What's wrong with my phlox? - Ask Extension
Can you tell me what's wrong with this phlox? I researched online and wondered if it's yellow aster disease. But the flowers are not deformed.
I go th...
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What's wrong with my phlox? #338021
Asked June 30, 2016, 9:50 AM EDT
Can you tell me what's wrong with this phlox? I researched online and wondered if it's yellow aster disease. But the flowers are not deformed.
I go through this every year. They look bad, flower fine, and survive for another year. My hesitation in replacing them is -- is this something in the soil that will attack another plant too?
Ramsey County Minnesota
Expert Response
The phlox plants have been severely damaged by spider mites. This is a very common occurrence. Inspect the bottoms of the leaves with a hand lens and you'll see evidence of the mites' presence.
It's important to control mites on phlox early in the growing season. The following websites explain how to do that. Most insecticides are not very effective against mites even if when the product labels suggest that they are. Bifenthrin is among the few readily available that may make a difference.
https://ask.extension.org/questions/194589
http://igrow.org/gardens/gardening/spider-mites-on-garden-phlox/
It's important to control mites on phlox early in the growing season. The following websites explain how to do that. Most insecticides are not very effective against mites even if when the product labels suggest that they are. Bifenthrin is among the few readily available that may make a difference.
https://ask.extension.org/questions/194589
http://igrow.org/gardens/gardening/spider-mites-on-garden-phlox/
