It actually appears that you may have Cyclamen Mite, which mainly affects the plants' inner crown.

I'll leave it up to more knowledgeable posters to speculate as to whether these plants can be saved or not ... but you should probably definitely let your mom know about what's going on ... and how it might affect her plants ...

I was hoping that someone would say it's not mites... I guess not. But I thought cyclamen mites caused the leaves to curl upwards, while broad mites caused them to curl downwards. These are curling down, so wouldn't it be broad mites then?

I believe that I have experienced both Cyclamen and Broad mites.

Cyclamen mites tend to devastate the crown growth, ... while my experience with Broad Mites was the crimping back of leaf edges (even in older established leaves), and ultimately causing spear-like growth out of the crown.

Although the following photo is not of an African Violet, .... an advanced case of Broad mites looked something like this plant ...

For me, either type of mite was particularly devastating ... and I didn't catch it until it had spread to, at least, 50 plants or so. My ultimate solution was to discard any plant that showed signs of mite.

You are correct that cyclamen mites will twist and deform center leaves turning them grey. Broad mites will turn the edges under but they don't turn grey. Regardless, they are both bad. I haven't seen cyclamen mites in years but have had rounds of broad mite.

The plant in your second picture looks like it could have broad mites. Feel the center leaves. If they are hard to the touch and aren't pliable, mites could be at work. Your center leaves will continue to look this way while the outer ones grow. After awhile, the difference is very noticeable. One way to check is with a 20x scope. They will hide from the light but if they are there, you should eventually see them. I would isolate this plant and any others like it.

Be aware that other elements could have this effect. I don't know anything about LED lights or if they are too strong but too much light could possibly look like mite damage as well as PH problems, water quality, and the list goes on. I don't know what happened to the plant in your first picture. I think I would toss this one; even if the crown grows back it won't look right.

For peace of mind, you can treat your plants with Forbid. You perhaps can find it on Ebay. The applicator is sold and the Forbid just comes along with it. The cost is somewhere around $20. One spraying or dipping should take care of them.

The younger plant of RFD looks clean. You could try leaf cuttings dipping them in a bleach or soap solution, seal them in baggies and hope for the best. Its always difficult to decide what to do. Keep us informed and good luck!

Terri

Ugh, that really sucks! Were you able to save any of your plants? How long did you wait until you were sure it was gone? I'd hate to replace any of my plants I discard, just to go through this all again...

I have a number of plants that still look fine, do you have any idea how long it'll take for them to show signs of damage if the mites are still around? Do the mites tend to leave the plants to live in the environment, or once I get rid of the plants they're on, should that pretty much take care of them? I'll try to sterilize my bookcase as best as I can (Clorox wipes or something, maybe?), but it's not like it's stainless steel or anything that I can wash...

This is really disheartening... I had just gotten my plants really flowering well, and I'm just now getting the first blooms on a number of plants I grew from leaves from my mom's plants. I really hope I didn't spread this to my mom's collection as well - she doesn't have too many plants, but there's one that my (now deceased) grandmother gave my (now adult) brother when he was in preschool, which is very special to us all. Thankfully, she has that one with some others in our kitchen windowsill, away from the other AVs including the ones I gave her a month or two ago, so hopefully the mites haven't spread to it yet.

Terri, I just saw your comment. Thanks for the tip on the Forbid - that might be a good way to treat my remaining plants, so hopefully if there are small populations of mites on them, it'll get rid of them. $20 is a much more reasonable cost for me to cover!

With the cyclamens showing curled leaves under entirely different culture conditions, I'm thinking it probably isn't just due to my conditions. I'm debating if I should toss all of my cyclamens, or try to treat them. If I remove all the leaves from the cyclamens, I could force dormancy, and try to treat the tops of the bulbs with Forbid...

Since all of my AVs came either from the Violet Barn or my family's collection we've had for a long time with no problems, I doubt the mites came in on an AV. I might call the Violet Barn just in case, to see if they have had any problems recently.

You think the younger RFD looks clean? I think I'm a little paranoid at this point... Last night I was thinking I was seeing curling leaves everywhere! I'll feel the leaves when I get back to my apartment today, and see if they're hard. I'll also take leaf cuttings from everything, wash/bleach them, and maybe root them in individual bags, so hopefully I can save a few of the ones I might need to toss.

I like cyclamens also and grew them years ago but after I decided to concentrate on African violets and other gesneriads, I let them all go. I'm sure not every cyclamen carries mites, but I'd rather not tempt fate!

When I said the younger RFD looks ok, I mean that the youngest leaves don't look necessarily off to indicate mites. That doesn't mean they aren't already there as it usually takes awhile for symptoms to show and why it is necessary to treat all surrounding plants.

I have had an occasional plant pop up with mites and I too have had no idea where they came from. With violets, its always something!

Terri

I tried to save a few of the plants affected with Broad Mite, ... but, ultimately, they had to go.

And, occasionally, I would see signs of Broad Mite in plants that I thought were okay. This all started a few years ago, ... and it's just been within the last year or so ... that I've become confident that the scourge was finally gone.

What I've found, however, ... is that Mites (and/or Thrips) can/will come in ... on plants purchased from formerly trusted vendors. So I've pretty much limited myself to acquiring leaves and plugs.

But it's much better to be able to enjoy my plants, ... rather than fight the latest pest incursion.

I'm sorry that you both have had to deal with this problem. Hopefully it's gone for good for you both!!

Thinking back, I think it's from my cyclamens... I found some pictures of my plants last summer (before I had the AVs), and the cyclamen had curled leaves even then, but at the time I didn't pay much attention to it - I'd never even heard of plant mites then. I think I just assumed it was too much sun or something, since I had accidentally sunburned the plants at the beginning of the summer.

Thank you both so much for all the help! I looked into using Forbid, and it seems like it should be pretty effective! I just ordered an ounce of Forbid plus a jewler's loupe to see if I have the mites on Ebay for $21 total, which I think is worth the chance at saving my plants! I'll probably discard the plants with obvious damage to the center, and treat the rest of my AVs and cyclamens. I also plan to flush the pots with plain water, and possibly also continue to decrease my hours of lighting and my fertilizer concentration. Hopefully the combination of these will take care of the problem! I'll try to keep you updated on how it goes.

I think it's kind of late to tell you this. I bought a 60x jewelry loupe from ebay last year. Someone right here bought this type which I think it's even better. It can connect to smart phone to take picture.

http://growhome.com/tools/magnifiers-and-microscopes/active-eye/60x-active-eye-universal-phone-microscope-w-clamp/638104016766/

It took me couple days in order to see one mite on my plant because it was very difficult to keep steady. Eventually you might see it, just be patient. I used forbid once and all mite were gone.

Good luck

Thanks! I actually went on Amazon and got a 30x-60x-90x jewler's loupe for $8.50 that looks like it'll be really nice to use. The phone clip thing looks neat, but I can probably get the same effect by holding my phone up to the lens, and this way I can also look through it without relying on my phone.

I also came across this (https://www.amazon.com/Carson-MicroBrite-60x-120x-Microscope-MM-300/dp/B00LAX52IQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1498008363&sr=8-1&keywords=pocket+microscope) for $10, which I just couldn't resist... a 60x and 120x pocket microscope! My mother (a science teacher) is going to love it!

I'm glad to hear that you had good results with Forbid also! I just got the Ebay notification that mine has shipped, and it should be here by Friday.

You really need to soak everything with Forbid, probably repeat it 3 times just in case.

It takes forever for the plants to grow out of mites damage. So - go through your collection - and assess the most damaged plants. It will be easier to chuck the most affected, just take a couple of older leaves and put them down for babies - treated of course. You kill the mites - but the poison they injected in the centers will be affecting new growth for long time. Or pinch the center out - leave only the older leaves - you will get the suckers to root fast enough.

It is doable, with the proper pesticide - miticide - you will get rid of them - no problem.

Cyclamens... I do not know about keeping them in the same room or even in the same house. The mites coexist with Cyclamens and even overwinter on their corms. May be if you treat them several times with Forbid...

I am sure that it is NOT from Violet Barn. These guys keep the shop meticulously clean and bug free.

I got my loupe and the Forbid today. Looked at my violets, and there are definitely mites on them, including plants I didn't think had them yet. Now that I know what to look for, they were actually relatively visible to my bare eye, but the loupe helped immensely in determining if a spec I thought might be moving was actually a mite. I'll probably split the Forbid and mail my mom some so that she can treat her plants also. Do broad mites like other houseplants (she has two orchids near the, but the rest are typical indestructible ones like spider plants, sanseviera, dracaena, etc.), or will she probably be ok to just treat the AVs?

My plants will be getting a bath tonight or tomorrow! I think probably the best way to treat them will be by dipping them into the Forbid, since I don't want to mess with sprays - my only easily accessed outdoor space is a balcony with a slatted floor (wood boards with rather large gaps between them) that would let spray drift down to my downstairs neighbor's patio, and I have birds indoors, which are really sensitive to particles in the air. Any idea if it's safe for the plants to get some in their soil? I want to make sure I get all the leaves, so I'm planning to dip them in it upside down (not submerging the pots), but I think some will probably drip down into the pots, particularly if I try to get all of the stem above the soil.

Yes, it is fine to dip your plants. That is what I did to ensure complete coverage. Things can get a bit messy when you invert the plants so if they are damp not as much soil & particles will fall out. It's ok that some solution runs into the pot. Good luck!

Great, thank you! I think that sounds like the simplest, most effective method for me.

Did you have any issues with other houseplants nearby? I'm wondering if I should tell my mom to treat all the plants in that window, not just the AVs.

I have read this entire thread and I wonder why people "dip" plants. I agree with Irina,,,,,,,I would rather fill a sprayer bottle and spray the bejesus out of the plant AND on the top of the soil. I am just not a fan of "dip". Unless it is french onion dip on potato chips or pretzels!!!!!! Rosie

In my case, spraying indoors is dangerous to my pets, and spraying outdoors will drift onto my downstairs neighbor. Dipping will be much simpler, especially since I don't have tons of AVs. After I dip them, I plan to just set them on a garbage bag covered with paper towels to catch any drips.

Modern miticides are not dangerous to warm blooded critters, but dangerous to fish and insects like bees. Exposed to the sun and oxygen they turn non efficient in a day. So if you make a solution - use it all. (Spray in a bathroom???)

If you feel more comfortable dipping - use Saran wrap on your pots first - it will prevent most of the mess.

Forbid is absorbed by the tissues - it is systemic and translaminar - so you do not need to soak the roots. The plant will distribute it on its own.

The Forbid label had all sorts of warnings about human toxicity through inhalation, direct skin contact, etc. Birds are extremely sensitive to airborne particles and chemical fumes, even those that don't bother humans (fumes from teflon-coated nonstick pans, for example, can kill birds in a matter of minutes), and in general, it's pretty safe to assume that anything in the air that's harmful to humans will be more harmful to them. I didn't think it was worth the risk, even in a different room. Plus I'd have to worry about getting the overspray on my floor/wall/etc.

What I did do is made about a half gallon of Forbid and, with my gloved fingers holding the soil/plant in the pot, dunked each of my plants (I have ~30, so not as many as a lot of people) upside down and swished them around for a few seconds. Saran wrap probably would have helped, but unfortunately I didn't think of it or see your comment in time, but just using my fingers worked relatively well. I did have one plant fall out of the pot and entirely into the miticide, but I fished it out quickly, and after letting it dry out overnight, I repotted it with apparently no harm done. Garbage bags covered with a layer of paper towels worked well to set the plants on while they all dried overnight in my bathroom, with the vent on to get rid of fumes.

The miticide got a little dirty by the last few plants, due to some loose soil falling in, but I don't think it impacted its function any. I do need to figure out how to dispose of the leftover, though. However, that would have been a problem even if I had chosen to spray it, since I wasn't sure how much I needed, and it's not stable once mixed up, so I couldn't have saved it to reuse. I currently have it sealed in a cleaned milk jug while I figure out how to responsibly dispose of it.

Thank you all for your help and advice while I figured this out! Hopefully this will be the last of the nasty mites!

I can see mies going belly up. In droves. Pffft - here goes another dozen.

I think if you wait for several days - you can chuck your jug. At that point it will be non-toxic. If you will keep it exposed to the sun - even better - sun destroys it.

Maybe flush down the toilet?

I didn't realize it degrades that fast! Although now that I'm thinking about it, that's why I can't reuse it... duh.

It's REALLY not a good idea to flush things if they're not neutralized first. Wastewater treatment plants can't remove everything (chemicals like pesticides, herbicides, pharmaceuticals, etc. are known to be hard to remove), and the label specifically states that Forbid is harmful to aquatic life. It's not worth the risk, at least not until it has broken down. If I remember right, the label says that the products of degradation are harmless, thankfully.

No flushing. Dumpster is better - they will take it to a landfill - and there is a lot of interesting things anyway. They keep the runoff from going into streams.

Yup! That's my plan. I might mix it with kitty litter or something to dry it out first, so it won't have a chance to leak out before it gets to the landfill.

I know this is a 4 year old conversation but Im having the exact same problem with my AVs. I have over 150 in my collection and in the last several months Ive noticed about 20 have mites. Im just now researching on how to save my AVs. Im devastated! Ive been growing AVs for a year and has been a great hobby since the pandemic. Did you have good results from Forbid ? There is another product out there called Avid for mites. Please advise as Im in same boat as you four years ago. Did yours make a full recovery and out grew the mite damage ? I bought all of my AVs from Violet Barn as well. I strictly grow Trailers and SemiMiniature Avs. My Fuddy Duddy also has mites. ugggggggg

Susan,

I can't believe this post was 4 years ago because I still remember this conversation. Every time I have mites, I use forbid once and mites are all dead. However, I usually don't wait for the plant outgrown from the those stiff, hard center because I don't have patience. Recently, I started with bloom stalk and new leaves looks small and stiff. You might try to start leaves from outer ring. Let me find another post that how to apply forbid.

Good luck

Susan,

Here's another post, look for Irina's comments, and there is instructions for how to apply forbid.

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/4196096/help-on-identify-leave-problem