Spider spotted on daisy - plant not healthy :(

Hey all,
I have a beautiful violet African daisy plant. It was healthy for quite some time. I re potted it after a few days of purchase. It gave good flowers - lesser than what the nursery brought had... but it was healthy looking with green leaves and small buds.
Last 2 weeks the leaves at the bottom are yellow-ing and the new buds are drying out even before reaching a blooming size. I also noticed that the leaves are curling inwards. I sprayed the miracle grow house plant bug spray on it last week. But today i spotted a brown spider on the plant. Is that the cause of all this?
I dont want to loose my pretty flowering plant.
Pls advice me what to do with it...
--very worried gardener

This message was edited Jun 9, 2007 8:49 AM

Need to know some other info. How often are you watering it? Yellowing and dropping of leaves can be caused by overwatering. What kind of exposure is it getting? What is the room temp? And does the plant require humid, dry, whatever, conditions and is it getting it? Also, have you fertilized it since it showed signs of stress? Fertilizer for stressed plants is not good.

Spiders don't hurt plants, in fact they actually help them because they eat the insects that might chew on the plant.

It's hard to tell exactly what's going on from that pic but it looks and sounds like a cultural issue, probably too much or too little water. I can't tell for sure from your pic, but your plant looks a bit big for the pot it's in, I'm going to guess that the plant has become very rootbound, when this happens it's very hard to get the plant the amount of water it needs no matter how much you water because there are a ton of roots that all want water, and not very much soil around them to hold the water. Can you pop the plant out of the container and see if you see a big mass of roots, probably some of them will be growing round and round the pot. If that's what you see, then it needs to be potted into something larger, make sure you try to loosen the roots up some first.

This plant will be hardy outdoors for you, and I've grown these both in pots and in the ground and they tend to be much happier in the ground. However, since we're getting into summer this may not be the best time to put it out in the garden especially since it's already stressed, so if I'm right about it being rootbound then I'd pot it up in something larger and keep it on your patio or something for the summer, then plant it out in the fall.

Lastly, if it turns out not to be rootbound, overwatering is the other thing that will cause symptoms like that so I'd make sure you check down a couple inches into the soil and make sure it's not still wet down there before you water any more.

Thank you for the immediate reply naturelover and ecrane! i really appreciate it.
I did a little homework on the plant a few weeks back. Its a hardy drought resistant plant and needs medium water. I water it may be 2 times a week as san diego is getting really hot and sunny in the afternoons (68-70F). I noticed that if i water it sparingly- once a week, the leaves and flowers droop down. When i water it, an hrs time they look better and straight up. It needs full sun, but mine sites at the edge of the patio giving it partial sun and shade everyday.
I will pop the plant out and see whats going on under there. Over watering can be the major issue. I think i am doing that. But its very difficult to measure whats the right amt.

** I am posting the full plant pic **

I really think it's potbound and that's causing your problems, the plant does look too big for that pot. When that happens, the plant ends up in a continual state of stress from lack of water. I think if you repot it'll be much happier. You may also not be watering enough (even if it wasn't potbound), if your weather is hot containers dry out much faster than the ground would, so in the hottest weather I'll end up watering even my somewhat drought tolerant pots once a day or every other day. The other thing that could be happening if the pot is in sun during the hottest part of the day, the roots may be getting too hot--dark colored containers are going to absorb a lot of heat from the sun and then the roots will get much hotter than they want to be.

Hey Ecarne, thank you so much for the quick advise. I repotted the plant today into a double sized container. I hope it gets healthier now. I also visited the nursery to get the pot and they advised me against using any of the miracle gro fertilizer - they say it kills the helpful bacteria and causes the soil to loose water.
Do you use miracle gro bug killer? She didnt say anything abt that, but just being cautious abt ther products now.....
Thanks again for your advice, really appreciate it :)

I don't really use any bug killers, just a nice jet from the garden hose. The only time I'll resort to pesticides is in the greenhouse during the winter when I have all my plants packed in tight and things can really spread quick, then I'll use insecticidal soap for bugs and neem oil for fungus. I didn't know Miracle Gro made bug killers but if they do I doubt if they're any better or worse than any other brand that uses the same active ingredient.

I use MG potting mix for many of my containers and have never had any problems with my plants, it has some of the MG fertilizer in it so if it was going to be terrible for your plants then I should have seen some bad effect by now. MG fertilizer isn't going to be any better/worse than any other synthetic fertilizer, if you want to garden organically and avoid synthetic fertilizers then don't use it but otherwise it's not going to do anything any worse than the others. I'm not sure how many beneficial microbes hang out in containers to begin with, in your garden I would definitely worry about taking care of them but in containers I don't think there are nearly as many of them to begin with and they're not going to play as big a role in keeping the plant healthy as they would in the garden. I also don't see how MG would make the soil lose water, at least not in any significant amount. So if you've always used MG in the past and liked it I don't really see a reason to change.

If you have room in the garden,in a sunny place, shove them into the dirt(hopefully well drained...in that situation they are as tough as old boots and will rapidly spread!.....they don't like wet feet and will appreciatea good cutting back after flowering...they will root wherever they touch the ground ....have fun:-)

I agree with your point of view Ecrane. I am guessing that they were just making a good sale on their expensive fertilizers! I bought one now and will use it and note the difference in my plants-if any.

Thanks for you help Chrissy, appreciate it! But i am at an apartment, so cant really put it in soil. But what you are saying is true. The plants growing to much so fast that I will have to trim it down to keep its shape in control :) and of course to cut the old flowers.