A problem or not?

Well, here again are the Walmart AVs I got, and me again with yet another question. I noticed yesterday that there is a bit of pollen on the flowers and a bit on the leaves. I went searching for begonia's post where she had pollen on hers and Allison, you said it looked like thrips. Mine don't appear to have nearly as much pollen spilled at hers did, but in an effort to be safe, I wanted to ask whether this could be thrips or most likely not. So I submit to you my photographic evidence... I know sometimes I come up with cornball problems where there aren't any, but still being pretty new to all this, I don't want to risk my AVs just to hide my own ignorance.

edited for spelling

This message was edited Jan 21, 2006 6:49 AM

See it on the leaf there?

Another one...

And the last one...

I have some Schultz Garden Safe Fungicide 3 ready-to-use spray, which contains 0.9% Clarified Hydrophobic Extract of Neem Oil; 99.1% Inert Ingredients. You can see it here http://www.gardensafe.com/ProductCategories/indoorinsecticide/Fungicide3/ and here if you scroll down to almost the bottom of the page, second to last product, and it tells all about it. http://homeharvest.com/insectspraysneembased.htm
If it appears to be thrips, I know to remove the flowers and buds. Does the above product sound safe to spray on AVs? I also have some Safer insecticidal soap, but from what I've read the Garden Safe stuff is more effective.
Thanks AGAIN for all the great help!

I'm not sure about the Thrips I'm half blind. I do know some of the blosoms are old and it's a good practice to remove all old blossoms right away in oder to control disease . Could be Thip's, Foliage Mealie, and or Mildew. Oneor all. I would ofcousover all vlossoms on this plant and any it's been around. Thrips can jump and carry on your hands, clothes. Always good iea to wash your hands well after working with isolated plants or out side. And bleach clean all trays and tools use before using with others. I don't know a lot about those Sprays. I'm sure in one ofthe Stickys and Doctor Optimarawill have answers. Isolate themfr mohs. rips can also carry a horrible virus.
good luck. And remmber always to remover old blossoms.

I'm off to remove the old blossoms right now. Should I just go ahead and remove them all and the buds to be safe? These need to be repotted anyway, and I have time to do that today,finally. These are in a completely separate room, the kitchen, from all that I have gotten from you, Allison (the living room). I didn't even open the boxes from you in the kitchen, but brought them straight to the living room and set them down. I think however, I'll move these to my laundry room. There's a window in there that they will fit perfectly in, and they'll be away from ALL of my other plants.
I didn't see anything specific at Doc Optimara about the spray I have, but it says its safe for all houseplants. I've noticed a lot of other sprays state not to use on velvety leaved plants. I might try it out on one of these four and see how the one fares. If it's still alright in a week or two, I'll spray the other three. I'm off to check the sticky again, as I didn't find anything about the spray the first time I skimmed through it. May well have missed it, though.
Thanks!

Oh man, hope it's not thrips- I don't know enough to tell one way or another- but those are awfully pretty!

I don't know enough, either april...that's why I posted to ask the experts! I do have down leaves of these (separate from Allison's leaves), so I'll have some to share a bit later on if you'd like. They're noids, assumed to be (the white one) Ultra Violet Meteor and Ultra Violet Flash (the purple one).
I'm still searching the sticky.

Hey Allison! Did ya see that??? My first *real* offer to share something I have down! LOL ;o)

I am pretty sure if all blossoms are kept off and treated you should be able to get rid of them. One thing
they will begin to starve as you've taken their food away. You will have to take all blossoms off of any plants near them, bought with them....been near them to be safe.
I was so afraid when I got bargain DP plants. They were all opened in other room with trash bag right there. Everything was thrown away , even the plastic tags. all flowers, dirt , roots, pots..everything. All I had left were the crowns that looked good.( And they were all washed ) Always cut any damaged , bruised , old, any kind of bad foliage or blossoms off when you get new plants and old plants too. Grooming is important it can also help to control future problems. My D&P crowns are rooting well, new growth no bad signs so far. I read in one of his Ebay feedbacks that a thrip jump right off the plant onto her hand ? I think you can put the plant over white paper and tape and sometimes see bugs, or blow and see them moving and then again many hide from light. A 3x power lens works well too.

That part Sharing is great !

Yeah Raingazer! Good for you!

Amy, I'm relatively new at this too, but after finding pollen spilled on mine, i feel like an expert thrip finder. Yours appears to be spilled pollen via thrips to me. I used safer soap on mine, removed all the blooms right away (sad as it is) but most are budded up again and it's only been 3 or more weeks. So have faith that with a bit of Eleanors or other food they'll respond.

For a while I had this theory that the av's travelling in the trucks from the nursery to the stores caused the flowers to vibrate as they rode along and spill their pollen. Good hypothesis until I actually saw the thrips with my naked eye. They are very tiny and if your eyesight is good you can see them, but being a rose grower, I know them well. You can take a piece of dark paper and once you cut the flowers off (if you decide to) shake the flowers over the paper and look for bugs. Sadly they hide in the forming buds too so you may want to consider taking them off too.

Ha! look at me Ali giving advise! Well, anyway, I've had lots of spilled pollen and overwatering experience now. So I feel pretty confident relaying my experiences.

On a high note, they are BEAUTIES! Nice Wallyworld find!! I got the most amazing lipstick vines there the other day. $5 Uh huh!
I already have cuttings rooted from them! They're fast!

One more important thing, don't let them near your Ali violets. I believe Ali keeps hers bug free so you don't want to spread to your new coveted babies. (but you probably already knew this) =)

Here's a sample of my REALLY badly spilled pollen plant who is just now blooming again - I'm watching her like a hawk. So far no pollen.

I sure try my very best to keep bug free. I hate even gnats lol. I have a lizy in my garden room I think he helps me out. lol He watches me. I say Hi little Lizzy !
Are you thirsty ! So I have hubby get me an inch of plain water and I pour it right down in front of him. And he drinks it all up then he likes to watch me ! I say little Lizy that's good water ! Sometimes I don't see him for a day or two then there he is looking for his water !
He's so cute. My understanding the eat bugs.
Lip stick plants are cool looking ! Good Price. Anything that comes from Nursery, store...should be sprayed good. If something grows outside it's not allowed back in the house. lol Either screen room, shed or covered but not back in in fear of bugs.
Laurie I feel most things are learned by experience or experience of others sharing to help us !

Oh gosh no! Nothing gets close to my Ali AVs! LOL That's why I chose to put hers in my living room. My plant stand is in the kitchen and I move stuff around on it all the time, change out the plants in my kitchen windows (I like variety in my scenery), etc, but the plants that are in my living room have been in here for several, several months, and have been preventively treated, closely inspected, and are completely on the other side of the room (22 ft) from my Ali AVs. My new plants (from Walmart, Lowes, HD, etc) go in the window in my back entry hall which leads into the kitchen, which was just too close for me to feel comfortable putting her plants in there. I treat the ones I get from Allison like museum quality artifacts and DARE someone to go close to them. LOL Thankfully, my kids are old enough to not bother my plants, and my dogs don't even notice that I have plants at all.

I am going to remove the blooms and buds from them. It's certainly worth it to nip the thrips in the bud. ;o) Did you completely soak yours, leaves, crown, and all with the Safer soap? Then what, let them air dry or dry them with a paper towel? I'm going to go find that thread where you were talking about your problem with thrips and read it again. I can't remember what all you did, but I do remember you did a Neem dunk, which is what made me ask about the spray I've got with Neem in it. I may just chance it and use that on them. I can attest to the fact that it works very well on scale, but that's another un-AV related story. *big eye roll*

I was surprised to find such pretty ones at Walmart, myself, and on clearance for 99c to boot!

Thanks for your help!

I remember seeing that picture of yours, and the pollen isn't spilled that badly on mine, so I wasn't sure if it was thrips or not. Maybe I've caught them in the early stages. I'm almost positive the pollen wasn't spilled like that until yesterday. I'm going to go see if I've got earlier pictures of those four and see if I see spilled pollen in those pics.

I did a neem dunk, but just turned the plant upside down in the pan of neem/water mixture.

I am not sure what experience you have with AV's but those of mine that were too wet, are sadly not happy. If you think the rootball or soil is too wet after treatment, I'd pull them out of the pot and set them on some paper towesl or clean cloth towels to wick away the moisture. If the pot feels heavy, it's probably too wet. (again, learned this the hard way!!! )

I bought one from the grocery store the other day, a real ruffled lavender beauty, the soil (way too much peat of course) was so soggy, I'm surprised that it made it in the store without dying. Anyway, I pulled it out of the pot for two days (well, half of one day until evening of the next) Here's a shot.

Too wet is a sure way to kill them. One of mine didn't have the pollen as bad as that fuschia one. the purple girl leaved one wasn't as bad, but was obvious.

Here it is, Just more obvious too since the petals are darker.

I'm still reading through all the pest links in the sticky. I won't know what I'm going to do til I start doing it. I do have down leaves of these, so if they don't survive the treatment, I have back-ups. I figure for every plant I lose, I learn a valuable lesson (you'd think I'd be a genius by now!). I'd sure rather practice on these and lose them, than lose a special plant from Allison or someone else on this forum. Thinking of Walmart when I look at a plant isn't so special, but thinking of one of y'all is! :o)

and im here in the bug capital of the world....om gosh....yikes..

Yes once you see pollen spill or see the problem the bugs have been there a long time. Same with mites and mealies....you can not see them not notice them until a problem shows up :((

Help me out here, isn't it normal to see a tiny bit of pollen on the petals? or should I consider myself- or my violets rather- infested if I see any amount of pollen on the flower?

April, maybe you can shoot some photos for us to look at. I'm certainly not the expert here. BUt with this group I'm sure you can get some answers.