New and Unread Tree-Mails
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Name: Sherry Austin Santa Cruz, CA (Zone 9a)           Henhouse May 24, 2018 8:54 PM CST |
My daughter has this weird brown "etching" on her Crassula multicava. Both tops and bottoms of the leaves. It's also starting on her Aeonium. This is in Capitola, CA. I've never had this problem.. It looks like something is eating/scraping the outer layer.. Any ideas?   The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us. |
Name: Baja Baja California (Zone 11b)             |
| Can't speak for the first plant but the second one looks like straight up sunburn. Is it getting a lot of direct overhead sun right now? |
Name: Sherry Austin Santa Cruz, CA (Zone 9a) Henhouse May 24, 2018 10:36 PM CST |
| I'd be surprised if it's sunburn on the Aeonium, but the pictures look very similar. I"m wondering if she got water on them and the sun magnified it. These are in two narrow beds going up to their front door. The Aeonium gets morning sun until about 12-1 this time of year.. and they get a lot of fog where they live. The other side w/ the Crassula gets less sun. They've both been there for a few years w/out showing anything like this. The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us. |
Georgia (Zone 8a)          Hamwild May 25, 2018 3:46 AM CST |
Henhouse said:I'd be surprised if it's sunburn on the Aeonium, but the pictures look very similar. I"m wondering if she got water on them and the sun magnified it. These are in two narrow beds going up to their front door. The Aeonium gets morning sun until about 12-1 this time of year.. and they get a lot of fog where they live. The other side w/ the Crassula gets less sun. They've both been there for a few years w/out showing anything like this. I read recently that the whole water/magnifying/sunburn effect is a garden myth.  |
Name: Stefan SE europe(balkans) (Zone 6b)         skopjecollection May 25, 2018 3:52 AM CST |
| The magnifying lens part is a myth. Water causes sunburn because of pores on the surface -pores which open mostly at night, or when wet. Or damaging the glauscent bits. |
Name: Baja Baja California (Zone 11b) |
| Sherry, morning sun and lots of fog would not typically sunburn that Aeonium. We are coastal here and there's a whole lot of fog, especially morning fog. That fog is a great buffer against sunburn. The plant in my picture only burns at the end of the summer (the photo dates from late August) because that's when we tend to have the least fog, actually. In any case the sunburn will fade over time as the affected leaves are replaced by normal new ones, so I would view it as an indicator but not an actual problem. I would not know what the dark spots would be otherwise. My instinct going just based on appearance is that it's sun, and not a big concern. The idea of water drops magnifying light is interesting but I don't see it as a real possibility given the water would not stick around on those leaves long enough to have that kind of effect. If those leaves are still wet over that big an area after watering, they are not getting nearly enough light or air flow, or something very strange is going on. |
Name: Sherry Austin Santa Cruz, CA (Zone 9a) Henhouse May 25, 2018 8:03 PM CST |
| Thank-you all.. I took the picture of the Aeonium yesterday, so it just feels early in the year for sunburn.. I'm not discounting it completely, but a little skeptical given the weather so far this Spring.. Interesting to hear the debunking of water magnifying the sun and burning.. I probably learned that 45 years ago.. I'm more concerned about the Crassula.. It takes up most of those beds by her front door. I would think that slugs & snails would be taking chunks out of the leaves, so I've ruled them out. My gut instinct is to tell her to cut the plants back, spray with insecticidal soap, and put out an all purpose insect bait. ..Or cut back and treat with a systemic.. which if it's spider mites, would probably be more effective. I didn't find any insects or mites when I looked, BTW.. The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us. |
Name: Baja Baja California (Zone 11b) |
| It's not spider mites. They hate the humidity. I have never seen a spider mite here and our humidity averages 70-80%. I would be more concerned about the jade. No ideas really other than it's not a good match for the insect damage that I've seen... insects tend to leave tracks or trails or bite marks or some kind of clue like that, and I'm not seeing it. They also tend to prefer the soft tender new parts and the stem at the base of the leaves. Definitely consider this an opportunity to prune. Even more so when a particularly brown part can be surgically removed, or you want to shape the plant in a particular way. If you use the systemic be sure to water it in well, maybe in a few passes, so it gets to the roots most effectively. It will probably not cure the currently affected leaves, but it should make a difference with the new ones, if this is an insect thing. |
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