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| I planted some geranium Biokovo in a friend's garden last fall, and it has been doing quite well (no surprise there).
But yesterday I noticed that the leaves have what almost look like cigarette burn-holes in them. Sorry, no picture, but can anyone tell me what this is and if it's something to worry about? They are small holes, less than a quarter inch, almost perfectly round for the most part, surrounded by a brown ring. I could not remove affected leaves since almost all leaves had at least one hole on it. I tried a search but it's hard to search when you don't know what you are looking for. I've never had this problem in my own garden so again, not sure what it is. Thanks!
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Follow-Up Postings:
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| Botrytis maybe? If so, time to cut the plant back and dispose of all leaves. |
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| Thanks anitamo. I googled botrytis, but that looks fuzzy, paler brown, and all the examples I saw had no distinct holes. I sure hope I don't have to cut off affected leaves - I will have to cut pretty much the entire plant. Thanks, |
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| Dee - I had a similar thing on my mint and I finally figured out that it was damaged from a four lined plant bug (sounds like a badly made-up name, huh?) They are tricky and hide/drop to the ground if you disturb the plant. I cut my mint down and removed all the debris under the plant to get rid of them all. Then if just kept a close watch as it grew back. But of course I could do that with mint. I'm not sure if you could do something so drastic with a geranium. If you don't want to try, I would suggest putting a drop cloth under the plant and shaking it. Inspect the leaves for any eggs and do a really good clean-up in the fall. Deb |
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| Hi Deb! Yes, your post reminded me that I have heard of this four-lined plant bug before. I'll look into this. The bad thing is that the bed is mulched with shredded leaves, so I suppose the hiding places are endless for these critters! I feel so bad - this friend can't seem to grow anything well. If there's a problem/pest/fungus/insect, she'll get it! I thought these would be foolproof for her. Oh well, what can you do? Thanks for the suggestion. I'll check it out! Dee |
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| If anyone's still reading, I got a photo of the spots/holes. Take a look and if anyone can help me I'd appreciate it! Thanks! |
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| Well, it's not the four lined plant bug damage, but I'm still leaning towards botrytis or some other fungal disease. I would remove all the leaves, just cut the plant down to the ground, and throw them in the trash, not compost pile. It may even send up fresh foliage this year still. |
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| Thanks anitamo. I'll try cutting them all back and hope for new, unaffected growth. Dee |
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