The leaves on my Salvia are curling up

14 years ago

I have dozens of Salvia grown from seed of different varieties. This is happening only to a couple (so far!)

The top leaves curl in on themselves. Not the way they normally grow.

Could be some environmental cause, disease or pest.

Any ideas?

The plants are a couple of inches tall, they are planted in good soil, and get watered regularly and fertilized at half-strength occassinally.

thanks,

ellen

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Comments (6)

hybridsage
14 years ago
ellen:
Which Salvias are you having a problem with? Leaf curling
can be signs of Aphids or Spider Mite damage. I also recall
once when transplanting some Salvia azurea seedlings the person helping me smoked.The plants ended up with TMV
(Tobacco Mosaic Virus) and we had to destroy them. The
mosaic part did not show up until later first signs were
severe leaf curl.Not that you have that either. Depends on
what Salvia it is could be environmental as well.
Art
CA Kate z9
14 years ago
Are they getting enough water? Some Salvias need more water than others.
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ellenr22 - NJ - Zone 6b/7a
Original Author
14 years ago
The two that have it are Salvia Subrotunda and Lady in Red.

I will go today and see if I see any mites or aphids.

Yes I'm sure they get enough water, I thot maybe TOO much water, bec. the only reference I found online to curling leaves in Salvia was one to 'too much water'.
But then they wd all have that problem.

I'll post back if I see any insects on them.

thanks.
wardda
14 years ago
This happens often with newly transplanted coccinea and subrotunda. Once they have established their roots the problem will be gone. It can take several weeks for the transplants to establish themselves and our cool spring hasn't helped. Both plants are very happy with New Jersey summers and will be buzzing with hummingbirds once the young come off the nest.
MissMyGardens
14 years ago
It's been so wet and cool in NJ so far this season.

I still haven't planted out most of my Salvia Lady in Red and Coral Nymph. Ones in ground are just sitting there.

They take off so fast once it warms up I'm not worried.

The ones I potted up to 5" plastic pots are much larger and stronger than those in 3" Cow Pots which are water hogs and roots don't penetrate as promised.

I didn't know TMV was a problem with Salvia! I just read something about it when trying to figure out how to grow Tomatoes for the first time. They warned about smokers touching certain vegetable plants and TMV.

Being a smoker (bad, I know) I'll be using my tub of bleach/water solution I keep on the patio before I touch Salvia in addition to washing my hands/tools for cleaning off dirt, possible bacteria/viruses and while working on roses.

The first couple weeks of rain were okay on plants but they're not getting a chance to dry out by now with more rain.

I figure I'm lucky when it rains after I plant things out because I don't have to lug around watering cans for a few days.

There seems to be a lot of aphids this year. They've even been landing on my arms which never happened before. I can give roses hard water spray in morning but not new little plants.

Weather's been so fritzy there haven't even been bees or Cabbage Whites on Salvia Victoria, Caradonna or May Night this year while they mobbed them last year.

Guess patience with Mother Nature, which we can't control, is in order.
azjeep
14 years ago
I live in Tucson, and my salvia typically lose some flowers and appear dry during the summer months. I have found that they will weather the summer heat quite well, and over-watering actually compounds the problem. They thrive out here all other seasons. Mine also are 100% shaded by late afternoon.