On Fri, 17 Jun 2005 13:17:14 +0100, david taylor wrote
(in message ):

I haven't a lot of time, apologies for any inaccuracies -first thoughts.
Aphid damage gives a lot of plants a crinkly appearance-I notice it in
outdoor fuchsias and indoors in
I don't think a virus infection could be transferred from phlox to fuchsias.
Phlox related to or part of the brasicca family might suffer from molydenum
defiiency which causes whiptail and this could result from their having
spent too long in a peat based compost.
They should recover in an average garden soil in the UK-Mo deficiency is
mainly seen in cauliflowers in this country, where it is countered by adding
lime.It happens to be a serious problem in NewZealand South Island where
large areas have been treated to enable native tussock grasses to be
replaced by more nutritious European species.
I wouldn't recommend adding lime to a flower border, an average soils should
do the trick and the problem should go away.
Regards


Thanks for that. I took another look this evg- the phlox upper leaves seem in
some cases to be looking quite deformed now, which is a new development,
since before the crinkling was pretty uniform and symmetrical. Prior to
reading the above I was all set to trash them but since they are sitting
there in peat-based compost as described above I think maybe I'll repot them
in something bigger in garden soil (or john innes) and see if that helps. The
way they look at the moment I'm reluctant to put them into the ground! BTW
the phlox and the fuchsias seem to be converging in appearance, looking more
and more like each other with their asymmetrical crinkling and (now)
twisting.... However the fuchsias in question are all now somewhat
under-potted for their size; hmmm.

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