I noticed yesterday some brown-golden colored small spots on the gardenia's leaves. Also, it almost looks like a couple of the buds had been chewed.
Has anyone had experience with this? Is this plant a DIVA? My fiancee sent it to me last Mother's Day, and I wintered it indoors - just set it out about a week ago. Has tons of buds on it, but looks like it could soon give me heartache.
Help!
Thanks in advance from a new Texas gardener.
Spots on Gardenis leaves
Gardenias are one of my favorite flowers but I have trouble with them. If you want to see what a whitefly looks like, plant a gardenia. It sounds like what you may have is scale though. Is it brown, varhishy looking spots on the underside of the leaves? Can you shake a limb and see white fuzzies floating around? If white fuzzies, it's whitefly, if varnish looking brown spots, probably scale. You can spray for both, if necessary, but if it's whitflies be ready to do prolonged battle. I've stopped growing gardenias for this very reason. Sorry to sound so pessimestic about them, but they were just too much troulbe for me to deal with. A lot of things can cause bud drop. Too much water, too little water, sudden temp change or bugs. Do you see any bugs or larvae if you open one of the dropped buds?
No, not at all. I'd say the leaves are more "mottled". In other words, there is no raised area at all, on either side.
And as far as whiteflies - I'd say if you want to see a whitefly, plant a fuschia! I've had tons of experiences with them, when I lived in both Denver and Phoenix.
Your plant could also be lacking in nutrients, they like their soil on the acid side, like azaleas, so you might try something to acidify the soil.
I have heard that one tablespoon of vinegar to a quart of water is a good solution to water them with.
I have never tried this, I don't have gardenias or azeleas, although i think they are beautiful.
Josephine.