What is wrong with my Black-eyed Susan Vine!

Can someone identify the problem that is affecting my BESV? I don't know if it is pest, disease or nutritional. Thanks, Eleanor

More pics of leaves.

Another of the top of a leaf.

Underside of leaf.

Another of the underside of a leaf.

you probably need to give more info. you have plenty of nice pictures but none are really helping that much. do you see ANY kind of insect? when did you last feed? what do the leaves feel like? brittle, slimey? etc. etc. etc.

Thanks track. I don't see any insects. I fed the BESV about 3-4 weeks ago and used Liquid Miracle Grow. The leaves don't feel slimey. The leaves break off the stem easily. The leaves don't exactly feel brittle like they are dried up, but they feel almost fuzzy or grainy, but yet it doesn't rub off on my fingers. The plant gets full sun and gets watered every day unless it is wet from rain (they are in containers and all of them look like that). Any other info that I could give you? They started out strong but then went backwards several weeks ago. Eleanor

It kind of looks like red spider mites......do you have a little hand held magnifier? They are tiny. The 'grainy' made me think of those nasty buggers.

Hi fly_girl! Didn't see any spider mites. BESV leaves are a little fuzzy feeling anyway. After looking at it with a magnifier it could be a fungus - definitely not healthy looking. It has been a very wet summer here in the Northeast and conditions good for a fungal disease to attack them. I would just like to prevent it next summer. Thanks! Eeanor
p.s. - My neighbor's daughter lives in The Woodlands.

Hi Grammy!
Just thought I'd put in my 2 cents.

The Woodlands is THE place to be LOL

Good luck with your vine!

Hiya Fly!!

Grammy - I'm thinking that it may be a watering problem - as in too much. You shouldn't need to water a plant in a pot everyday. Stick your finger into the soil - all the way, and don't water until that soil is dry. Remember, further down in the soil it is probably still wet. I'd let them dry out a bit.

Another thought is to remove one from a pot and look at its roots. How wet was that soil further down? (You DO have good drainage holes, right?) How do the roots look? Are they tan, or are they black? When you pull your fingers along them, does the outside come off? If so, that is root rot. Plants wilting can be a sign of too little water - easily fixed by watering, or too much water - not so easily fixed because the roots are rotting.

If they are rotting, we'll talk some more..

ceejay - thanks for responding. I actually took the BESV out of the conatiners today. The soil was not wet. I use tapla's soil mix recipe for a lot of my containers and they do not not hold water like those planted with commercial potting mixes. The roots looked OK as they were white and not at all rotted. The containers were full of roots though, so i figured they were probably rootbound. I tossed all of the BESV as they were past their prime and hope next year i have better luck. In the past they have always been beautiful. This is a pic form last year's container of BESV. Thanks for all of the help. Eleanor

Oh my! Those are breathtaking! What are the colors that you have? And how many vines to accomplish that display?

Yeah, it does sound like they were rootbound.... Maybe a bigger pot, or fewer plants next year.

ceejay - thanks! I had 6 plants in that container and it was full but it was a large container. The containers I used this year were smaller. The blooms in the pic were the regular orange and yellow plus a rose colored BESV. I didn't start them from seed but bought small nursery plants. This year I did only 2 BESV/container but also added a couple of other plants. Eleanor

I'm gonna have to try that next year! I've never seen the rose colored one before... They're hardy here, so they'll go straight into the ground.

lol, i thought you only had bugs, cj. plants too? LOL

Gotta have plants to get the bugs, trackin... ;-)