Curled-down leaves

5 years ago

I got a couple of violets from eBay last November. They arrived on a very cold day and got pretty badly burned, but I took care of them and they recovered - sort of, I guess you could say that at least they didn't die - and grew. But they've always looked distorted, with their leaves curling down to make almost triangular shapes. None of my other violets have done this, growing in the same location; and I'm just not sure what cultural conditions to change. Going to re-pot any day now, just on general principles, but if anyone has any suggestions, I'd be grateful.

Here they are:

This is supposed to Hunter's Blue Northern, but it's coming out all-white:

And this is Hunter's Mother's Love (was smaller to start with and took more of a hit from the cold):

Did the crowns get so damaged that these will never grow "right"? Is that even possible? I would've thought the new growth would come true. I told the seller about the damage immediately and he said he would replace them this spring (better weather) if I lost them. Should I try to grow them big enough to get a leaf and start over?

Thanks you guys -

Joan

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Comments (5)

party_music50
5 years ago
Mine will curl down like that if they're too cold and wet.
Northern Gardener (3b west central MN) thanked party_music50
Rosie1949
5 years ago
Hate to say,,,,,looks like some type of bug??? Rosie
Northern Gardener (3b west central MN) thanked Rosie1949
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irina_co
5 years ago
Hope not bugs.

But I am thinking that taking the healthy leaf off and rooting it will be the fastest way to get a decent looking plant.

If the stem is damaged... it will stay damaged and the top will grow skewed reflecting the frost lesions on the trunk. At some point when the top will be heftier - you can decapitate and reroot it.

Regarding overly white leaves - it is a curse of all heavily variegated plants. They do it. Keep the plant warm and feed extra nitrogen - fish emulsion will work.

Nights are still too cold for shipping in Denver...
Northern Gardener (3b west central MN) thanked irina_co
Northern Gardener (3b west central MN)
Original Author
5 years ago
Rosie, I don't think it's bugs, but anything is possible I suppose. I did re-pot these immediately upon receiving them, poor things. But I saw your comment a couple hours ago and it scared me enough that I mixed up some new soil and included Bonide imidacloprid in it, for insurance, and repotted again. (I also read a thread on MissOrchidGirl a while back that pointed out that Advantix, the dog skin treatment for flea/tick prevention/killing, contains the same active ingredient, and that this one gal cured all her AVs of whatever and sundry by putting a single drop in each pot. So I went around and did that to everything I have, in January; more like 2-3 drops for all the amaryllis pots. Placing yellow sticky traps, plus this treatment, eliminated the fungus gnats that are often present when I bring amaryllises inside after a summer outdoors.)

Irina, that is great information. THANK YOU. I've never heard of anything like that, but it certainly makes sense, and as you saw from my original post, I was wondering about it; just didn't understand the mechanism.

I think my truly fastest way to getting decent looking plants is to write the seller and request that he send replacements if he has any, next week. :) But I'll also set a couple leaves. I'll pick the best of a bad lot and who cares if it makes the mother plants look weirder. They can't look any worse.

Thank you so much, for yet another not-in-the-books answer.

Joan
Northern Gardener (3b west central MN)
Original Author
5 years ago
Update: I set a leaf from the Blue Northern today, but it's a pretty puny petiole. I have not much hope. There was nothing from Mother's Love that I dared harvest: it would be an exercise in futility.

I wrote the seller, though, and sent some pictures. Seller will send me some replacements, when available, no earlier than late May. I've set no timeline for that, I just want something healthy; and I've offered to pay shipping costs, because I feel like it was at least partly my fault that the seller was shipping during a risky time of year.

Irina, I checked your Denver weather. Pretty close to what is happening here, at present; sometimes low 30s F, could dip into the 20s. It's an amazingly chilly spring, after early mild weather in early March and again in early April. For once I've been glad that the timing hasn't been too bad, for my apple trees. They're not even close to budding out yet, and maybe this late cold will slow them down enough that they won't flower until it's safe. Crossing my fingers for that.