Check with your agricultural extension office - should be one in each county. For $6 they run an ELISA test on INSV. They probably will request the whole plant - and it won't be returned. That will be the only one way to know for sure.

Otherwise - googe images on "cyclamens INSV" - and look at the results. My guess it can start with spots and progress into leaf and flowers being distorted.

I am not familiar with Cyclamens - I enjoy them from a distance - because they carry cyclamen mites - they actually coexist with them - and I do not want to deal with these devastating pests on AVs. Cyclamens have a dormant period in summer - and may be it is a time for vegetative part of the plant to die and dry. So - I think you need to talk to experienced Cyclamen growers - if it is normal or what.

Good Luck

Irina

Thank you for your input!

I googled it again and while it does look similar I can't be sure. I'll post this elsewhere and see what happens.

Since this only began after I moved them, I'm holding onto the hope that it's just my fault for being too hard on the roots/forgetting to water/accidentally misting their leaves and causing sunburn. And then, hopefully, I can toss them in the trash in peace.

Follow-up question: They were sitting there for a few days after the spots manifested. If this turns out to be INSV, how long does it take (on average) for it to manifest on other plants? Should I expect my entire indoor garden to die off?

You know what - it is probably a sunburn.

If you do not have thrips and you didn't have it before and you didn't add any new plants to the collection...it should be some mechanical or cold or sun damage.

Hearing it from someone else is a huge relief! I'll continue to test for thrips, but I'm pretty sure I have none. None show signs of having thrips or any creature on them--it was just these 2 plants that had those spots and I went into panic mode. I will definitely be buying some petunias.