Hepatica disease

[Ewelina Wajgert]

Perhaps you know, what disease is this and how you can prevent it?
It attack more and more Hepaticas in my collection.

[Paul T]

Ewelina,

Have you checked for some sort of leaf mining grub?  Sort of looks to me like that might be the cause.  I don't know whether Hepatica are attacked by these or not, but that would be my first thought anyway.

Good luck in finding the answer.  Any damage on Hepaticas is NOT good! 

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Can't help you either Ewelina - but wouldn' t it be a good idea to remove the affected leaves as soon as the first signs show

[Paul T]

Ewelina,

Having another look at your second picture (the closeup) I would pretty much guarantee it is a leaf miner of some type.  At the top of the brown area you can see where the munching went on inside the leaf, looking just the same as the way a leaf looks when a caterpillar has been munching on the outer edge.  Have you tried removing one of those leaves and opening up the pocket in the brown area to find if there is anything in there?  At the very least carefully squash each brown segment, so that if there is a caterpillar or some other insect inside it will die.  I didn't notice the detail at the top of the brown part of the closeup picture before, or I would have mentioned it.  If it isn't something eating it from the inside then it is the strangest die-back I have ever come across.

[WimB]

Ewelina and Paul,

It would indeed seem that there is a leafminer that's particularly fond of Hepatica.
You can find some information here:

http://www.leafmines.co.uk/html/Hymenoptera/P.mentiens.htm

[johnw]

Ewelina -  I've never seen this before but as others say it does appear to be a leaf miner of sorts. Tear open a leaf to expose the interior of the leaf between the upper and lower surfaces, you should see black castings (ingested leaf matter) in there.

If you spray or drench all your Hepaticas next Spring with Provado (imidichloprid) well before you see damage you might just get rid of this pest if it is specific to Hepatica. Provado should give protection for the entire growing season. Do not use more than once a year.

johnw

[Rodger Whitlock]

Ewelina should carefully cut off the damaged areas of all affected leaves and burn them. Also clean up any dead leaves around her clumps of hepatica and burn those as well.  She can expect to have further damage for another year or two, but if she is sedulous in her attention to hygiene, the pest's life cycle will be broken and her garden should become free of the pest.

She should also search the surrounding area for infested hepaticas,  and if she finds any, clean those up as well. If they are in a neighbor's garden, of course, doing so will require the neighbor's cooperation.

It may also be a good idea to cultivate and loosen the soil around her hepaticas. This will help expose any pupae in the soil to insect predators and birds.

This pest, presumably the Pseudodineura mentiens another reply pointed us to, did not arise by spontaneous generation; it came from somewhere. If it has found her garden once, it will find it again, so Ewelina will have to be alert for it from now on, even once she has cleared her garden of the pest.

As a general rule, hand-picking of pests is an effective means of control, but it requires patience to have results. Careful, methodical destruction of any one pest makes Homo sapiens a major predator, and inevitably the pest population will begin to drop. Here on Vancouver Island, we are afflicted with climbing cutworms from mid-winter into spring. These attack a wide variety of hosts, but are especially damaging to leaves of erythroniums and irises, leaving a characteristic damage. I have found that in any one year, there are only a hundred or so of these caterpillars in my entire garden. if I am diligent about nighttime picking with the aid of a flashlight, I can destroy most of the year's brood within a week, and the following year have many fewer climbing cutworms to deal with.

This advice may sound so obvious as to not be worth writing down, but in my experience, the majority of gardeners do NOT realize how effective simple handpicking of pests can be.

[Maggi Young]

This advice may sound so obvious as to not be worth writing down, but in my experience, the majority of gardeners do NOT realize how effective simple handpicking of pests can be.

Well, isn't THAT the truth! Amazing how scarce a commodity common sense is..... we get questions all the time on the BBC radio gardening phone-in form people who want a chemical/mechanical  solution to something that is simply a question of good husbandry and physical attention to the plants.



Ewelina: we have missed you, sorry that it is a problem which has brought you back to the Forum!!
I agree with the leaf miner diagnosis....I will be checking our Hepaticas, too!

[Ewelina Wajgert]

Thank you for your help. In fact between the upper and lower surfaces I saw black speck of dust. Earlier I have thought, that it is mushroom's disease and we have applied fungicids. I had never supposed, that it is from caterpillar. Now I find provado and try it.

For you all the photo of Hepatica from this year

[Ewelina Wajgert]

Ewelina: we have missed you, sorry that it is a problem which has brought you back to the Forum!!
I agree with the leaf miner diagnosis....I will be checking our Hepaticas, too!

Maggi, I travel recently a lot. But I read from time to time forum and Bulb Logs of Ian.

[Ewelina Wajgert]

I have again new problem with Hepatica. This time the leaves are rolled. Have someone idea, what is tihis and how fight against it?

[Paul T]

Ewelina,

I know the pic is a year old, but that blue and white Hep that you posted in June last year is just so beautiful.

Re your curled leaves..... it is probably too simple, but have you checked for aphids?  They often cause leaf curl like that.  I would imagine you had already checked for them, but thought it worth mentioning in case.

[Stephen Vella]

Looks like a sap sucker of some sort like Paul mentioned aphids but Im thinking maybe mites.These may lay dormant in the bud until new leaves emerge and attack.You may need to check under the leaves to see these little mites and a magnifying glass.

[Maggi Young]

I would not rule out the possiblity that the damage is simply environmental.... temperature fluctuations as the leaves emerged, with deep frost and /or dessicating winds can cause similar damage to foliage.

[Diane Clement]

I think it could be environmental, and/or due to pest damage. Some of the leaves look a bit nibbled.  If you have Provado or similar, a spray with this will treat both aphids and vine weevil which will see them off, and is also a good precaution.  If there are mites, that is more difficult