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Fuchsia leaves- gall mite?

Dirty HarryDirty Harry Posts: 1,048
in Plants
Got this across five different fuchsias and hoping it's something else but not sure if it's gall mite. FWIW I'm fairly north (Stonehaven) and have had the plants for a couple of seasons.

Some deforming of some of the leaves, not as extreme as google images would suggest for gall mite but not as many flowers as I would hope for, albeit they took a while to get going this year.

Mrs. P. Wood




Mrs. Popple



Hawkshead


Tom Thumb




There are also completely unaffected areas interspersed-


Mrs. P. Wood

Posts

  • Arthur1Arthur1 Posts: 542
    Mine do this every year. I think it is capsids which feed in the buds before those buds grow. As those buds grow, the damage caused expands and becomes apparent. By this time the capsid have gone.
    Some fuchsias are not worth growing because of this. Others still flower well.
  • Dirty HarryDirty Harry Posts: 1,048
    Might explain why there does seem to be a difference between them, the two Mrs. Popples have noticeably more flowers than anything else.
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    I don't think it's gall mite. But if it is, it's not necessarily fatal. The vast majority of mine survived and are healthy now.
    You cut them down to a few inches. No leaves.  ( this is important) Dispose of the clippings and any fallen leaves. With any luck at all, they'll be back next year fighting fit. I discovered this when I cut back my diseased fuchsias and fortunately never got around to digging them out.
    Can't help with the capsid but I'd be inclined to do the same. Throw away the leaves with and without the bugs and there's nothing left for them to feed on.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
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