I have a three-color planting of impaitens of purple, light pink and white. I probably put in close to 50 plants. They are almost completely now filled in and lush, having been planted in late May, and suddenly some of them are not doing well, but what's bizarre is it's only the white ones. Well, they're not exactly dying, but they are getting really leggy, losing their leaves, and not having any flowers. It's the strangest thing. Not every white plant, but about a third of them, about six or seven of them. And they're not plants that are right next to each other, so one white one can be affected but not one that is right next to it, but skipped over a couple of white ones and then there's another white one, dotted here and there, only white plants, once lush and large, now with puny leaves and almost no flowers. Not a single affected purple or pink one, only white. They were lush and full just two weeks ago, now they look horrible.

What is happening, and why is it only happening to the white ones? Any ideas?

Mitz

To me it sounds like they have spider mite. A microscopic insect that loves impatiens. They were probably infected when you bought them. They are probably on the others too but not in sufficient numbers to show much yet.

You can get the numbers down by spraying with the hose getting the undersides of the leaves. Then get some insecticidal soap and spray the plants again getting the undersides of the leaves. Do the hose thing daily and the soap according to directions but after you have sprayed with the hose and the plants have dried off. Do all this in the day when they are in shade, or in early morning or early evening. Never leave a plant wet at night or you are courting fungal disease

Spider mites hate cold and wet and love heat and dry. You can't see them so looking is useless. You can feel their grittiness if you run the leaf between your fingers. They hatch out every 3 to 5 days