Does anyone have photos of the older, senescing foliage on Salvia Rockin'® Fuchsia?

I've "googled" until I'm cross-eyed.

I bought one of these from the UGA Trial Gardens this weekend and I'm concerned with the looks of the lower foliage. The older leaves have a very subtle dark green/medium green spotted/mottled pattern to them, while the oldest, senescing leaves are yellow with green spotting. I've grown Salvias for over 20 years and this pattern looks odd to my eye, similar to a mosaic virus but without the leaf distortion. The new foliage looks normal as do the (gorgeous) flowers. I'm not sure if it is a peculiarity of this cultivar or if they sold me a virused plant. It looks suspicious to me. I'll have to get a photo later. We are having awful wind and rainstorms today. There may not be any leaves left on it to photograph!

@FBTS
Kermit, any chance you are growing this one and can advise?

Thanks much!

I haven't seen this. All of the plants in retail channels have been dosed with B-9. I doubt you can grow these for retail in small containers without PGRs, as they are real monsters size-wise when untreated. Using this particular material is tricky business, as changes as small as 50 PPM in the solution can have adverse results that are all over the map appearance wise. My guess, and it is a just a guess, is that what you see is from too much B-9.

Thanks for replying, Kermit.
They don't look like they were treated with PGRs since they were big plants in one gallon pots. Here is a lousy photo of the plant in its one gallon pot.



It's been a week since I bought them and now the Salvias that were sitting next to Rockin' Fuchsia may be showing symptoms. I suspect that it is a virus. The new leaves look fine, but the older leaves seem to be senescing prematurely. Also, I don't like the mottled spots that I'm seeing in these photos. Leaves normally lose color evenly when senescing but these have "green islands."







@FBTS - Any opinions on these photos, Kermit? Thanks so much!

I think that they may propagate off of the plants that they used in the trial beds the previous year rather than buying new plugs. That would give the plants more time to pick up a virus.

@FBTS

Kermit, if you have a chance to view the photos posted above, I'd very much appreciate your opinion. (I'm still waiting to hear back from UGA.)

Rockin'® Fuchsia has now dropped all the leaves on the lower half of the plant.

Also, is color-breaking in the flowers normal for Salvia 'Skyscraper Pink'?
I've got some breaking with random blocks of dark pink-magenta. If 'Skyscraper Pink' was a mutation from the darker color then it could be a normal reversion.

Thanks so much!

Danita said:@FBTS


Also, is color-breaking in the flowers normal for Salvia 'Skyscraper Pink'?
I've got some breaking with random blocks of dark pink-magenta. If 'Skyscraper Pink' was a mutation from the darker color then it could be a normal reversion.

Thanks so much!

There has been a BIG mix up in the propagation of Skyscraper Pink & Dark Purple. Lots of mislabeled plug trays mixed trays and lots of mislabeled plants in the retail channel. We have has so many problems that we now allow plugs to bloom out so we can sort them prior to potting. From such a big company, from their Gold suppliers. Go figure. But it has been that way now for over a year.

Danita said:@FBTS

Kermit, if you have a chance to view the photos posted above, I'd very much appreciate your opinion. (I'm still waiting to hear back from UGA.)

Rockin'® Fuchsia has now dropped all the leaves on the lower half of the plant.

Thanks so much!

PGRs. Classic symptoms. This clone is a beast size wise. Hence the perceived need for growers is to use PGRs at the highest rate. Otherwise they are quite unruly even in gallons or twos. That is our experience. We have not seen any unusual leaf coloration on "clean" plants. But the ones we have purchased retail are quite stunted, a clear indication of heavy PGR use.

http://fliphtml5.com/sdwa/gepd...

Or it could be a virus. Many are BIG problems in the Central American cuttings nurseries. So much so that last year one had to completely start from scratch to eliminate the infection.

We are mandated to have our stock in Mexico and Costa Rica virus indexed for 6 different types each year, a non-trivial expense. And our escrow tissue culture stock in Germany is tested annually as well - and it is in sterile media in a lab!

It is so easy to spread viruses, that it is not at all uncommon to see viruses stock for sale these days. Shows how large and unmanageable the industry has become.

@FBTS , Thanks for responding, Kermit.

No, the 'Skyscraper Pink' isn't mixed up with the dark purple. The flowers are mostly pink and true to type. However, it has some verticillasters that show color-breaking. Each individual flower has streaks of the normal pink and streaks of the darker magenta. (Similar to the look of the infamous tulip breaking virus.)

Update: I've been googling for photos and I believe the color-breaking on the flowers of 'Skyscraper Pink' is normal for this cultivar. Even the Selecta promo shot shows some streaked blooms and even a random solid magenta bloom on the same verticillaster as pale pink flowers. I'm speculating that this pale pink color form was selected as a mutation on a magenta form and occasionally shows a bit of reversion in its flowers.

These were grown and sold by the University of Georgia Trial Gardens (a college with a well-known horticulture program & industry trial gardens). You would think that they would know better than to sell virused or suspicious looking plants. However, everyone seems to be incompetent these days so I wouldn't bet on it.

Like I mentioned, I think that they may propagate off of the plants that they used in the trial beds the previous year rather than buying new plugs. That would give the plants more time to pick up a virus.

I wish they would return my email so I could figure out what to do. I just don't like the pattern on these Rockin' Fuchsia leaves and I don't want it spreading if viral.



You are right about the virus issue being a big industry problem. Many can spread easily and can even last for years on hard surfaces. Reading about the longevity of the highly infectious Tobacco Mosaic Virus is almost enough to make you give up gardening. The fact that so many people in the horticulture industry seem to be fairly ignorant about actual plants (diseases, proper nomenclature, etc.) only compounds the problem.

P.S. Thank you, Kermit, for doing your best to be a responsible grower and not spreading disease just to make a buck!