Fuchsia Gall Mite - treatment ?

Yes but they will be ready to resprout with no mites

 

Knowing red spider mites they dont only accumulate in the one area of a plant, especially when it comes to egg laying they infest the whole plant, just cutting off the area of damage is only likely to temporarily hold them back until the new growth forms.

I have seen fuchsia mite attacks and the ones I have seen have tended to be late summer before they show, but that is outside, I guess if they overwinter in a greenhouse then they will wake up and get going much earlier.

 

I’ve just been looking at my ‘wild’ fuchsia in the garden, and it has some very deformed looking sections. Could this be caused by a mite? Do I need to deal with it, or just leave it alone? It is just growing in the hedgerow.

 

Yes , it looks exactly like ours, our tenderish ones have been ravaged by those mites and the very hardy garden ones have been affected but to a lesser extent.

Suggest you cut off well below the infected parts and seal them in a plastic bag and put it in the Black bin, not the garden waste one.
You need to clean your sectateures afterwards and also be aware that some suggest they can be transfered by contact with your clothing / gloves.

In winter its suggested you chop them down to the base and remove as much of the fallen leaves etc to try and stop the eggs etc overwintering.

No domestic treatment apart from these nematodes, though it may be too cold for them now.
We tried them over the summer, difficult to say to what extent they worked, certainly did not stop lots of them.

eg - Amblyseius Andersonii for Fuchsia Gall Mite

 

Noticed a few distorted shoot tips on my Thalias but only in the last week or so.
I cut these down to about 4inches every autumn before winter storage, it seems to work, up to a point.
Or at least means the next wave is very late in the season the following year, I only grow a few but it seems to be a problem of late summer to me.

 

I had it on one of my hardy Fuchsias last year so I bought a blow torch and zapped it. Every time I saw it return I zapped it again with the blow torch. I made sure the infected bit had turned to ash before I extinguished the blow torch.
This year the Fuchsia hasn't got any, and it's bigger and has more flowers than ever ... and the gall mite hasn't spread to any of my other Fuchsias.

Edit : I've just noticed I already said this in May

 

Yes you did, and we remember at the time we did laugh a bit at the idea of using a blowtorch.

However, am going to try it as think that method does have merit as you are destroying them without the ususal cutting off which may be helping them spread further... ?

Did read some web article from the British Fuchsia Society that there are two pesticides for FGM but only available to commercial users, but the Society were asking for one to be made available for domestic use.

 

Hi

best spray to buy is a mite killer for domestic birds , budgies chickens pigeons.

 

Oh dear, does sound nasty. It’s not a plant I’m particularly fond of, so I might as well get rid of it.
Can it not go in the green bin then? I may have to have a bonfire!

 

Pink valerian but not the red or white get some kind of gall mite late in the season. I dispose of affected shoots and they're fine the next year until late August. Rinse and repeat.
I see no reason to spray the fuchsias or the valerian. They're going to be cut back for next year anyway

 

All the sites we have seen about FGM suggest bagging them and putting them in the Black bin, assume thats because they or the eggs may survive the green waste composting/treatment etc and so spread them further.

We have got a plumbing type blowtorch so will try that on some of our hardy ones if we see any infection.

Just such a shame to loose what we see as such lovely flowers which always brighten up our shadier areas where few other plants succeed as well.

 

I don't think putting it in the black bag will get rid of it, those go to landfill sites and burying it is not the answer. You really want to kill it and you don't know how long it will survive buried. It could very well re-emerge at a future time.

 

Surely its a mite, a living insect, it can be killed.
Nothing worse than RSM, probably easily killed by the same insecticides that kill other mites, its nothing special, just a slightly newer pest.

 

I still think burying it is like 'out of sight out of mind'. I prefer to use my blowlamp on it and burn it to death.

 

Many black bags go to incinerators rather than landfill as landfill is very expensive and in short supply.
I have noticed that species fuchsias seem to be less affected, I've stopped growing hybrids due to the gall mite.