tiny flurry in center turns to death

14 years ago

my mom's violets are suffering from scale, which we can deal with. the odd bit to me is that they also (many of them) have centers which grow a vigorous clump of tiny leaves which then turn to a hard mass--almost like melted plastic...don't know if the scale and the melted death are related, but they're together. she's let it get out of hand--i should be as together as she is at age 90--but i wondered if anyone had ideas on this phenom. mine have never had either problem. hers are under shop lights (flourescent strips)

thanks for any help/ideas!!

Comments (5)

thominindy
14 years ago
This sounds like what I am experiencing with my "Persian Prince". Tiny little leaves all over the crown.

This is a starter that I have had about six weeks. I follow all of the advice in this forum for soil, fertilizer, etc. They are under 48" T8's.

Last night I was able to pop one of these little suckers off. The rest I can't tell which is sucker, and which is crown. Will it help to let it grow out a little, or will this just make it worse?

Thanks for your time.

Thom
irina_co
14 years ago
Minnesota -

Your Mom can have bug/mite problem or reaction to the insecticide. Or some kind of virus.

Frankly - I would trash them all, clean the growing area really well, soak trays and pots and what not with a strong Clorax solution and start from scratch with new starters or leaves. You can start putting leaves for her at your place - and do not bring any plants from your Mom to your house.

Irina

Thom - you can get your Prince from some other place. Get rid of it! Soak all you tweezers and scissors and what not in a rubbing alcohol - after you worked with The Prince.
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carol222
14 years ago
It sure sounds like cyclamen mites. I have cured that by dunking the plants in Avid for 20 minutes. Are the leaves in the center hard and hairy? The trouble with Avid is that it can be more expensive than the plants, which is one of the reasons that people say to throw the plants out. Unless you have a large collection, that's probably good advice. There was a violet seller that sold small amounts, but I can't find the site. I'll go into work to see if I can find it , or maybe someone else here can remember.
Carol
thominindy
14 years ago
Hi All. Thanks for the info. I don't beleive my problem is as serious as Fiddlewitch. I could well be wrong. I think I just have a bunch of suckers which I have removed. The Prince is in a different room and totally isolated. I'm just going to watch for a couple of days. If I don't see improvement I will trash it. I did buy an ounce of Avid this week on eBay from a seller riddick100178. He has another ounce up today.

Maybe I am being wreckless. I know how you gurus stress isolation and caution. It also seems that most of us learn the hard way.

Thom
lilypad22
14 years ago
I had Persian Prince and I "fought" with the suckers for a couple years and finally tossed it. All it did was sucker. Lots and lots of tiny suckers.

Well, I had started leaves of all my small plants and a lady in my violet club was going to make terraniums and wanted to know if anyone had any miniature baby plants she could have. I gave her a box of little starters - persian prince included - shelf space for me. A few months later she showed me "her" persian prince and it was lovely! I spent way too much time working with the mama plant. Thom I hope yours works out and you get a lovely plant too!

take care, tish