Hello all,

I noticed some of my clem blooms have got green petals. It's not unusual the season's first flush gets some green on the petals, especially when it's cold in early spring, and I did have an unusual cold spring in March and April this year. But I believe those are all from the second flush (if I didn't miss anything I had no issue with the first blooms), and while some have just a slight tinge of green at the tip of a petal, other blooms are clearly deformed. Not all the flowers are affected so far, though -- limited to just a tiny minority of the blooms so far.

I've heard this symptom may well be due to the green petal disease caused by a phytoplasma infection, and in that case the infected plant(s) should be destroyed. Huge bummer if that's what I've got here.

(I picked a photo of the worst-looking one to post below).

I can't decide if I should keep watching for now and see how the plants come out next season. If there's any other possibility that may explain this symptom (such as nutrition deficiency... though that sounds highly unlikely; I've always been following a recommended fertilization regimen plus I haven't found any information to that effect so far), wait for the next season is surely an option. On the other hand, if this is indeed the disease, I guess I would probably have to kill them now.

I would appreciate your experiences, recommendations, information... anything that may be helpful in my decision making. Has any of you gotten this problem in mid-summer which turned out to be an inexplicable aberration and got back to normal next season on?

Thanks a lot,

Eri