It doesn't sound familiar to me. Under lights episcias do get much more of their pink coloration. But, you would have seen this already. Grow the same varieties on window sills and they will not stay so fully pink. But, what you describe sounds like something different entirely. I still suspect mites, since you say that the growing tips die. Could it be another pest though? There are two mites that I know of that cause damage--the well known cyclamen mite, and the lesser known Broad Mite. Since these pests are vertually invisable, you can't seem them, only their damage. They may be living inside the plant's tissue. The only way I have successfully ID'd cyclamen mite is when I treated plants with Avid, and saw the plants come back to normal. Dead crowns would sprout new side shoots, which would become the new crowns.

Jon

Hi Jon,

OK - Now I know Episcias are "pinker" when grown under artificial lighting than those under natural light. But I guess that should not change the appearance so drastically that the plant looks totally different from what's expected of it? Take a look at my tiger stripes - it has now turned pinkish in the new growth. The older leaves can be seen to have the characteristic silver-white veins against a green background!
URL: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v139/kuehlapis/pink_tiger_stripes.jpg

As for the red tips part, take a look at the two pictures of my Kee Wee.

URL: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v139/kuehlapis/red_kee_wee2.jpg

URL: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v139/kuehlapis/red_kee_wee.jpg

I think pictures tell a thousand words. I really hope they are not mite damage. Because I grow my plants in my bedroom, I would not want to use any pesticides. I guess as a grower, I must know the cause and possible remedial measures.

Thanks again!

Wilson
Singapore

Your plants look healthy to me ;). I think......the new growth is normal. It is hard to say, from a photo, but the slight distortion on KeeWee looks OK. The red new growth is something I recall on my plants. I also have wondered if something were wrong. But, I think the leaves will grow out fine. You may find though that the plants are picking up pink tones not seen on your plants before. They really are chameleons. But, as the leaves grow out, the pink color will dissapate over the leaves and may not even be visable on the full grown leaf. Again, I am diagnosing from a long distance, and I could be off base. Let us know how these plants grow out.

Now, if you do ever get cyclamen mites. I can see your dilemma. I wouldn't recommend spraying in your bedroom, though in the same situation I probably would since I am not entirely, um, sensible. Avid is fairly safe. I would spray inside enclosures and do the actual spraying outside, then enclose and bring in (or in your climate maybe they would be fine out on your terrace in deep shade ???). On a light stand, where plants are in the open, I would cover the stand with a thin clear plastic sheet. The problem with Avid is the smell, which isn't terrible, but can be annoying when living around it. It has the smell of some gesneriads such as Nematanthus albus or Kohleria allenii. I grew albus in my bedroom for years, and never was bothered by the natural aroma of the plant and its flowers. But, my room is big enough and the humidity generally low enough that fragrances don't spread far. Lets just hope that you don't experience pests on your collection, and this discussion is moot. In my case, I sprayed in a plant room where no one lives. The odor did linger out in the open for a week or so, though I didn't worry about myself. I did spray and then get out of the room for a few days.

Cyclamen damage on episcias shows up fairly quickly and is fairly obvious. Except that at the beginning it can be hard to diagnose. But, quickly you will see tiny dead patches on the edges of the baby leaves. The centers just stop growing and eventually turn brown as the growth dies. In this process the centers get a characteristic hairiness. Then the mite damage spreads from some stolons and crowns to all stolons and crowns. Then the plants begin to die as they cannot grow. By, this time you definitely know all is not well! But, even at this late stage a collection can be saved with one spraying of Avid. Probably other miticides would work as well. After spraying, the plants will continue to look awful. But, then, soon, you will see some tiny suckers forming in the axils of the leaves, even on stems denuded of foliage. They grow out and are quite brittle. But, when large enough, you can remove them and reroot to get a quite nice and normal new compact single crown, which will grow out into just as big and vigorous a plant as you had before. Now that you know what to expect, lets just hope it never happens. But... (well, I won't go there).

Jon

Hi Jon,

I just hope my plants will recover soon. Let's pray that it is not mites. I do not think Avid is available locally.

Back to the topic, what frustrates me at times is that I am not able to retain the original coloration of my episcia plants. Most of my plants have changed beyond recognition!

I am not sure if that is good news or not. One phenomenon I encountered is the losing of the two-toned coloration in plants like Pink Panther. The leaves produced under my care simply turned black, see the URL below:
http://www.greenculturesg.com/articles/sep05/pinkpantherproblem.jpg

Do you have any Pink Panthers growing under lights? Would like to hear your experience.

Thanks in advance,
wilson

Episcias seem to get darker or redder under lights. Somehow the light culture brings out these colors, which usually is a good thing. But, for some cultivars you might want the lighter color patterns. I have found that these color patterns happen in natural light, such as a window sill, greenhouse and maybe outdoors in your tropical climate.

I remember one of our chapter members grew a huge Pink Panther and it was more of the two tone green, with lots of pink flowers. That was many years ago but the memory of that plant sticks in my mind. It was grown in a greenhouse with natural light. Right now, I have just a few pieces of PP under lights, and they are still fairly light colored, but then, they are not getting the best attention. Of the pink flowered types, it is one of the best I think--pretty foliage and a good bloomer.

Of course I am quite a bit at a loss, since your climatic conditions are so much different from what I have here. But, hopefully I am pointing you in the right direction rather than down the primrose path. Good luck. I am pretty sure though that with your interest and attention to your plants that you will get the culture down.

Hi Jon,

I recently spoke to a friend who studied plant biology in varsity. He told me the redness is due to anthocyanin production due to excessive light - in short, it is a response to light stress.

The facts and observations now seem to connect - I used to cover my plants using a translucent plastic sheet. That had in the past scattered the light from the tubes. However, I recently changed it to a clear sheet and that allowed more light to pass through and of course, with growing leads hitting the roof, no wonder the plants are reacting to too much illumination.

Does that sound logical to you?

Rgds,
wilson
singapore

I've never been able to determine why episcias color up under lights vrs. window sills. I have, in the past, moved silver leaved plants from the light stand because they developed natural brown patches, whereas in the window the foliage would be almost all silver. The brown patches on silver foliaged cvs. is anagalous to the "pinking up" of other cultivars. You might experiment by growing some episcias under less light, such as under lights spaced higher above the plants, or with tubes of lower wattage. But, I am suggesting something that would then take up space.

Jon

Hi Jon,

I did exactly what you told me. I guess in gardening, we will learn only if we dare to try. Sometimes that is the only way to know answers to our questions by doing it ourselves, isn't it? I have propped my lights alittle higher now - by about 4 inches and I'm waiting to see if there is any improvements - there's nothing to lose, just perhaps slower growth and that is better than letting the plants to be fried!

Will keep all of you updated. Thanks once more.

Wilson
Singapore

Is mine one normal? I am worrying too

I’m not sure about the species, but when I bought it it had a very green leaves, and it changes color to brown and red sometimes. I never water it for sometimes due to raining recently. It bloomed three times last month, and the leaves wilted after bloom, so i trim the wilted leaves. And it continues to wilt till today. I can send you some clearer photo below before i started to wilt.

During purchase

When blooming

What a change!!! Hard to believe it is even the same plant your purchased. If there is any life left...in the tips - take the cuttings and put them in a humid sphagnum moss - sphag and bag. They either put roots and start growing - or not.