Oh, there's no doubt about it.
I have spider mites GALORE.
Indoor Garden(er): A couple.
Spider mites: Dozens.
Bean plant: 0.
The infested bean plant looked totally fine the past few days, but I've been looking for 
aphids, y'know? I don't worry about fungus gnats anymore, but aphids, oh hell yeah.
So tonight, while I was potting up my new seeds in old soda/water bottles that I cut up and washed out (I ran out of plastic planters), I noticed some discolouration on some leaves of the bean plant over by itself on the side. It wasn't at the tip, edge, or uniform and restricted to a certain type of leaf tissue (veinal or interveinal areas), so I knew instantly it wasn't a nutrient/water defficiency/overabundance.
I flipped over the leaves. I recoiled in disgust, shock, and mostly disgust. Cautiously, I checked other leaves. Same story. I quickly got the scissors, did some cutting, and removed the entire plant, along with the stake and its twistie ties. Nothing remains. I checked nearby plants and clipped a few leaves from the other bean a few inches away, just in case, although it doesn't look too infected. To be safe, should I remove that plant too? I will keep a very close eye on this. It's ridiculous. It's disgusting. It's disheartening.
Gah! Yuck! Bah Humbug, Bugs!
Stop biting your nails, will ye :-)
ReplyDeleteWhen I enlarged the picture, it seemed as if there is an actual spiders web on the top right of the leaf. Gross.
I am so sorry that your very first gardening experience is so spoiled by disasters. I myself have lots to contend with in the garden at the minute, and find it is getting me down. But at least I have had a good number of years without any problems at all. Those were the days.....
It is a shame that you could not have had a similar start to your gardening life.
I wonder how I can send you an email, as I have a suggestion that I do not really want to publish up front.