A while back (2 years ago) we had a disease and bug free rhody that was beautiful and fragrant, we took it to the fair and it got every bug known to man. It has taken until ow to get a viable plant but it has stll some problems. I am attaching a picture of some of the leaves and hope that someone can ID the problem. Insect, chemical or what. So here goes.
jack
make that a gardenia not a rhody
jack
Spider mites is my guess.
Agreed.
Al
Well we are going to find out. Applied insecticidal soap today and wil do so again in a couple of weeks to det those that hatch. Thank you much for rhe info.
jack
Did you apply soap to the under sides of the leaves? That's where the mites hang out so if you only did the tops you won't get them. I like to hose off the plant first, I tip the pot sideways and then spray the bottom of the leaves with a strong jet of water, that'll get rid of most of them, then you can use the soap after that if you want. I would also mist the plant a few times a day if you can, raising the humidity makes things inhospitable for the mites.
I tipped it so the I could get to the underside of most of them, hopefully all of them. Bent up the branches enough to make the undersides accessible. It will take a bit od doing, but getting the plant back to it's original state makes the effort worthwhile.
thank you for the help. Think I will pot a pic of how it looks now and then the end result at a later date if all works out.
jack
Well, it'll take a while to get the plant back to its original state--the leaves that they've munched on are permanently damaged, they're not going to go back to looking like nice normal green leaves. They may hang on or they may eventually fall off, but the important thing is to get rid of the mites so that as you get new growth it'll be nice and green.
