PLZ HELP IDENTIFY DAHLIA INFESTATION :(
6 years ago
I'm a little perturbed. I know earwigs & slugs love to munch on dahlias but have yet to c any on mine. Instead, my dahlias are riddled w/leaf miners. Recently, I noticed some stippling on my potted dahlia so, I checked underneath the leaves to c this craziness. Any ideas, maybe scale ?
I would hope not bc scale is hard to kill! I have LADA for treating scale on roses. I'm worried this is much too strong for my precious dahlias. Please, any advice on what this is & how to rid of it will be greatly appreciated ! My dahlias are my prize possessions. Being I'm in Florida, I devote a lot of time, effort & money to keep them growing well & healthy!
Thanks :)
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Comments (3)the woody stem u see in the picture is of a different shrub. @mytime - yes...now i remember that i brought a dahlia blub too..:-)..i have no idea how that plant looks like...so couldn't recognize...thank you so much for your help.......See Moreplease help! plant sick or attached by bugs?
Comments (4)Hi Karen03, is hard to make a diagnosis with out knowing the exact growing conditions ie how much direct sun/day, how often do you water plants, is your plant growing in potting mix or garden soil do you have pets which use that part of garden? etc., Your dahlia plants look to me as though they have root damage hence the foliage is dying off as a response to lack of nutrient & water getting to the leaf ? A similar effect can be the result of magnesium or other element deficiency causing breakdown of green chlorophyll organs with in leaf. Over use of lime etc. can cause this. I would take plant out of soil (if in pot) & examine roots to see that they are healthy first though if in garden soil, would check drainage in garden first, if ok then cut the top 1/3 of plant foliage off to reduce stress on roots, hopefully new growth will make up for lost foliage soon after. Good luck allan...See MoreI need help to identify an insect
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Comments (17)Concerning virus... Out of over a dozen possible viruses, there are at least three main viruses that commonly haunt dahlias, and as of yet there is no easy scientific test to determine if the dahlia plant is infected or not. Viruses can be spread by insects or a contaminated knife or even fingers, but you might not see sign until the next season AFTER you share tubers with all your friends. This is happening even with newly released varieties that we pay top dollar for (talk about disappointing! But it is not with the knowledge if the vendor) That is why it's really important to ferret out the infected plants in our gardens and dispose of them in the trash (not compost!) so we don't spread virus in our own or other grower's collections. This is often very hard for gardeners to do, as it's hard to justify killing a plant that might just be struggling. So we feed it, and the virus sign seems to go away, but the virus is still in the plant and can be infecting plants around it. Show folk often over-fertilize to get those amazing blooms, but it also masks the virus sign. This makes it difficult for growers to be motivated to clean up the virused plants when the earlier virus sign can be written off to malnutrition or stress. Here's a link to a pictorial guide that might help growers determine what to look for regarding virus: http://www.dahlia.org/uploads/bulletin_articles/ADS-DMV_Symptoms_Slides.pdf Carol, there is one image in there that resembles your plant, but it still might be insect damage. It's obvious your plant is stressed (an understatement, I know), but what the stress factor actually IS is the hundred dollar question....See More- 6 years ago
- 6 years ago
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