What could be causing this?

[jenny312]

Hello

The 'Affected Plants' (are young plants; new shoots grown from seeds and ordered plug plants)

Petunias first affected, they were turning yellow, leaves turning brown limp and then dropping off. First i thought they needed more sunlight as only a few were affected but now it's sweeped through the whole lot.

Oxalis grown from bulbs now reached approximately 30cm height are now shriveling up. The only way i can describe it is it seems as though their insides (the stems) are being sucked dry from the the inside. Stems aer starting to bend and twist. Two were affected yesterday and now another one today.

Geraniums and Fuschia sample i bought from Vernon's Geranium Nursey arrived thursday last week boxed all very impressive and healthy. I watered and then potted them and by the end of the first day already one of them was starting to dry up also. Now it's completely dry leaves and all if i brushed the leaves they'd all fall off (fuschia). Today one of the geraniums leaves (ivy) are starting to curl up round the edges and turning brown.

One of three Jasmine plant and two of five Giant fuschias have also gone the same way dried out, shrived leaves they look dead but i'm not certain for sure.

Now my squash seedling are starting to sprout up i'm trying to protect these as it seems like an ideal target for whatever is causing this devastation.

At night i went to check on the first affected plants the petunias to see it i could spot the culprit and i saw some tiny red spiders, only 1 per pot & about three was all i was able to see in all but the ran away so quiclky in the the compost. Through searching on the internet and the forum i think its the red spider mite(RSM). I tried Scotts bug clear and it seems as though that was absolutely useless and only scared them into hiding away.

I have not found any RSM on the other plants listed yet but could it be the cause of all the problems i've been observing? I've already ordered some neem oil and have been trying out the cornflour/milk& water formula with keeping the humidity high, as i hate to sit and do nothing while my plants are suffering. Are my efforts all in vain and is it obvious to you wiser and more experience gardeners that i'm obviously doing something wrong, or some other parasite is more likely for the cases i've explained? Could it be the hot weather we've been having recently? i'm in london and there really has been a shift. Do you think i'm on the right line and is there anything i can do in the meantime?

[MrsC]

Hi Jenny, wow you're not having much luck. Can you post some pics, that's a lot of info on a lot of plants to take in on one post. Where are the plants? Post your location also.

Also, you don't say re - seed sown plants how old they are etc and the pots they're in now. You need to post pics etc

[Two_Sheds]

What are you potting them into? what soil/compost?

[sweetiepea]

Are your plants inside or out?

[kentvegplot]

I'm suspicious about the compost - what are you using? Is it possible that it might be contaminated by a lot of high-nitrogen fertiliser (which can poison the plants) or even weedkiller?

[jenny312]

I'll try to find a camera that will a good picture as the pictures taken on my mobile are inadequate. They are in potting/seed trays and i used all/multi purpose compost.
They were outside on stage framing but, some crook stole one of them (framing things) so i decided to bring the one left indoors indoors (2 weeks and it can get pretty hot indoors). I do admit that i mixed in some Fish Blood & Bone into about a five litre measure of compost, and it says it contain 5% nitrogen so maybe that was a silly thing to do looking back now???

[Two_Sheds]

I do admit that i mixed in some Fish Blood & Bone into about a five litre measure of compost

Seedlings shouldn't need feeding.... there is already feed in the MP compost.
BFB should never be put in contact with roots and stems either... it can damage them.

[seasprout]

You say the plants are wilting..?? leaves going papery..?

Plants look dry although compost is wet..?

It could be something called Ex-osmosis because you have added way too much fertilizer to the growing medium...basically the water in the plants cells is being drawn out in to the stronger solution in the growing medium, its the opposite to what happens normally when water moves into a plant.

I have seen this before, although it is unusual.

If there are no larvae in the compost such as Vine Weevil, which may also be causing the problem, i suggest you re-pot into new compost.

[jenny312]

I've taken some pictures
When i made this post only 2 of the oxalis were affected out of 20, now only about 5 still have their stems intact. I remember when they were healthy, i had to keep turning them around as the kept bending towards the sunlight and then one morning they looked like a hurricane had gone through them and they were all a mess and entangled, unable to stretch upwards again.
It now looks like some kind of mould is covering them off???

The mixture i tried did not help my petunias and now they look like a really horror show (neem oil has not arrived), no signs of RSM now but little spots of green mould seems to be eating them up. Out of the 42 petunias i bought from T&M only the last two (separated from the 40) seem to have some life still left, but look like they are dying of the same thing in slow motion.

I think the 2/5 giant fuchsias are dead now i took them out of their pots and was looking at their root system and it has turned brown when it was white previously, they just look like dried up sticks in some earth

The pictures with labels ending a and b are of the new plants from Vernon's, the fuchsias was immediately affected and for the ivy only one leaf was affected at the time of my first post now all the leaves.

I decided to separate the squash seedlings that i felt were next in line, plus they were hovering around a 10cm height when they had been growing steadily beforehand. Separating seems to have been a good idea as they are now growing again and stretching upwards.