to not have fertilizer in it. The hibicus may need to be fertilized or may be suffering from too much water. Did you have it in a container and happened to move it? Hibiscus will do this, if they are moved. I have never had aphids on my crepe myrtle; but, calalily has the solution to that problem. If the tomatoes are the ones you planted this spring, it is time for them to look raggedity. Try severely cutting them back. They may just be through for the year. It is time for the petunias to look sick due to the heat. I cut mine down to a few inches above the soil, fertilized them and because they are in pots, placed them in filtered sun. They are rebounding. I will move them back into full sun when the temperatures cool somewhat. The ones in partial sun still look pretty good, but I am cutting them back in a few days. If the petunias are in the ground, try cutting them back and fertilizing them (use half strength if they are in full sun). Some of my salvias looked "weak" and I fertilized them with half strenth fertilizer and they look better now. Which of your salvias look sick? Marigolds will be attacked ferociously by spider mites when the temperatures are hot. I quit growing them in the summer because of this. I plant them in September now when they will not be infested because the weather is cooler. Once damaged by the spider mites, you might try cutting them back and spraying them with Safer soap or your own soap mixture. Your vitex is probably just suffering from the heat (hopefully). Mine tended to drop a few leaves at this time of the year. Don't water the vincas until they wilt some and then give them a deep soaking trying not to have any water get on the leaves. Give them some mild fertilzer if you haven't done so. Mine looked a bit ragged so I fertilized them and they look better.
Thanks Ladies! I did the soapy water deal on my CMs 3 days ago and I think it worked. I will spray again as I see more. I hurt my back 2 weeks ago so I was out of commission for over a week and wasn't able to get on those aphids...they did a lot of damage.
I'll take pictures and post them...my pentas are in the ground. Anyway, I gotta run off to a pampered chef party in which DH said I'm not allowed to buy anything. haha. It is on the opposite side of Austin so I better get into the shower and get moving.
I'll write more details and post pictures later. Thanks very very much.
Michelle
Okay ladies...I have pictures....
This is my lavendar penta....it is in the ground...it gets morning sun, then it gets shade until about 1:30...then sun all the way until sunset.
Here is a pic of the same penta closer up on the problem area...
French marigold problem...spider mites i think...
My Vitex yellowing from bottom on up...it is in a huge pot. Gets all afternoon sun...maybe I am over watering it?
Yellowing hibiscus leaves...in a pot, gets sun for about 5 hours a day. And yes Hazel, I moved it from the back to the front so it wouldn't get the harsh afternoon sun.
Sick Salvias. These are the red flame. This just happened in the last 2 weeks.
A very sad Croton. It started dropping its leaves about a month ago. It is almost bare.
I am about to give up on this double impatien. I don't think I'll ever buy these again...just can't keep spider mites off them!
Weird spots on my geraniums...then they go completely brown and die. over watering?
Is this the sadest petunia you've ever seen? I didn't bother taking a picture of the Crepe Myrtles b/c they are way sad. It seems the soapy water worked but the leaves have almost all yellowed and are falling off.
To leave you with a plant that is doing great and is so pretty...my beauty berry...
Thanks everyone for looking at my pictures and for your gracious encouragement. I'm pretty bummed b/c the flower beds looked so wonderful up until about 2 or 3 weeks ago.
Hazel, I cut back a couple of my tomato plants. The other 4 have lots of little baby maters on them but not sure if they will mature properly in this heat.
Thanks everyone!
Michelle
Michelle,
My hibiscus are dropping a few leaves after they have yellowed as are some of my other plants due to the heat. Your petunia looks like about what it should this time of year. It is suffering from the heat. It sure looks like there are spider mites on the French marigolds. Try pulling off the yellowing leaves on the pentas and don't water them unless they look a bit "wilty". The vitex may just be losing leaves due to the heat. A lot of plants do this in hot weather. Some of my red salvias look like yours so I think that this is not abnormal for this time of year. Some of my impatiens look just like yours. Feed them some half strength fertilizer and wait for the first first "cold front" to come through the area which should be happening soon. Your geraniums might have leaf burn. Are they in full sun? If so, move them to a shadier area if you can. These are the "dog days" of summer and the plants are resting a bit in the heat. Good luck.
Thanks Hazel. You are so encouraging to me. I was just outside with DH and he can't believe how the spider mites have taken over the marigolds. Everything just seems to be burned up and/or eaten up. Good to know that it isn't abnormal! I am feeling quite discouraged until I read your email...so thanks very much.
The geraniums do not get sun until about 2pm and then they are in full sun until sundown. So you think that is too much for them?
Cold front soon hu? I certainly hope so. Bryan and I went for a walk around the neighborhood and I could hardly breath it is so muggy and hot. 92 degrees at 8:10pm...geewiz, I'm ready for fall.
So you think a lot of these plants might perk up once the heat is off?
michelle
Move your geranium in a spot where it does not receive any afternoon sun. They may perk up some, but then the days will shorten and most will start to wind down for the winter.
When you water your geranium, try not to wet the leaves.
I agree with Htop, the marigold has spider mites and the penta looks like it does too.
Thanks ladies. I think I've had the attack of the spider mites. Just about everything is consumed with them right now. Is there any way to get rid of them? I think that they are on my hibiscus too...I looked closer at the leaves and I see little white dots that looks suspicially like the white on the marigold leaves.
I'm going to spray mine with Neem oil this evening, if that doesn't work, I'm going to use Avid.
I noticed yesterday that everything is getting them. We have more insect problems after they harvest the crops here, I think the bugs all go to peoples yards after they harvest the cotton and sorghum. I noticed some kind of leaf roller is doing a lot of damage, but I can't use dipel, I have monarch cats!
So you are having probs with spider mites and bugs big time right now too Calalily? It seemed like in the last 2 or 3 weeks that the amount of harmful bugs increased 100x. I've heard Neem is great...for tomato plants as well. I plucked a tomato off today that was ripe and it looks like it has little white dots in it...should I not eat you think? I don't want to eat a spider mite infected mater!
The spots on the tomato are caused by a different bug, I usually just peel and eat, lol.
I like neem, just don't use it during the heat of the day, early morning or late evening is safer.
It is bug city down here, lol.......mosquitoes, spidermites, mealy bugs, whitefly, leaf roller thingies on my gomphrena........not an aphid in sight though.