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poorly aquilegia
Allyblueeyes
Posts: 420
Hello,
I've noticed that my usually beautiful aquilegia appear to have a problem - the buds are drying out and shriveling up before blooming. The foliage is fine and looks healthy enough but the buds are looking very poorly. I live in Knebworth, Hertfordshire and my parents live a couple of miles away and have the same problem! Has anyone else in the area come across this ...... and if so, know what the problem is or whether it can be cured?
Thank you.
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Posts
It could be the gall midge which feeds on the flower. I haven't heard of a cure other than to pick off affected flowers and burn them. This particular midge doesn't affect other plants.
Thanks Dorcas - that's a relief as my main concern was it's affect on other plants. I'll treat as such and hope for the best. Much appreciated.
Allyblueeyes - I can appreciate your problem. My aquilegias were glorious last year but this year they have been really poor with a lot of buds which look twisted and tight. My lovely Nora Barlow's didn't appear at all and my hybrids are all quite small with some not even producing buds. They're usually all stunning. I'm up in Scotland.
Well, having inspected the inside of the buds, I googled 'gall midge' and it was exactly as we thought - well done Dorcas! They are a tiny 2-3 mm orange larvae. Little blighters have just about ruined every aquilegia but thankfully nothing else with suffer.
Yarrow2 - your description is identical - time to get deadheading!!
Thanks all!
I think I've got it too
. I had put it down to frost damage as it was only affecting the top buds, and the foliage looks healthy. Will take a closer look at the damaged buds in daylight tomorrow
My daughter has tiny tiny green caterpillars on hers, they have stripped every leaf off, lovely flowers intact, just leaves gone.
Well I can confirm its gall midge - tiny bright orange worms that look like part of the stamen until you stare long enough to see them moving
Is picking the bad buds off enough to break the cycle do you think?
Same problem here too, not far from chicky. I wondered why such bullet proof plants were suffering and now I know.
Picking off affected buds is the only way to get rid of the problem as far as I know. I think you all need to be vigilant and keep nipping this in the bud (sorry terrible pun!) Sooner or later you'll win and the plants will go back to flowering properly. Might take the whole season though if you have a bad problem with it.
I think that my aquilegias are suffering the same fate...I am in Essex. I don't seem to have a plant that has escaped. Have those of you that deadheaded last year had a reduced problem this year or is it too early to tell yet?