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Leaves on foxglove beardstongue #867906

Asked May 10, 2024, 2:38 PM EDT

The leaves of this plant appear distorted, I got it as a seedling last summer. What is wrong with it?

Anne Arundel County Maryland

Expert Response

Leaf distortion can have several causes, from herbicide exposure (sometimes sensitive plants can just get a "whiff" of the chemical and be affected) to leaf infections to insect damage. In this case, we suspect aphid feeding, especially since the distorted leaves are somewhat scattered and not all appear affected. You can look on the leaf undersides for any aphids that might remain, though plenty of beneficial predators like ladybug adults and larvae eagerly eat them, so might have already decimated aphid populations by the time we look for them. If present, you can either leave them alone or blast the leaf undersides with a strong spray of plain water from a garden hose, which will knock most of them off the plant. Plants generally recover just fine from aphid feeding, even though distorted leaves can't regain a normal shape. (They still feed the plant via photosynthesis, though, so are still of value to keep if you can avoid trimming them off.)

If this is due to fungal infection, the plant is also likely to recover without intervention. Fungicides aren't curative, only preventative measures, and may risk harming pollinators or other organisms anyway, so we tend not to recommend their use for nonlethal plant diseases.

If this is herbicide exposure, the plant will have to grow out of it as best it can, since no remedy is possible. Some plants do, and some don't (tomatoes, for example, tend to not recover), so time will tell if the issue was a once-and-done occurrence or if it spreads.

Miri

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