Wrinkled leaves
By Janey
Lincolnshire, England
Many of my plants have very wrinkled top leaves and buds...especially the Rudbeckias and Evening Primrose....the leaves have wiggly lines on them, but no insects....does anyone have any ideas what it could be please?
I picked this top of a Rudbeckia this morning...it seems to have got worse in a day........a little green insect crawled out, but not a cuckoo-spit, or thrips. Wonder what's wrong....I hope it's not eel worm in the soil....:o(
- 8 Jun, 2009
Answers
If the wiggly lines are white, you have leaf miner, which is impossible to see with the naked eye as they live in the 'mines' in the leaves. Can't think of a cure offhand. Suggest you ask Bamboo. Meanwhile pick of all the affected foliage and burn it. Do not compost it. Hope this helps.
8 Jun, 2009
Thanks both.....don't think I can pull off all the leaves and burn them..I won't have any garden left! Lol. It seems to have come on in the last week.
9 Jun, 2009
Hmmmm, you've added a pic.
Not so sure now. Still possible, but I'll have a rethink.
9 Jun, 2009
Thanks Llew.......I've just gone and sprayed all the garden with a soapy solution.....and had a really good look at everything.....aphids here and there and thrips...but not too many...even the Fuchsias are infected now....:o(
9 Jun, 2009
You haven't been using fertilizer have you? Just a thought.
9 Jun, 2009
I'm sorry to say that looks like a viral infection, though there is evidence also of a leafminer of some kind. Leafminers can be treated with malathion, but I think this pesticide has been withdrawn - might be worth checking if there's a substitute for it that does the same thing. It's possible the leafminer has weakened the plants so that they've picked up a virus. Otherwise, could be weedkiller damage, though I don't think so from looking at it.
Only thing you can do is treat the leafminer (if that's possible) and feed the plants regularly to give them extra energy to possibly fight off the virus, if that's what it is.
9 Jun, 2009
Thanks all for your help.....
Louloubelle.....I used the last of the Growmore a couple of weeks ago, sprinkled alittle round the garden. Dont think it can be that though?
Bamboo.....I think maybe there's a selection of pests here, the froghopper (cuckoo spit) sucks the sap from plants and can spread disease, and maybe capsid bugs here as well.....plus aphids, all the wet we've had here and then the heat last week, the plants put on a spurt of fresh soft growth.....and the garden is enclosed so has kept the little critters in!....:o(
9 Jun, 2009
The wiggly lines could well be a pest. It sounds like a Leaf Miner.
They are tiny grubs that burrow tunnels in the leaf tissue in wiggly lines. The lines start off white but then go brown.
You need to remove and get rid of the affected leaves and spray the plants (if you don't mind using chemicals that is).
8 Jun, 2009