carebear2056 said:I have a lot of this kind of problem with my zinnias. My local nursery said it is from watering the foliage and then it getting burned by the sun. I just want to confirm that with the expert.
Hi CareBear,
I am not really an expert on zinnia problems, and I am continually learning about zinnias myself. I somewhat doubt that the damage in your photo was caused by sun focusing through water droplets. I notice some blackish stains, which make me suspect something other than water damage -- perhaps a foliage disease. But had you sprayed them with anything other than water?
I have never seen a zinnia foliage problem like that, so perhaps this is something peculiar to the Florida climate. I water zinnia foliage, and even foliar feed it, and then the Sun shines on it and I don't see any harmful results. I have heard that story about sunlight focusing on water droplets, but I don't think it is a big problem. Occasionally we have a rain and the sun comes out and that doesn't cause damage. Which is good, because we don't really have any control over the rain and the sun.
If this is becoming a serious problem, you might want to take a sample of the foliage damage to some expert like a County Agent. Also, you might want to post your picture in the Florida Gardening forum and in the Pests and Diseases forum. I am sure there are people here who know more about this than I do.
If it is a disease, you might want to snip off the affected leaf parts with a pair of scissors. And discard the infected parts in the trash, to avoid spreading the disease. The unaffected parts of the pictured leaf look perfectly healthy. Keep us informed of your situation.
ZM
