I am new to Brugs, I had 2 last year and I planted them out side in the summer time and they did perfect, I never took cuttings or brought them in. They froze.This year I bought 2 plants Herrenhaeser Garten, and L'Amour from a nursery and I think have broadmites ,I have all the symptoms of them, such as curled leaves with stitched edges, small holes on the underside the holes don't go through but you can see brown dots. Veins are dark green and leaves light green to yellow then fall off. . I looked on the under side of the leaves and they have a very small black thing like a dot that moves I had to look with a magnifing glass. So I took a white paper and hit in on that and got 3 off of the leaf. I have had the plants for 2 1/2 months. They are growing and have a lot of big and small leaves on the top of the stem but the small leaves don't seam to grow I also have 2 buds on it that haven't fallen off yet.(L'Amour) The other plant wasn't so bad, but looks the same, but hasn't Y'ed yet. Since reading all of the advise everyone has given (which is very good) I decided to give mine a big shot of CYGON2E, I use it for the aphids on my maple trees. I drill them and apply it. It's very good, and it say mites on the directions.
I also bought 4 cutting from a different nursey and they look fine but they are in the GH with the first 2 so I gave them all a large shot of Cygon, My question is am I right in thinking it is broadmites and has anyone tried Cygon and has it helped??? Thank you for all the information youhave give it is very good, and I hope someone can answer my questions.
Broadmites
Well.. I've never used Cygon, but I have had to battle both spider and broad mites.
Your description sounds like both! You can't see broadmites with the naked eye... they are microscopic.. your right.. the leaves will curl, get crispy edges, and deformed new growth with broadmites.
Spider mites will malke the spots on the leaves and they will turn yellow and fall off.. ( although part of them shedding leaves is a natural process)
If the new growth is not deformed.. I'd say it's just winter leaves and spider mites... and treat with whatever you can use for mites.
If the new growth is deformed.. I'd strip the leaves and spray with Neem Make sure and do it 2 or 3 times a few days apart.. and with some luck, you'll be okay.
Good Luck!
Thank you ZZs After I doused them with the Cygon I kept going out and looking at them to make sure they weren't laying down dead LOL. I'm getting some neems oil today and will start that also and striping the leaves off of them. Do they get better when you put them outside? It is still snowing off and on here. Worst winter we have had in 50 years. They won't be able to go outside until June I'm thinking. Bonnie
Hi ZZs Well it's been a few days now and they are still fine I guess I never killed them with the tree systemic I also gave them a large dose of Ken's recipe and they look really good. Even the new leaves look good. The big leaves don't look as bad and they are not as yellow anymore. The 2 big buds stayed on L'Amour and they even look good. I never sprayed them with neem's oil as I couldn't fined any. Thanks again B.
Well, I think I might have broadmites. I rooted many cuttings through the winter and did see some fungus gnats just as I was ready to move them out to the garage so I wasn't really worried. Then I saw aphids which I rinsed off with a strong steam of water. Then after I repotted them I decided to give them a dose of organicide. It was either too concentrated or too old as the leaves seem to be curling and getting stiff and brittle at edges and are deformed. I also can feel the leaves are really sticky after the applicaiton of organicide. This all leads me to believe that I may now have broadmites.
So what do you think I shoudl treat them with -- neem oil?
Most of the cuttings went into new soil (MG) with plenty of perlite added so the soil should have been ok. Seems more like the older standards are the ones suffering more. Ones in the grounds seem ok/
What's eveyone's suggestions?
Thanks for all your help!
Barbara
These have been the hardest plants for me to grow. I am constantly feeding them and spraying them,. If they were not so darn pretty i would of stopped a long time ago. I was giving mine a dose of barer 2 in one the granuals and spraying with a neem oil and spinosad mix, because I have every mite and every cat possible grrr. Now my brugs are so big that it took me over an hour to spray them trying to get the under side of every leaf. Man how do you all do this when they get so big?
also now my snow bank is getting so many little leaves and there all bunched together and this thing never blooms and it had a large unbrella, so I hope someday it blooms =)
Barbara, I've had broadmites a few times. The leaves are deformed. What little new growth occurs, is small and very, very deformed, but never sticky. The stickiness could be due to the organicide you used. You might, however, have spidermites. Check the underside of the leaves. If you have spidermites, you will see fine webbing. Leaves will look stippled, turn yellow with some browning along the edges. Take a sheet of white paper, place it underneath a leaf and tap the top of the leaf. The spidermites knocked off will show up on the paper. Broadmites are microscopic and can't be seen with the naked eye. Forbid or Avid are used on broadmites. These insecticides are very expensive so be sure you do have broadmites. Not much else works against broadmites. Deformed leaves could also be caused by nutrient deficiencies, winter blahs, or something. I have a few small Brugs that showed signs of broadmite damage this winter. I sprayed with Avid, but didn't see any difference in what little growth there was. Now that the temperatures are more consistently warmer, about 1/2 of the plants are putting out normal looking leaves
Spidermites are easier to get rid of. Neem oil will work against them.
bettydee,
I don't see any webbing and I couldn't knock anything off so I think I'll wait a little while before doing anything else. I have a feeling the organicide sent them into a tail spin - coupled with winter blahs -- so I''ll wait a little before doing anything. Thanks so much for your help!
Barbara
You're welcome. Have you fertilized lately? Maybe a little fertilizer will kick them out of the blahs. I had planned to fertilize today but couldn't find my hose-end fertilizer sprayer. I have a feeling DH threw it away this winter in a cleaning frenzy. I try to keep him out of my garden and greenhouse. Dormant potted plants get tossed out because he thinks they are dead. Early this winter, I managed to rescue a double pink Brug that got tossed because the leafless small cutting "looked dead". LOL
I use the Bayer liquid systemic for trees and shrubs. Blue bottle.
Thanks everyone!
Abutilon,
What is the dosage you use? I have some small 1 ft high plants and biggest is maybe 5 ft tall with 1/2 to 3/4 inch diameter trunk? I'm nervous I'll kill all of them...though Logee's would benefit greatly if I did...hubby would be ready to kill me LOL
Update --
Things are starting to look good. I think the biggest problem was the overdose of Organicide (or veyr old Organicide). It did me good to look back at this old post and see it's really only been 3 weeks since ya'll offered advice. Sometimes it seems like forever before we see improvement.
Things are loooking good - no bugs - no crisp leaves. All the new growth is coming in well and we all look healthy. I did give everyone a light dose of Neem oil over the weekend just to be sure. That was really for the new leaves. They've also been outside and most are now in the ground and had a little Miracle Gro once I saw new leaves so all is well with the brugies.
Again, thanks for all the help!
Barbara