Plant Doctor Archive

Curled leaves on daphne

I HAVE a daphne that is only a year old. It bloomed on every stem, but now most of the new leaves are curled up, though it doesn't seem to have been eaten and otherwise appears to be growing well. The leaves are not yellow. About 60cm away I very carefully sprayed the young leaves of some alstroemeria with Amitrole and these are going quite yellow. Could this have affected the daphne?

IT'S possible the Amitrole could also be affecting the daphne, but I'd expect the daphne leaves to show some yellowing, although that may still happen. On the other hand, curling leaves is often a sign of infestation of pests such as aphids.

Remove one or two of the leaves, unroll them and look for anything that might be hiding there. If you do find aphids a spray with a general insecticide under the leaves should solve your problem.

It's worth remembering Amitrole leaves a residue in the soil for four weeks or so after application, so let some time elapse before you replant or sow seeds in that area, although it will probably take longer for the alstroemeria to completely die off and you may even have to give it another treatment to completely eradicate it.

Reproduced with permission from the former Weekend Gardener magazine. The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the RNZIH.