My Brugs have some issues this year...

Dr. John,

I am here again to pick your brain.....Nothing super serious--(????she says...)
bit still prevalent since mid-end of summer.

I have three Brugs growing in BIG pots. One in a smaller pot in the middle of my back yard.
This one was the first to have something weird going on. The growing ends
of the stems lost all foliage and looked like a naked, hard, Asparagus tip.
Sprayed with that Oil concoction (see lower) and it stopped and it, immediately,
grew new, healthy leaves.

Two of the bigger ones are side by side by my shed--and it is on these I saw something else.
On my "Maya"--leaves were yellowing and dropping like flies every day.

I looked at the back sides of the fallen leaves--and there was nothing.
Eventually--I looked again on the still green leaves and it was hard to see
anything wrong--except I sawsome White Flies. They were there. Not many...

Sprayed all the leaf-backs with an organic oil/garlic/peppermint based
insecticide/miticide/fungiside and it worked for a while.
(Check out "Pharm Solutions, Inc".). The spray I had was "Veggie Pharm".
They make all kinds of sprays. I picked this one up at a DJ Liquidators place.
Weird color (Apricot) you have to shake it (gently) to mix all the oils...

Then, after a while--the Brug next to the Maya started yellowing out leave as well.
I would pick them off every day and dispose of them. By now--both Brugs had a lot of
bare stems but the tops kept growing new leaves which were OK. Buds forming, etc...

A week ago--I sprayed them all with a good dose of Neem. It was a bit old--
so i am not sure if it helped.

The third brug--my Dr. Seuss, which was a good distance away from the other two--was doing OK.
It is really big and wide--and has been healthy with no issues all along.
Then--about 2 weeks ago--I noticed a slight leaf-curl at most of the growing tips.
Nothing I could see, with my eyes, on the backs of them either.
I immediately thought of Thrips--but, again, there was nothing visible on tops or bottoms,
and the very growing tips were doing OK.

Now the Dr. S. is also yellowing leaves. I drenched them all with Neem, but it did not totally
eliminate it.

What do you think? I will post pictures....may take two Posts....

And--thank you again. Gita

1--Here is the odd, naked branch tips on the smaller potted one in my back yard.
This immediately went away after I sprayed the plant with the "Veggie Pharm" solution.

2--Here is my small "Maya" with all the leaves dropping off. These all fell in one day.

3--Here are some pictures on the Dr. Seuss--the one with the leaves curling.
Not really all curled, but one, or both of the edges, had a definite deformity to them.
Also a bit deformed--puckered.

4--More leaves--I tried to find some that would show the curling....

5--Here are some of the yellowed leaves that are falling off....
Nothing at all visible on their backs....It is like, whatever the issue is, is making the
leaves yellow--and the stems of them to let go and fall off...

What do you think is going on? It seems to be 2 different problems--
the blunted stems being one.

Thanks again----Sorry this is really long--again..... Gita

Here is the "Pharm Solutions" Home page.

You can check out all the products they make at the very top of the page.

http://www.pharmsolutions.com/

G.

That really wrinkled look suggests tiny pests.
I agree that little bugs like Thrips and Spider Mites are very good possibilities. The pics suggest thrips rather than spider mites.

I know Fuchsia gall mites do not attack these (and may not even be in your area), but google some pics to see what I mean about wrinkled leaves. SOMETHING is feeding, perhaps introducing a toxin to the leaf.

I wonder if there is a specialized mite that attacks this group of plants?

The yellowing (last pic) is typical of a plant that is getting ready to drop a leaf. It is taking back in all the mobile nutrients before the leaf falls off. The problem is that plants normally do that to the older leaves, not the newly emerged leaves near the growing tip.
That suggests a timing for the pest: It only just arrived, or else the population was really low, and something happened to increase the population. Change in temperature, new growth might be more tender, easier for the pest to eat, something killed off some predators...

Until you can ID the pest, about the only thing to do is to keep rotating pesticides and see what works the best. Hard to tell if you cannot even see the pest!
Can you buy a hand lens, perhaps 5-10 power, maybe up to 20 power? That might help find the pest.

Diana--

I don't have time to reply to you in length--have to go to work.

Another treatment i forgot to mention is that I applied Systemic Granules
to the two brugs by the shed--twice.

As to the leaves yellowing because of end of season changes--Nope!
This is definitely a leaf-drop due to something else.
I have been growing brugs for over 10 years and am pretty familiar with
their life cycles. This is NOT normal!

Thanks so far......gotta run. Gita

Here is my dr. Seuss end of September--couldn't be healthier!

Gorgeous!

This one has me stumped. I'll have to think about it.

Oh, Oh, John!!! You are stumped?????? The man with all the answers....

Lets see what else I may have observed....

--The Brugs by the shed are the ones that are still dropping off yellowed leaves.
On these two--the leaves do not curl--but they are the ones I saw the white flies on.
--I have seen a few white-flies on the backs-- like one or two.
I think the Systemic Granules killed most of them off.

--I have seen maybe a couple pin-head sized little white things on the back
by the main vein. I squished one with a toothpick and there was something
red/orange left. These were VERY tiny and only on a couple of leaves.
--I have seen tiny little spiders (~

Continues---

--asst. leaves I picked off. some are upside down--some are top showing.
--this one seemed to have something going on in the fold....like pic. 5 above
--Here are the two by the shed--the ones with yellowing and dropping leaves...
NOID pink one on left--a "Maya" on the right.
--naked stems on NOID--but it will bloom anyway...
--a yellowed leaf about to drop off of the Maya.

Now we go back to the one in the pot by the patio--the one that had the stunted
stem tips (like asparagus...)--I sprayed it then with the "Veggie Pharm"
and the leaves, immediately, grew nice and healthy--until now...
--it seems to be happening again.

--Here is the plant--in the pot....I think it is the pink NOID. It was a rooted cutting
no one claimed...So I grew it out...sorry about the surrounding "decor"--
fall clean-up time....
--stunted growth again
--something nasty going on with this tip...

I sprayed the plant down again with the Veggie-Pharm oils.

OK, Dr.----that is all the symptoms I can show you.

CALL THE AMBULANCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I feel faint............Gita

Gita
do you have access to Forbid, it might be Broad mites, just remove those leaves, Spray it really
well, Spray it at night, so they don't get sun burned, you can also use Avid, you can buy both of these
online, it's Expensive, but it works, you only need 1/8 teaspoon per Gallon of water.
I hope this helps, I have had this problem as well

Elizabeth

Plantlover---

If the "Forbid" is a commercial product--no! i do not have access to it.

Are you referring to the leaves curling--dropping--or the growth tips getting "bare'???
Do you have a name for either malady? Do you mean it may be "Broad Mites"
doing which??? Or doing all of the problems?
The yellowing/dropping leaves?
The curling of the leaf edges?
Or--the stunted growth at the branch-tips?

I have sprayed all three of them with Neem. Is that not good enough?
WHAT is the best product (that i can purchase locally) to deal with Whitefly???

I seldom order things online--I just do not want to spend that kind of money.
I have never had any of these problems with my brugs! And-- have had threm for 10 years.
If I cannot get it at a Box Store or a large Nursery--i won't go looking for it anywhere else.

It is late in the year anyway--I will be cutting all the branches back soon as i have to
bring my brugs inside for the winter.

Would the Broad Mites live on bare stems--the cuttings?--and thus still be there by spring?
If that may be happening--can I wash off the stems with anything?
Good old dish soap ?

Thanks---Gita

Waiting for Drobarr to chime in.....YoooooHoooo, John!!!!

Gita
you posted a Pic, where the leaves with kind of Funky looking Deformed that was the Pic
that looked like what one of mine were doing.
you poor Girl, I had been growing mine from 2001, then in 2008 I had some issues, one got the Disease SB, so I had to destroy it, there's no cure for that.
if you're going to strip them anyway, it's shouldn't be a Problem, I would spray the de leaved stems
with some kind of Spray for Mites, Bayer also has good Product, you can buy that at Lowes.
I am not sure but the possibility's are there that they can.

Elizabeth

Elizabeth---
Thanks for your input. WHAT is "SB"????
G.

it's a very nasty Brug Virus, I can't spell it properly, maybe the Dr. can give you the name, I'll go to BGI then I'll have it spelled right, it's something that you don't want

Elizabeth

Gita
Stranglebrand, what you have to look for is distorted leaves, then there are Black rings on the Brug Stem, but with Broad mites it's cureable, so keep a really close eye on your stems growth, if you see any splitting of the stem, then Black circle's.
now if I get anything that doesn't look right on mine I just toss them pot & all in the trash
Google Broad mites, then look at the leaves, I am thinking that's what you have

Elizabeth

Elizabeth--

I don't think I have the Stanglebrand--as i already cut off one of the main stems
and cut it up in a dozen stem sections to root. Everything was Ok inside the stems...
Many of the photos of the leaves were taken from the lg. stem i cut off.
All the leaf problems do not seem to be affecting the "marching on" of the plant.
It is getting loaded, again, with buds for it's grand Finale of the October Flush.
Usually the best of them all.

I will Google Broad Mites ans see what they have to show me.

Thanks for your suggestions. Gita

Elizabeth---

I Googled Brad Mites and do not seem to have any of the symptoms
they described. I looked at about 5 different links.

The only thing I have is the curling of HALF of the leaf--NOT both sides.

Even though I do not usually see anything on the undersides of the leaves--
sometimes there seems to be vague look such as Spider Mites may look like.
But--not on many of the leaves.

The ones that yellow and fall off are clean on the undersides.

On the 2 brugs by my shed--I do see Whitefly--just a few here and there...

OK. I will spray again with NEEM or something similar.

Gita

Gita
I am so Glad your Brugs are o.k.for white Fly's you can use Murphy's Oil Soap, it smother'd them, also it's very Safe to use.
I am so Happy for you.

Elizabeth