Are you certain that the problem is Eriophyids? Because Aster Yellows, a phyroplasmic disease looks very similar.

If the latter, the whole plant needs to be destroyed.

I read abt Asters Yellow also. Will take another look at the description.

Oh my gosh, yes! It's asters yellow! I will pull them out tomorrow, What a disappointment. They were such pretty colors when I bought them last year.

As per NM's pictures, coneflower rosette mites (eriophyid mites) only affect the flowers not any other part of the coneflower.

Haven't seen any evidence of it here for a few years.

Thanks to everyone!! I pulled them out this morning. Do I need to dig out the soil they were growing in? Should I wait till Spring to plant anything else there or could I plant something maybe mid-September?

Found my answer in an old thread. AY does not live in the soil (thank you, nevermore44).

I have cone flowers in 4 other locations so I am going to be watching them like a hawk.

I read that geraniums are immune to AY. Any others?

Not in the soil, but on plant debris including on/in the soil.

But it had to be live plant material for the phytoplasm to live I think.

And in regards to spreading. My father has a large garden he made at s community center. He has had AY on rudbeckia and echinacea. He has large patches of these plants and he doesn't remove the infected plants cause he thinks it neat. Anyway. It only shows on a plant or two each year.... And doesn't seem to spread rampantly to plants around it.

Last year I saw this. I pulled them all up roots and all. None this year. Curious it is about left over debris in garden. I don't like to fall clean..want the seed heads for the birds over winter...

I am so hoping it doesn't get my BES. It was bad enough to pull out 3 echinaceas that had been so beautiful. But I would be devastated if I lost my BES. Maybe I'll try what your Dad does, nevermore44. I did notice that it had not spread to the nearby marigolds.

AY only infects a select group of plants.. Google the list.

Re live plant material and the mite transmission:

Sounds reasonable, NM.

These eriophyid bud mites overwinter as fertilized females. The biggest crop of them is presumably going to be in the deformed flowers since they live in developing flower buds, but they can also penetrate plant cells to get into buds.

Many of the plants I purchase at nurseries and big box years back came with mites... Fun. So I stay on top of removing any infested blooms and year after year I have less. This year has only been a few so far. I also haven't purchase new plant either to bring them in

Very interesting, NM; think you're saying you can't eliminate it, but you can really control it, reducing potential flower damage to an (almost?) imperceptible level.

Despite what I'd previously said, I have gone back to buying Echinacea cultivars myself. They've really come back, in local garden centres here, this year. I even just saw a Big Sky series (Sundown) for sale.

Still, I'd love to know what's responsible for the turn around. As previously said, I remember reading that plant hygiene in the greenhouses of the growers should really help. The growers also have access to commercial miticides which consumers do not have.

Nevermore, one of the articles I read said the list of plants that can be affected by AY is too vast to list. Another article from the University of WI had this to say:

Aster yellows is a chronic, systemic disease that affects over 300 species in 38 families of broad-leaf, herbaceous plants. Members of the aster family (Asteraceae), such as asters, marigolds, Coreopsis and purple coneflower are commonly affected by this disease.

First yard (OP), aster yellows is very common in Echinacea, sad to say. The disease affects a surprisingly large number of plant varieties and the insect vector is difficult to control.

A few years ago, I made the difficult decision to not replace the Echinacea in my gardens. I may try one or two next season, as we've had some dry summers lately, which is not condusive to AY disease and vector.

I will say that the symptoms (outward signs) of AY and eriophyid mites can look very similar in Echinacea. I would certainly need to bring out my dissecting microscope to be certain, in many instances.

Do the eriophyid mites also cause the witch's broom growth out of the cone?

When I seed a bloom with distortion issues I diagnose it by asking...

1- are the flower petals coming out green, or partially green?

2- are there miniature flowers...stem included (see picture above)... growing out of the cone?

If you say NO to both of these questions... then it's most likely eriophyid mites. I say "might" so that if you see a single bloom that is off... you may have to watch it for a bit to determine what's going on.

Mites do cause the cone to have funky areas... and might terminate the petals completely when they infest the bloom at an early state.. . But... they will never cause the issues questioned above.

I will try and take a pic or two of mite infested cones to post here too

Re "witches broom growth"; confusing term.

In one place Wikipedia follows the original usage, re woody plants, especially trees (German origin: Hexenbesen).

Under Phytoplasma, however, it says "many plants infected by phytoplasmas gain a bushy or witches broom appearance ---". A picture included shows an Echinacea plant infected with aster yellows (AYP).

I consider witches brooms as a really dense growth habit that is not normal for a plant... even if technically they only apply to trees/conifers/etc. If you google " witches boom trees" ... there are some really amazing things going on out there in nature.

You are correct first yard ay can infect a vast array plants. It is spread (vectored) by leafhoppers. The eriophyid mite causes problems in the flower but not the plant.

It's so confusing bcs I have 1 or 2 where the plant looks fine except for the flowers having missing or maybe no petals. Then there's one or 2 where the plant looks fine except for the flowers with few/no/ok petals but that weird bright green "vegetation" growing out of the cones. So several plants that look good but the flowers don't.

Then I have a couple where the plants is stunted but otherwise looks ok including perfect flowers.

And there's at least 1 that is stunted and has the messed up flowers.

When I first found out, I pulled out 3 whole plants. Right now I am cutting off all flowers except the perfect ones. And I will cut them all to the ground after first frost.

When my energy and brainpower come back, I'll keep notes/pics and use nevermore44's logic to diagnose. But right now I am having to concentrate on my 3 calla lily beds that are showing signs of soft rot. Boy, did I get a putrid whiff today!



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It really does sound like mites are the problem. Asters yellow is really nasty looking. When you see it there is no doubt that the plant is sick. It will generally turn yellowish. Leaves will change shape and become twisted. Witches broom growth can be present. You will know when a plant has become infected.

As others are saying, asters yellow is normally diagnosable on the basis of SEVERAL different, but maybe interacting, symptoms throughout a plant.

With respect to "witches' broom", which SOME sources use to describe an apparently rather specific abnormality in flower growth in phytoplamsma infected Echinacea plants (viz with asters yellow), I'd say it's quite distinctively different from the flower-limited damage caused in coneflower rosette mite infestation.

In the case of asters yellow, that type of deformation seems organized and associated with a clear loss of apical growth.

Here are some mite infested blooms I found down hiding in my patch. These are blooms on their way out... hence the petals are crispy or getting there. As funky as these bloom are... the petals aren't green.... and there are no mini blooms arising from the cones.... and the overall plant isn't sickly... so all I do is snap them off and pitch them.

Too bad my pictures were so dark. I will keep watching for more flowers like those and get better pics if I see any.

Just noticed something. Go back to the top of the thread and in my first pic, look at the flower that is 2nd from the left. In the 2nd pic, look at the flower on the right. Do you see something that looks like a tiny flower growing out of those cones? Hard to tell but looks suspicious. All the stuff growing out of the cones was bright green, if that helps.

Think we should all follow what we want to (really!), but I love NM's "mini blooms arising from the cones" because from having seen blooms of asters yellow infected Echinacea and/or from having seen images of them, it's absolutely clear what he's talking about.

First yard... those imho are AY infected plants.

Recognized our first ever case of aster yellows in our garden today.

Noted this year that an Echinacea purpurea 'PowWow Wild Berry' (planted last year) seems stunted and that it's flowers were staying green. It also seemed to have abnormal petals. However, the plant has not shown leaf yellowing.

Today took a closer look and can see abnormal growth in several flowers and also leaf- like structures.

Winner winner chicken dinner! If it wasn't an issue... Those guys are so uniformily infected. They kinda look good. In regards to your comment about the plant not yellowing... All the plants I've seen infected look perfectly healthy besides the messed up blooms.... So maybe it takes a while to do that

I had at least a couple pow wows also. Almost all my echinaceas are getting a white something on the leaves but have never turned yellow. Will get pics tomorrow of the white stuff.

NM, I haven't eaten red meat or veal for 40 or so years, but don't mind chicken.

Suspected you'd agree on the diagnosis and that with your clearly wider experience with Echinacea than me.

The reason I mentioned the leaf yellowing is on-line information that the initial loss of chlorophyll in the veins is followed by leaf yellowing of new growth. As you imply, this does not help with the meaningful (e.g. prompt) diagnosis of aster yellows.

Sorry to hear that First Yard, but the pictures sound interesting.