The stems/branches on my beginer brugs :>) are withering and one feels squishy almost hollow.So before I flip out I just want to know is this normal.I did spray ortho for aphids not long ago :( I have been keeping them on the dry side and they get bright light....and I mist often also.. no feeding. I would hate for them not make it.
Hard to see in pic.
Kim
Some tip die back is not unusual in winter.That said,examine the one at six o'clock closely for some kind of fusarium at the leaf nodes.It may be nothing but it's worth checking.Also I'm betting the small cutting at 6:30 has mites.Some soap solution(soap not detergent) or 50-50 alcohol water mix will take care of those.Other than that your cuttings just have winter "blahs".
thanks gone2seed...is the soap good for fusarium too? I left these plants in pots hoping to get a headstart in spring..hope they make it.
Kim
Kim, are you keeping your pot with well drained pot? I'm overwintering some brugs myself and likes most plants, brugs don't tolerate wet feet well.
Fusarium? gone2seed, please share some info. on those?
Kim2
Yes Kim2 , they are well drained and I hardly water at all. I goggled fusarium and found out fusarium is stranglebrand something really bad.....must burn plants and such.
I hope this is not it.
ok, I'll look it up. Sound like some soilborn fungi or virus type of infection. Argrrrrr!!!!
Kim2
p.s. good lucks with your brugs.
There is a thread here on the forum "stranglebrand pictures".. I keep looking but I am not sure.
Thanks Kim2
Kim can you post a pic of just the ones that have the "ulcer" looking things on the branches? Is there any black on any of the nodes?
I hope it's nothing serious Kim! It's difficult to lose a brug.
here is one picture I will try to get a better one of the nodes.
Kim, I've found several threads on the mentioned diseases. Which yours looks perfectly healthy to me, it looks like a physical scratch. Has it felt over? A physical injury is my assessment.
Kim2
Yes thanks Kim2 they did get beat up pretty bad this summer in a few storms.
I visited a fellow DGer in Tenn. She's a zone cooler than mine, she plunged her brugs into the ground, pots and all. Then she dug them up at the end of the growing season before first frost hits. It does well for her, and she doesn't have to worry about them being knocked over by high winds. I'll try that out next season. :-)
Kim2
I made up my mind also ...a lot of stems got broken that I could not root.This Spring in the ground they go!!
:*)
Yeah, that is just mechanical... an owie.. that's all. I'm glad for you! It's scary when they get the "cooties" LOL
Yes it was very scary !! I saw all those pics and was nuts, up and down the steps looking at pics
every bump was suspect...what a sight my DH just gave me the LOOK. Glad thats over with.
Thanks Joyce
"cooties" :*) too funny
Cut those bad part off and throw in the trash. Squishy and hollow are bad, cut an inch or two below where you feel good stem. Then go wash your hands good. I bet it is Mr. Broadmite. For 1 plant the above instructions are good. Do it a few times.
How do you treat broad mite?
Kim someone told me in one of my original posts that brugs have lots of natural enemies and I'm sure finding out they were right. The more I watch and the more I read the more I worry. Everything seems suspect to me anymore! I guess this is the price a newbie pays untill she's earned her stipes, and boy is it ever nerve racking. I find myself running back and forth from the brugs to the PC, "Is this stranglebrand?" "What do dust mites look like?" "Why are my leaves yellowing?" "Is this just what Gone2seed calls the winter blahs?"
Argh!
Almost all of my cuttings rooted and took off beautifully. Now I'm seeing a lot of leaf drop and a couple of soft stems. "Am I overwatering?" "Am I underwatering?" "Should I be treating this?" "Should I be treating THAT?" "Is this anything to be worried about?" Back to the computer then back to the brugs I go.
Argh!
LOL!
We are very fortunate to have a group of brug-lovers like this bunch here to hold our hands and walk us through the rough spots.
Kim, for broadmites are one of the more difficult pests to treat. And the tx. that I've learned from fellow DGers are varied; some said to isolate the plant, and do nothing (?). Other recommended tx. with neem oils. My own nursery loaded me up with a big ole pot of systemic insecticide. Anyhoo, I've lost quite a few cuttings when I brought them to the gh (a modified gh). So I'm still bewildered with broadmites. Luckily, I still have quite a few of healthy looking brugs to count on for next growing season. I hope others will gather here on your post and share their experience with us. I'm relatively new to brugs. I've found brugs since 2004, still learning alot since.
Lala_Jane; I can relate. I've been there, done that. lol.
Kim2
La we are very fortunate!!! Zz told me we will have to earn each and every bloom....it is so helpful to have a place we can go to for support without hearing""sheesh it's just a plant" :).
Kim
Kim2 I am glad that you have some god cuttings next season.I lost a couple they were very thin and green.I am waiting for my neem oil by mail.Again I just what to thank everyone for helping us newbies!!..gotta check the ER. :*)
I don't cut off the dead or hollow part, it will just travel to the next node if you do that. Brugs decide on their own where to stop the dead tissue... for example, if you cut off a leaf, the stem will soon fall off on it's own. Sometimes a cutting will die back from the top and stop at a particular node, why? I don't know.. but if you cut it, it will continue to travel to the next node.
About SB or any of the cooties Brugs can get? Just be aware of the branches and any ugly "ulcers" or black rings around the nodes, black sunken spots, or what obviously looks horrible. I check my branches as often as I check for buds, mites, etc. You will soon be able to recognize a scar, scratch, or just where the stem is beginning to turn woody... Little "pimples" and stips of brown from slugs don't count...
Broadmites will attack the newer growth. The leaves will get bumpy curly and get crispy edges... you can't see Broad mites. Unlike spidermites who like it hot and dry, Broadmites thrive in a cool humid environment. If you suspect you have them.. then I'd spray every leaf, top and bottom, branches included with Neem and do it again in 5 to7 days. During winter, you probably don't want to use 2 in 1 cause it has fertilizer and will burn a healthy leafy plant.. it would probably kill one that is semi dormant. If it were spring, or you had an active growing plant.. I'd back up the Neem with Bayer's 2 in 1 for roses, as per Kell's advice which worked for me my first year after being plagued with Broadmites for 3 months!
Otherwise, you guyz are driving yourself nutz.. LOL That doesn't give you extra points for earning blooms.. LOL It just wears you out.
Been there, done that... .(still do)
Sound advices, thanks ZZ. Especially with the 2 in 1 with the added fert. Perhaps that was how I lost several of my young cuttings late in the season. A lesson learnt, I'll claim a point on that one. Thank for your input.
Kim2
Well Ido feel a bit worn Joyce..but getting better :)..got lots of pimples and strips i never could catch them slugs lol.So I gave everybody an alcohol bath...spread worm castings in there pots then wet it with kelp emulsion...be glad when neem oil arrives. How many points for that? ;~)
Thanks
Kim
LOL @ trying to rack up points.
kimrj,there are several types of fusarium.Many different types of plants are affected and ,as far as I know,none recover. Stranglebrand ,sometimes spelled stenglebrand,is just one type.I did not mean that your plant had this,just that you should check it.It's very hard to tell from pictures.If you suspect the plant dispose of it pot,soil and all.Remember that no matter how much we prize them,at the end of the day they are just plants and can be replaced.
:*) oh yeah!!
Gone2seed it was something I read that said fusarium is SB shame how folks word things. Thank you for trying to help.Now I know what to look for.And I agree plants can be replaced if need be.Newbie panic.
Kim
Be careful with alcohol... I've burned the tips right off a brug by using it too strong. LOL I was on a mission with a qtip and straight alcohol.. but it backfired bigtime. :)
Yeah Lily! I learned the hard way with that stuff too.. if you don't use enough, it seems to feed the mites.. if you use too much, you will burn the plant... so I just wait till spring.. and bathe in Neem in the meantime. :)
LOL Kim, those are not my most scientific terms... LOL But I notice some brugs have more pimples than others.. It took me forever to see that those strips of brown were from slugs! I've only seen a slug traveling up a trunk once or twice, but the one time I caught a good sized one, the "strip" was fresh! I'm not certain that is what causes it, but it's one of those observations you stumble on by accident. When I treat for slugs, I don't get those brown strips...
I'm not referring to the wounds from tearing off a leaf and getting a "runner"... that's our fault.. take off 3 points for those!
PS... it takes a LOT of points to get one brug bloom!
You aren't kidding about the points, lol,lol. All things considered, it's worth it in MOHO.
Kim2
The spots I see on your pictures look more like places that have been rubbed with another branch. Just injuries. They sure don't look like anything I would toss them for. JMO.
LOL, you guys are so funny. Brugs can drive you nuts. What finally cooled me down on them were all the mites. I felt like I was living in a toxic dump. I had a friend last night email me and tell me she too was finally as disgusted as I got. And she is considered an expert grower. Mites can make you nuts. At least Neem will not kill you.
I will say using a vaporizer with the Forbid, just 1 spray, kept the broadmites away for probably a year. I sprayed with it in the 2006 summer and then just 1 time at the very end of summer this year. Also if you do not have tons of brugs, it really helps too on the burnout issue. I had literally hundreds less this last summer and my new attitude of die if you want really kept them in line.
Hi Kell!!! So nice of you to drop in! This is such a fun group.. I really enjoy it here. :) I also used Forbid.... this is my first year with it.. and I get to enjoy my brugs a lot more because of it!
Hi Shirley, I hope the weather isn't being TOO awful bad to you! Was a little scary there for a while!
Thanks Joyce. I always enjoy reading all your posts! Brugs bring out such enthusiasm. It is almost contagious but I have been there and done that. Several times over. LOL
LOL I know I was a tad frizzled :~) and I would like to thank all involved for saving me from myself!!Kell what kind of vaporizer are you speaking of?
Kim
LOL @ "die if you want". That's tellin' 'em!
La ...be a good day when I can sat that....he he he
Hi Kim. I think I got mine at Rosemania, The Atomist Sprayer but a friend got one on ebay for so much less. It puts out a fine, fine areosol and it has a long wand that really pinpoints the aerosole up to 20 feet away. It totally envelopes the entire plant. So it gets the leaves on all sides even if very dense.
http://rosemania.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/page2.html
My only complaint is I had to carry it on my back and I am a wuss. I got the electric one so I just aimed and it did its thing. I was someone who did every leaf with Neem front and back with a hand sprayer on so many brugs plants I would do it in my sleep. I got to the point after several years of never wanting to do it again.
The atomist is so easy and so fast and it uses such a tiny amount of insecticide. 1 container did my whole yard and I think that was only 2 ccs of Forbid. And at Forbid's price that was just great.
Picture from Rosemania site
Wow thats a great tool.Don't need it just yet....lol....but something tells me if I stay around here..well you know the rest. Thanks for the info. :*)
Kim
