I don’t know yet.  I had been working under the assumption that this was water damage and had taken great pains to make sure I did not get any water on the leaves while watering my plants.  Yet the damage continued to appear on new leaves and seemed to be spreading to other plants.

A friend was visiting on Saturday and asked me if I would recognize Cyclamen Mite damage and I said I would if I saw it on African violets and then proceeded to describe the obvious crinkled and brittle distorted growth pattern of mite infested african violet leaves and he brought me over to the Kohleria bench and pointed at these leaves and told me this was cyclamen mite damage.

I actively spray for mites in my greenhouse primarily to protect my Phalaenopsis but I have been avoiding the gesneriads because they are new to me and I don’t know what chemicals produce a phytotoxic response in them.   So they have been growing unprotected.  I have spent the better part of an hour combing over these leaves with a 10x loupe but I can’t see any mites.  This does not rule them out however.  Cyclamen mites and broad mites are among the smallest mite pests and my eyes are getting old, so I might not be able to see them even with my trusty loupe. Therefore I am including my gesneriads in my mite spraying program and will see if this damage abates as the summer wears on.  If it is mite damage, it can be easily controlled.  It is just a matter of recognizing it and taking action.

In a few months I will revisit this post and update it to let you know if the mite control regimen has alleviated this damage on future growth.

2 Responses to “Water or mite damage on Kohleria leaves?”