fuchsia gall mite

Symptoms

Shoot tips, young leaves and flower buds become grossly distorted, thickened and reddened, forming peach-fuzzy galled clusters that look like the plant is "boiling" at the tips; affected shoots fail to flower; symptoms are easily mistaken for herbicide damage or a disease, but the cause is a microscopic eriophyid mite invisible to the naked eye.

Plants affected

• fuchsia

Easily confused with

• fuchsia rust

  How to tell them apart: Pucciniastrum epilobii (fuchsia rust) is a fungus: look on the LOWER leaf surface for raised, powdery pustules in bright orange to orange-yellow, arranged in scattered spots that rub off as coloured dust on a finger; the matching UPPER surface shows pale yellow blotches. The leaf stays flat and normal in shape — only discoloured. Aculops fuchsiae (fuchsia gall mite) is a microscopic eriophyid mite: it never makes powdery spores but instead distorts and THICKENS the tissue, producing reddish, swollen, blistered, curled and often hairy galled growth concentrated at shoot tips, young leaves and flower buds. If the deformed tissue is dusty and wipes off orange it is rust; if it is fleshy, twisted and stuck-on it is the gall mite.

• cotton aphid

  How to tell them apart: Aculops fuchsiae (fuchsia gall mite) produces no visible insects — only the damage shows: shoot tips and the youngest leaves swell, thicken and crumple into a coppery-pink to reddish, blistered, witch's-broom mass that hardens and stays distorted even as it matures, so the plant simply stops making normal leaves and flowers. Aphis gossypii (cotton/melon aphid) leaves you the actual insects: dense clusters of small soft-bodied, pear-shaped aphids (yellow-green to dark green) on the underside of curled tips, with shed white skins, sticky honeydew and black sooty mould. Aphid curl is soft, green and reversible once the colony is removed; mite distortion is hard, thickened, abnormally coloured and permanent. Look closely for live aphids and honeydew before assuming gall mite.

Common questions

How do I recognise fuchsia gall mite on fuchsia?

Shoot tips, young leaves and flower buds become grossly distorted, thickened and reddened, forming peach-fuzzy galled clusters that look like the plant is "boiling" at the tips; affected shoots fail to flower; symptoms are easily mistaken for herbicide damage or a disease, but the cause is a microscopic eriophyid mite invisible to the naked eye.

Do I have to report fuchsia gall mite?

No. fuchsia gall mite is not a notifiable organism, so there is nothing to report to an authority. Treat it as a normal garden problem.

How is fuchsia gall mite treated?

Mainly with biological and cultural measures — removing affected material, changing the conditions that favour it, and treating with agents approved in your country. The exact steps and their timing depend on the plant, the season and where you live: Dr. Phyto works them out in a free diagnosis.