I don't know why, these leaves grew like this - they weren't this way last year. The plant was knocked back to the ground this winter, and grew back this way in the spring.
It gets morning sun, and plenty of water. I top-fed composted horse manure this spring, and scratched in a time-release fertilizer; the plant was already this way before any of that happened.
Anybody ever seen this?
Wow thats different. I'm interested to see what others say I don't have a clue.
Steve did the leaves have greenfly or some other aphids on them when they were young?
Aphids can make leaves do that, they usually hatch out as the leaves unfurl and sap the juices out of them, making them distorted.
Janet,
They might have, but I wouldn't know them if I saw them.
I bought an alocasia Wentii a few weeks ago, re-potted it, and put it in the same area as the Mickey Mouse (not ready to put it in the ground yet). It started developing brown spots on the leaves. I posted it here in the aroids forum, and the general feeling was that it was reacting to re-potting, and new growth would be OK.
I'm wondering if one plant didn't have a problem, and it's affecting the other.
Janet, how do I check for aphids? Look for small bugs on the plant?
Steve
I don't know what they are susceptible to regarding brown spots.
Aphids are small soft sap sucking things with little legs, they start tiny and grow but don't get very big. There's usually a lot of them together, greenfly are bright green, some others are brownish or black.
If you see the leaves curled and puckered at the edges when they're unfolding they hide in the folds, but you can find them under the stems, or in the tender heart where the plants are soft and juicy.
Steve-
I have found that this is normal for many X. MM. As the plant matures more leaves will show this unusual pattern.
A search on the web states that it is not a disease; it is a mutation associated with the breeding.
However, I do find that pests like to hide in the folds.
ROX
I am wondering about how you mentioned another plant planted in same area was having some type of problem also ? Could they possible affecting each other ?
I hope you can find an answer of how to help these plants ! I'll be keeping an eye on results never know when something could happen to our plants good to learn as much as possible.
Thanks.
Mine are just like that, possibly even more distorted. The nursery I got them from said it was a genetic mutation. Anyhow, I love em and plan to head back to that nursery this year for more.
Mine were like that last year, then the leaf got smoother as the plant matured. I haven't seen a sign of life yet this year and only hope they return. I love Mickey.
So, maybe there's hope for it yet...
Mine started out like that this spring but I moved it to where it gets very little sun and it is looking great.
Thanks for that info. I didn't realize that it was the sun doing that! I'll have to find it some shade. It's doing great otherwise; it must have produced 15-20 pups so far this year.
Steve
I'm not sure if it is the sun doing this or not, I just know once mine was moved to a shader spot it started doing better.
