by Connie Oswald Stofko
If you had problems with your impatiens this year, the good news is that you probably didn’t do anything wrong.
The bad news is that your impatiens were probably killed by a fungus-like disease called downy mildew.
The disease remains in the soil, so you should plan on planting something different in that spot next year.
There is no treatment.
“That’s the most challenging thing about it,” said Margery Daughtrey, senior extension associate with Cornell University who co-wrote a fact sheet on the problem. “There’s really nothing a home gardener can do about it. There is nothing to spray, nothing to buy to counteract it.”
The plants will seem fine, then they turn yellow, drop their leaves, drop their flowers and even drop their stems, Daughtrey explained. The photo at the beginning of this story shows the early stages of the disease.
The effects are most dramatic after rainfall because the disease flourishes in moist conditions. Daughtrey’s before photo, above right, was taken last summer in Riverhead, which is on Long Island, then the area was drenched in a hurricane and a tropical storm. The after photo, below right, was taken five weeks later in mid-September when the impatiens should have been happily blooming. Many gardeners incorrectly assumed their plants were damaged by the severe weather.
Our dry summer here may have spared us to some degree from this problem, she said, and the problem may get worse as we experience wetter weather. The disease has already been reported in the Snyder and Williamsville areas of Amherst, said Mark Yadon, vice president at Mischler’s Florist and Greenhouses.
There are many things that can make an impatiens plant turn yellow and have stunted growth, such as lack of water or fertilizer. However, those problems don’t usually cause it to drop its leaves, Daughtrey said.
If your plant lost its leaves, you probably have the downy mildew problem. Check the undersides of the leaves. Affected plants will have a white coating that looks sugary, as in the photo below left.
Daughtrey noted that it’s not always easy to see the coating. You may not spot it on every leaf of an affected plant; you may have to check many leaves before you detect it. Also, note that the undersides of many impatiens leaves are normally a mottled purple. If you see mottled purple, don’t worry.
If your plants are affected, pull them up, bag them and throw them out. Don’t put them in your compost!
The disease is expected to come back next year.
Because this is a new disease, it’s hard to know how it will play out in coming years, Daughtrey said. It may be worse in rainy years and better in dry years. It could rage through an area for a few years, then calm down for reasons we don’t understand.
The disease affects Impatiens walleriana, which are standard garden impatiens including double impatiens and mini‐impatiens.
However, the disease doesn’t affect New Guinea impatiens, which may do well in the spot where you would ordinarily have impatiens.
Yadon from Mischler’s noted that New Guinea impatiens are more expensive to produce than standard impatiens, so gardeners who want to fill in a large area may be looking for less expensive plants.
Begonias are a good replacement for impatiens, he said, but you won’t get the same color range. You can find begonias in reds, whites and pinks, but you won’t get the salmon, purple and lavenders.
Coleus can add color to a shady area, though it’s not a flower. Other options are flowering vinca, ornamental grasses and tropical foliage plants.
No one knows why this disease, which has existed in the wild since the 1800s, is now bothering impatiens, Daughtrey said. Impatiens have been around since the 1960s and are a favorite of gardeners because they offer bright colored flowers for shady areas.
Now that impatiens is a less reliable plant, they will become less popular, Daughtrey predicted, which means a big change in direction for growers. She estimates that impatiens constitute 20 to 70 percent of what businesses in the bedding plant industry produce.
“It’s going to be devastating– impatiens is a huge crop,” Yadon agreed.
Yadon said he probably will still grow impatiens next year, but will create good signage explaining the disease problem. A plant can leave the garden center perfectly healthy, then fail when it is in the garden because the disease organism is in the soil and can be spread by the wind.
“We’ll be looking at other things to produce,” Yadon said. “We have to figure out something else to do and make it affordable to homeowners.”
For suggestions on what to plant instead, read this 2013 update: Impatiens are dying; choose alternative shade plants instead
Have you experienced downy mildew on impatiens where you are?
Do you have more suggestions on what to plant instead of impatiens?
Please share your ideas below!
Photos by Margery Daughtrey
UPDATE: See predictions for how well impatiens might fare during the summer of 2014 in Western New York.
I’m sorry, but I have to close comments on this article because it’s getting a bunch of spam. If you’d like to leave a comment, go to the post on impatiens and downy mildew published in 2015: Shade gardeners: new ‘Bounce’ may be good alternative to impatiens
Same environment, same watering pattern (if the soil feels dry), plants bought from the same shop. It’s a mystery.
Penny, thanks for the information. It’s so difficult to know what went wrong. There could be another disease, but it could also be something as mundane as how often the plants were watered or whether a tree was removed and now the area is sunnier than it had been in other years. I’m glad you got a happy August surprise!
Here’s an end of summer report from my home near Boston, MA. I bought one 6-pack of impatiens at the local garden supply. The first two plants that I put in a pot faltered but did not die. That pot had had impatiens for several prior years, so I put the next 4 plants in pots with new potting soil. Those 4 prospered, but only growing leaves, and 1 or 2 flowers at a time. In this location, in prior years, potted impatiens always got much bigger and were covered with flowers all summer. But then, in late August,a surprise — suddenly there were lots of flowers, even on the first two that were in old soil.
No evidence of any fungus on the leaves, but this surely was a very unusual performance for impatiens. Perhaps there is more than one disease affecting impatiens?
Margery, we’ve had rain often this summer. It’s nice for me because I don’t have to water my garden often, but it’s not great for folks who love impatiens. Thanks for for your comments.
Roeb, I don’t think you had downy mildew on your impatiens. Once an impatiens has downy mildew the plant quits flowering, defoliates, and dies—and fungicides cannot stop the collapse of the plant. Fungicides that greenhouse growers have access to are able to PROTECT impatiens against downy mildew, but not CURE them… There aren’t any effective materials for home gardeners to use against downy mildew, alas. The infection is systemic, throughout the interior of the plant, so there is no way to reach into the plant to halt the disease. I’m glad your plants are looking better again. Those of you in the Buffalo area may find that you see downy mildew on impatiens in the near future, however….we have gotten some samples of the disease from Buffalo on both balsams (I. balsamina) and bedding plant impatiens (I. walleriana)—just in the past week. Drier weather will mean fewer outbreaks—this disease takes advantage of those summer thunderstorms like the one I got caught in in Ithaca day before yesterday.
Roeb, I’m glad to hear of your success. I mentioned that you can contact the Cornell Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners if you don’t know what problem is affecting your plants. The other thing you can do it cut off a piece of the affected plant, pop it into a clear plastic bag and take it with you to your local garden center– one that has trained staff. They will help you identify the disease and the best treatment for it. A person from Lockwood’s Greenhouses told me of a customer who wanted to know what to spray to take care of the things on a plant. It turned out what she had was ladybug larvae– those are a tremendous help to a garden and shouldn’t be killed at all! I’m glad you were able to find a solution.
Hi Connie
Update on my inpatient flowers well I used the Daconil Fungicide concentrate and I bought a spray bottle. After many reviews these per made spray bottles don’t spray well so I decided to do it myself. This was on Sunday before I spoke to you. Today I went out there to pluck the dead flowers out and all the new flowers have opened up and none of them have the white spots. So maybe it was now Downy Mildew. This Daconil prevents over 80 Diseases. I’m so glad I tried it. It work really good for anyone who needs to buy a spray. Thank you for the advise but I’m also glad I took the chance of spraying them just incase it was not Downey. roeb
If you have downy mildew, none of those sprays will work. Also, last year some people who planted impatiens said the flowers were great, until the end of July or beginning of August. See the comments at the end of the 2013 article “How are your impatiens doing? Please let Cornell expert know.” Having a couple good months, then losing impatiens well before the first frost, may be what we can expect now in Western New York. It’s hard to say.
Thank you Connie for your response I will for sure check out those articles. I will also post how the plants are doing in about a week. It wonder if the Spray is going to help. I have to spray them next Sunday again. I would hate for them to die right at the very end of the summer season. Everyone in our development enjoys them so much being the first home you see as you enter the complex. Thanks again
I’m sorry to hear about the problem with your flowers. First, I would suggest you check out the update on impatiens for Western New York I did on May 6, 2014. It’s a long article, and toward the end there’s a section headed “Tips for getting impatiens to perform well in your garden.” In that section, you’ll see a link to photos of the symptoms of downy mildew. That has more photos and shows a range of symptoms. The symptoms may subtle and not be as apparent as they appear in the photo in this article from 2012. The leaves can be green on top and still be affected. You may have to look very closely at the leaves of your plant to spot downy mildew. If you still think it’s not downy mildew, contact the Master Gardeners at Cornell Cooperative Extension in your county. I hope that helps.
Hello
I planted inpatient plants for the first time. They were doing so good but after a week of rain I noticed white spots on the flowers and they are beginning to die and all the new flowers that are not open yet are dead. I picked all the dead flowers off and start to spray them with a fungi spray that kills up to 80 diseases. I just sprayed them on Monday. I thought it might be that Downy Mildew but I notice that you all say the leaves turn white. My leaves are nice and green it’s only the flowers that have the white spots. It doesn’t look like powder mildew either. Does anybody know what this could be. My neighbor just put a bunch of mulch down on his driveway….could that have done it? Thanks
Penny, I’m so sorry. I had you confused with a different Penny. Now I see that your emails are different. Thanks so much for the correction!
No, not NY. My home (and plants!)are near Boston,in Massachusetts.
Last summer all of our impatiens died of this disease. However this year all of the plants that we raised from seed are doing just fine. Westchester County, NY. September 8.2013
Margery, please note that Penny lives in the Boston, NY area, not Massachusetts.
This year I used only orange/red impatiens in pots, and they were all beautiful until the first week of September. I didn’t see any curling leaves, no mildew, and there were lots of flowers. Then I noticed one wilting stem. I thought it had broken off, but when I took it off it was mushy, and when I touched the main stem it was mushy too, and broke off at the soil line. The plant still looked great, but probably would have soon collapsed. These symptoms sound different from the mildew blight that is causing the national problem. The description of Botridis (sorry, can’t remember the spelling) sounds closer, but I’ve been growing impatiens for many years and have never seen the dissolving stems before. It’s a lot like frost damage. It’s been very dry here (Boston area) for weeks until the last few days, when we had one fairly heavy rainstorm.
I, too, have shade from a neighbor’s tall hemlocks. It would be nice if people would be more considerate . . .
Here in Mt. Prospect, Illinois (northwest suburbs of Chicago) things were going fine with the impatiens, until early August.
Due to the dire warnings, I only planted a few this year, and kept them all to pots (the greenhouse-men advised me that potted plants wouldn’t be susceptible. They were wrong.)
They started out spectacular, but now all the plants are now failing, except for a few “Victoria Rose” that get strong afternoon sun. I’m not sure what to replace them with next year — I already use all the recommended substitutions, and none of them will quite fill the bill. It’s a sad day.
Carol, I’m glad dragon wing begonias are doing so well for you. Thanks for the tip.
I grew Dragon Wing begonias this year in place of impatiens. Although more expensive, they can be spaced 18 inches apart and mine are now 16-18 inches tall. They flower continually and make quite an impact. I have them in brick planters, one of which is under a porch roof. The lower light under the roof hasn’t slowed them down at all. Six Dragon Wings are covering the same or more area than 18 impatiens or fibrous begonias.
While I would not mind planting begonias [tuberous] instead, they are way too expensive to cover large areas. Besides at ground level they too usually develop mildew when you have rain and cool nights. As for the coleus, I have tried them with very limited success. They do not like the cool nights we get, even if the days are hot. The only thing I can think of is the small flowered fibrous begonias, I already grow a large bed of. However I find they do like a little more light, to do well, so many of the full shade areas will be a real problem. I currently have a large area devoted to hosta, so I really think, any more would be boring. Now if I could just convince the neighbors on both sides to cut down some of their 60-80 ft evergreens, I would have the light I used to have when I moved to this property more than 35 years ago. I do not have any large trees in my yard!
Wilma, I’m sorry to hear about your impatiens. That is a sad story. Here is an article with suggestions on what you might plant instead of impatiens. People in the Buffalo area seem to be going with begonias and coleus.
I have be growing hundreds of impatiens for decades as I have a yard with a lot of shade. Up until this years they have always been lush and beautiful, whether they were in solid beds or in my window boxes or baskets. I live in Saskatoon Canada, and for the last few years we have had a lot of rain in June, with little sun and very cool nights. When I planted the bedding plants out the beginning of June as I usually do, they looked fine for several weeks although they did not grow much because of the dull wet weather. Then in July one by one they started to yellow followed by the stems losing all flowers and leaves. I started pulling out these plants and by the middle of July whole beds were empty. At this point all the plants in pots, and baskets were still fine and blooming well. The weather was now normal dry and warm. In Aug. I noticed some of the large pots stopped blooming and now had curling leaves that were turning grey with mold. Soon all in the pots and hanging baskets were dying. Now Sept. !st when i usually have mounds of color, all I have is dying plants. Today the north large planter is starting to show the first sign of curling impatiens leaves. This planter is under large eaves of the house so never has any rain or dew fall on it, so I guess that is why it is last. What I find very strange, is that most of these planters and pots also contain tuberous begonias, which oddly enough have NO downy mildew this year. I have no idea what I will now plant in all my shade areas next year. Very upsetting !
I’m so sad that the impatiens are being affected by this disease. They are my favorite summer flower for the north side of our home & shade area of our yard. It’s interesting that all the potted impatiens close to the house are dying but the plants about 20-30 ft from the house are flourishing. Maybe because they get some morning sun? At first I thought the spiders had something to do with it because they are busy critters this year.
There is a home in our village that always has the most beautiful impatiens. As I drove by yesterday, I saw they are surviving and are absolutely stunning. I’m happy for them that they are so beautiful.
Joan, if I were you I would just switch to growing a different plant, and not worry about the soil itself. It is kind to your neighbors to pull out impatiens plants that show a white coating of downy mildew on the undersides of the leaves (they will die anyway once they are infected, and before that the spores will keep blowing around the neighborhood until you bag them up. Leaving the soil there is no threat to your neighbors’ plants or any other kind of plant other than an impatiens: you can plant New Guinea impatiens in the same containers or ground bed, or tomatoes or vinca or whatever you want. You only need to remove the soil if you want to try impatiens again, and growing impatiens would be a risky proposition even if you did remove the soil and scrub the containers, since it can blow in on the wind.
Cheers,
Margery
Hi! I live in the Bay Area in California. I have about a dozen large pots in my backyard, started them all with fresh soil and watered and fertilized since April 2013. Much to my sadness, I will be pulling out three pots and some also that I planted in the ground, The rest don’t seem to be too affected, but also are not delivering the volume of flowers as in the past. I will probably experiment with other plants, but can you tell me if I need to empty all soil? Also, I heard that you shouldn’t put the soil in the yard waste bin! is this true? i usually do so every two years and scrub, wash the pot with a bleach/water solution. Impatiens are one of my very favorite plants and I am not alone. Sorry to hear about this, but glad it wasn’t a result of my care! Thank you!
On a new article, we’ve asked people to let Margery Daughtrey know how their impatiens are doing in 2013. As of Aug. 16, most people aren’t having many problems with downy mildew. See the comments here: https://www.buffalo-niagaragardening.com/2013/08/13/how-are-your-impatiens-doing-please-let-cornell-expert-know/
Kim,
Margery Daughtrey from Cornell says that downy mildew affects only Impatiens walleriana (and the closely related balsam impatiens). Other plants, including vegetables, aren’t affected.
Much information was shared in earlier comments. At the end of the article, just before the start of the comments, click on “Older Comments.”
Good luck with your garden.
We plant 30 hanging baskets with impatiens and vinca vines. The vines are all fine, the impatiens have all died for the second year. We replaced all the soil this year, not knowing about this mildew. We have to plant in baskets because the deer eat everything. We live in the Poconos in PA. Does anyone know if this could spread to other plants, namely our vegetable garden?
I saw a photo last week of an impatiens in the Buffalo area with the distinctive white sporulation on the under-surface of the leaves…. Definitely down mildew. Have any of the rest of you seen the disease yet this year? I am especially interested to hear if and when the disease reappears in a flower bed that showed the disease last year!
I’ve been hearing from gardeners who planted impatiens that they are still going strong. I hope they are still doing well in a couple weeks. I’ll keep my fingers crossed. Thanks for the update.
The impatiens are still doing great and are quite a show at the front of the house. i Have noticed that there are not as many mildew type diseases around this year so far. The tomatoes have very little blight and the Phlox which are just coming out have much less than usual. . Over my experience the occurrence of downy mildews and other rusts and bunts are offer the result of very dry spells followed by rain. This is because the fungi attack an immune compromised plant which is flaccid. The cells are easy to penetrate and vulnerable. This year we have had lots of rain. It is an interesting year in my garden to say the least.
Julie, please keep us posted on your experiment with impatiens. Margery Daughtrey from Cornell said fungicide probably won’t work. Did you plant a control group that didn’t get sprayed with fungicide?
Catherine, 2,000 impatiens plants! I feel so bad for you. From previous comments, it sounds as if pots located in sheltered spots may take longer to be affected. It would be nice if using a certain soil could slow down or stop downy mildew, but the experts don’t think that’s the case. Let us know what you decide to plant next year.
My impatiens are still growing. I planted an experimental patch in the sun at the front of the house. After planting I sprayed them with fungicide. This seems to be working so far.
I will let you know as soon as I see any deterioration in the plants.
Julie
July24 2013
I live in Etobicoke, Ontario and usualy grow impatiens from seed purchased from Stokes in Niagara. I grew 2000 plants this year and find that they are gradually dying (July 24, 2013). The plants that were grown in the flower beds have died first but the plants grown in pots and tubs have lasted longer. This may suggest that the virus travels in air currents close to the ground or the soil I used for tubs and pots was less susceptible to harbouring the virus.
The soil I used was a mixture of peat and a cubic yard of soil mixure bought at Canada Blooms in March 2013
Next year I will order some different seeds as my effort this year has resulted in some sad-looking flower beds.
Julie, You can take some comfort in knowing you did nothing wrong. All the experts say the downy mildew shouldn’t affect hostas, so you can stick with those plants. I did an update to this article that give lots of suggestions for what you can plant instead of impatiens. See the 2013 article here.
We always planted impatiens and they flourished and mounded beautifully in the beds. Last year they appeared to do well in the beginning and suddenly they dropped their leaves and flowers and we were left with the stems which appeared “water logged” and mushy. The landscaper told us we over watered them but we have a sprinkler system which hadn’t changed cycles from the previous years when the plants had done so well. Of course they all died just before a huge party we had planned for mid June so we spent thousands to replant flowers the day before the party, some of which were impatiens again. Same thing happened, they all died. Glad in a way to hear they were diseased however my concern now is replanting in those beds since I am convinced they had downy mildew. We even told the landscaper we thought the plants were diseased but he insisted it was how we were watering them. We also noticed the elephant hostas were not as healthy. Could they have been affected? Your advice on what to do this year would be appreciated!
Heather, I’ve heard from many people who said they assumed they did something wrong when their impatiens died. It has been such a hardy and dependable plant. You’re right; growers liked impatiens, too. We’ll all have to try something new.
I’ve been lookng out my kitchen window in Toronto, Canada for the past few days, longing to get into my garden and start playing!
I’ve always depended on impatiens for their easy care and great show so decided to look on-line to find out what I did wrong last year to cause all of the ones I’d planted to die off. As others have said, I thought it was the local critters, but from reading along on this site I am sorry to see it’s worse than I thought.
I feel badly for all the growers who do such a great job supplying us with our annuals fix.
My geraniums did really well last year, so I’ll be using more of those, and will watch for other suggestions with interest.
Happy planting everyone!
Ellen, I don’t think you could have saved your impatiens by watering any differently. What you described is what everybody else who had the problem described. I’m planning to do an article in a couple weeks on suggestions for plants to replace our beloved impatiens.
Overwatering is not necessarily the cause of mildew.
Fungal species respond to all kinds of conditions. They will often attack when the plant is stressed in any way and this can occur in very dry conditions too. Some of the soft fruits such as Ribes species will contract mildews in very dry conditions. The American Goosberry mildew was a classic example of this and the white Pine was the intermediate carrier for the disease.
Lilacs always have a grayish sheen on thier leaves which is a fungus, which in fact does very little harm to the species.
The characteristic wilting of Impatiens shows how sensitive to water content it is! this makes it very vulnerable.
I am hoping that research is behind done to produce a cultivar which is resistant to the new fungus. I suspect that that is the fault of the breeders producing so many almost genetically similar plants for so many years. This would explain why so many were found vulnerable last year. (This is reminiscent of producing millions of acres of similar corn which all got Rust fungus.)
I am looking forward to your suggestions for herbaceous fillers this year.
Impatiens are my signature mark in the gardens surrounding my home. Our extremely dry summer last year prompted us to install soaker hoses, which I took advantage of every day. Therein lies my first problem…Niagara County Cooperative Extension informed me when I called with the devastating questions regarding the catastrophe in the gardens, that I watered too much! The grounds were perfect for the downy mildew to rear itself. The impatiens were thriving one day and within two days, we lost 8 flats. I appreciated all the information I researched and read about and also the validation that I was not alone in this tragedy! The winter had me thinking of creative ideas to replace the impatiens. I have made notes from the many comments in this thread. Thank you!
Margery,
Thanks so much for that clarification. It helps me understand better what the options are in dealing with downy mildew.
When there’s a roof over impatiens they do last longer…I’ve seen just what you describe, Carol. I’ve noticed plants at sidewalk level showing dramatic symptoms a month earlier than those in a windowbox ten feet away with some roof overhang. And plants on the west side of a juniper died a month before plants getting morning sun. You are also right that copper is a fungicide ingredient that works on many fungal and bacterial pathogens, as well as downy mildews. But “works” doesn’t mean that it’s any kind of an instant solution, as I’m sure you understand…contact action materials like copper require treatment at roughly 7 day intervals in order to keep a coating of protection on the plants…16 or so treatments for a growing season. This is a rotten deal for gardeners who used to be able to plant impatiens, add fertilizer and water, and sit back and watch them bloom! I expect that most gardeners will prefer to grow begonias and coleus and vinca and maybe some crotons and miniature hostas and New Guinea impatiens etc etc rather than having to spray copper every week..
Carol,
I’m surprised to hear there’s something available to home gardeners that addresses downy mildew. It’s too bad you couldn’t save your impatiens. Thanks for writing.
Liz,
I’m sorry to hear about your impatiens. Long Island was hit before Western New York was. I’m glad we were able to supply you with the answer to your question. Thanks for writing.
I have upper & lower brick planters, the upper being under a porch roof. Due to poorer air circulation under the roof, I’ve periodically sprayed the impatiens there starting early in the season with liquid copper fungicide which lists control of downy mildew. Those impatiens look great with just a bit of mildew affecting a limited number of leaves. I didn’t spray those in the lower planter until later in the season after noticing disease setting in, but was unable to save them.
I live on Long Island and my impatients started keeling over last summer — I blamed the squirrels. This year I again planted in May and by July they all died.. I searched online for an explanation and it came back as “cut worms”.. I’m glad to now know the real problem but sad I won’t be enjoying them again at least not for a few years.
Margery, thanks so much for clarifying that. If anyone would like to see the piece that Michele is talking about, you can find it at http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2012/09/05/downy-mildew-fungus-a-death-sentence-for-impatiens/
Michele, my whole name is Connie Oswald Stofko.
I’m still pessimistic about spraying home garden products doing any good for a home gardener’s impatiens. So few of them would have any effectiveness against downy mildews. Fungicides often have a very specific spectrum of effectiveness. This disease is a distant cousin of the Late Blight organism that gets tomatoes and potatoes, which is a Phytophthora—another fungus-like organism—and gardeners cannot cope with that problem at all well either! The materials that are most benign will give only partial protection, and that protection will only last for a few days, a week at most, so even if there were something significantly effective the reapplication would need to be all season long at weekly intervals….not the usual gardener’s cup of tea. Otherwise I thought the KDKA piece was very well done, and I am glad you called my attention to it, Michele. I was able to google it up easily.
Michele, I put in a friend request for you on face book.
As soon as you respond I can put it on your wall. I
Loved your garden and the cat!!,!!
connie..I need your second name to see your page on face book so that I can ask to be your friend.
Sincerely
JALL
Julie Ann – I can’t see your page at all now? Where did you go??? Would love to see your gardens & your video!
Hi Connie,
You have such a great site here – thanks for doing this great service for us!
I saw in the KDKA piece (on Google) that you can spray the plant before it develops the problem (can do with other plants)so it might be worth a shot.
I don’t know about chipmunks, but those squirrels are really doing a number in all my containers & in my garden!
Michele, it doesn’t sound like using fungicide is going to help the downy mildew problem.
JulieAnn, I didn’t see the photos, either, but I was too embarrassed to admit it.
Also, I feel sorry for the poor chipmunks who are getting blamed for all this damage. I don’t have them around my house. Do they generally damage plants?
JulieAnn – I don’t see your video or garden pics; is your cover photo a bullfrog? I’m on FB, too. Come see my garden, too, if you like.
Michele Foley
Thank you all too.
This has been a great discussion. I put a video of my garden on Facebook last night. You might like to look at it , and see the amount of Impatiens sp. I used this year. Next year we shall see what happens. I have already cleaned out my plastic greenhouse by spraying it with bleach after taking everything out. Sterilising soil is a different problem. Wish i had a giant autoclave? It’s winterisation time allready
JALL
Thanks Connie & JulieAnn! Don’t quite know what I’ll do. Hoping they come up with a viable replacement or I might buy 1 flat next year, spray w/fungicide before planting, & see if I can prevent it…seems doubtful! Esp since what Margery has explained above.
Ooh, I love the seed-saving idea. I hope you can develop your own resistant strain.
I am going to save some seed and see which appears to have the most resistance. I am thinking about using more geraniums which have really,maintained the colour this year.this of course will be expensive. I use a lot of petunias too. However the slugs are always after them.
You can see my garden on my face book page. If you put in the name above.
There are a number of pictures on there.
JALL
Michele,
I, too, feel your pain. I gasped when I read your comment.What do you think you’ll do next year?
I feel your pain michele,
I have grown them for years. I still think that they were infected with spores when I got the seven flats. The ones I got later to fill in did much better.
JALL
I live in East Aurora, and always relied heavily on impatiens for color in my shade garden. I am a new Master Gardener of Erie Co, and was quite dismayed when my seven (yes, 7) flats purchased at a nursery in Lancaster did not take.
Since I purchased early, I had them on “life-support” in my potting shed, carefully deadheading & closely monitoring their water intake, but they started to perish soon after planting. I didn’t notice downy mildew, only that they didn’t flower & were very leggy, eventually almost no leaves remained. I suspected squirrels or other small animals, & even questioned my own gardening skills! Pics from past years show they were always quite prolific.
Since I was on the Open Garden Tour for the first time this year & quite dismayed about my impatiens, I even bought a few more from a big box retailer in containers (not cell packs) & put them in the garden without separating them. These have survived, but not thrived.
I’m very sad about the stalwart impatiens, but relieved that it was not something I did wrong. I did purchase Sun-patiens & they’re nice, but do not look as lush & full like shade impatiens of past years. This has been one strange gardening year, that’s for sure!
Ann, if you would like you can take a picture and send it to my email and I would be happy to look into it for you. Without seeing anything it just sounds like a leaf spot, which like Downy Mildew can be caused by letting water stand on the leaves (especially if watered later on in the day).
christopher.lavocat@lavocatsnursery.com
For everyone that likes the look of Impatiens, I would strongly suggest Sunpatiens. Whether your current Impatiens garden is in part sun or you plant them in other beds, they really fill in and create a great showing. They do cost more, but I feel one plant can easily do the job of 8 regular Impatiens plants for about the same price. Sunpatiens are not affected by the mildew. Patchwork, Exotic, and Rosebuds can be however.
Chris
Don’t worry folks. I know from years of experience that there will be resistant cultivars on a few years. This species has been a hug money maker for commercial growers over the years. They will be racing to find flowers which will replace the Impatiens for next year and they need the sales. however I am not sure about prices for next year? That will be very interesting.
JALL
Ann,
I’ve had wilty black-eyed Susans because it’s been so dry, but no problems with black spots. Let’s see if someone else can answer your question in this comment stream. If not, I’ll post it as a question next week.
So now I know what has happened to my impatiens. I, too, had blamed the damage on chipmunks or rabbits. Have other people had problems with Black-eyed Susans this year? Mine started getting black spots on the leaves fairly early in the summer. Gradually the black spots spread over the entire leaf, and now some plants have turned entirely black and have completely shriveled up.
Lorraine,
Oh, that is disheartening. I think that’s why gardeners are so upset– impatiens have been so reliable for so long. What do you think you will do next year?
Greg, hostas are a good choice for shade, and there are a lot of varieties. Most of them get flowers, and while they’re not as showy as impatiens, some are very, very fragrant. I think that’s a wonderful trade-off. Look into huchera, too. You can see some photos here:
https://www.buffalo-niagaragardening.com/2012/07/31/small-backyard-in-buffalo-goes-vertical-to-add-gardening-space/
Thanks for writing.
This actually started in a container of impatiens, in a protected spot in front of sliding glass doors, which usually by this time is a knee-high mound of gorgeous color. It then spread to ground beds about 12 feet away and is killing them inch by inch. Have never seen anything like this in 30 years of planting impatiens in the same spots. SO disappointing.
Chris, thanks for your input. With all the damage this organism is doing to impatiens, we should be grateful that it’s not affecting other plants.
Margery, thanks so much for that clarification. Great advice!
Hi Greg, the downy mildew you have is specific to Impatiens walleriana and shouldn’t spread to other plants other than the closely related Balsam as Margery stated above.
Since spores can live up to one year in the soil, many professionals feel no Impatiens should be grown next year. Europe had Impatiens Downy Mildew last year much worse than we are experiencing this year and now it’s very hard to find Impatiens planted throughout Europe.
Hope this helps,
Chris
Thanks Margery, very interesting. I will certainly keep my eye on that research. Let’s hope that there will be some resistant strains emerging. I bet some one is on to it already!!!,
Yes I have lots of other plants in the garden. However I will certainly plant some Impatiens next year, just to see how they respond. The wild Impatiens ( jewel plant) were not infected and also a new yellow sp. which I found is still doing well along with the petunias.
Thank you for this interesting discussion.
JALL
JulieAnn, I hope you won’t find that your impatiens have downy mildew next year, but please note that there is no point in treating the soil yourself with fungicides before you plant when you are trying to control downy mildew. The downy mildew is an oomycete, a water mold, not a true fungus, and it only responds to certain fungicides. The testing that has been done on this new downy mildew shows that plants can be protected by certain fungicides that work on oomycetes, but they cannot be cured after they have become infected. There are materials that can be applied by certified pesticide applicators to home landscapes, but I know of no products available for gardeners’ own use in their home gardens that will do anything to significantly thwart the downy mildew on impatiens. The disease can blow in via spores produced on other plants in the neighborhood, or remain in the soil, or be introduced on plants that are not yet showing symptoms . . . there are many ways to get it, and no ways to get rid of it other than by quickly disposing of the infected plants. roots and all. It is very fortunate that this disease only goes to Impatiens walleriana (and balsam impatiens), and leaves us many other bedding plants to choose from that are free from this major new problem. Keep planting impatiens, but don’t put all your eggs in one basket—try out the other annual flowers as well, especially the new begonia and New Guinea impatiens types!
Completely killed and wiped out my Impatiens, this was a very reliable bloomer and great for show. I am hoping it wont spread, but I fear it will probably infect my perennials. Is that possible? So I guess we can say goodbye to Impatiens, Maybe I will put in Hostas. etc. ?!?!?!?!
My garden is on Grand Island.
I have not lost all of my Impatience. They are in several different environments.when I suspected that they were Infected I dusted them. Other years I suspected that there were tiny mites on the new buds and meristematic regions. After dusting it is a good idea to feed them especially if the leaves turn lighter in colour. I use half strength fertiliser because full strength on a dry soil kills them. They turn dark green and wilt.
Sometimes they come back really well. This year I still have uninfected ones in containers and some in the soil. Yes there is definitely some fungal infection. Some moulds and mildews thrive in dry weather. The reason for this is that while the plant is wilted, the immune system is compromised and the mycelia can penetrate the cells more easily. As you know Impatiens need plenty of water to stay turgid.
These damping moulds are in the soil all the time. They only thrive when the environmental conditions are optimal so who knows what will happen next year. I am going to spray the soil with a fungicide before I plant next year.!!
Ironically, I suspect that some of the plants that have died may have had the spores on them, when they came from their source!!!!
My Geraniums ( Pelargoniums) did really well this year. I might plant more next year even though they do not produce those lovely mounds of colour.
JALL
Maxine, I’m surprised you didn’t blame the deer! I’m sorry that your impatiens didn’t do well this year and I’m glad you have a plan for next year.
Donna, this is still a pretty new problem for our area. The garden centers take steps to make sure they grow healthy plants, and people can plant them in their gardens or in a hanging basket and not have any problems. But next year it seems likely that more people will have problems, hence the need for signage. It’s too bad that water exacerbates the problem. Before we had trouble with this organism, a little water would perk impatiens right up. Thanks for your input.
Liz, it is disappointing. Impatiens have been such a reliable and colorful plant for the shade that we have really come to depend on them. Thanks for writing.
Note: An earlier version of this story had an incorrect location for the before and after photos. They were taken in Riverhead, NY, and the story is now correct. My apologies!
I lost all of my impatience by the 1st week of August – the whites lasted longer
I will plant begonias net year – it is very dissapointing
I am glad that you posted this article. As a Master Gardener I was aware of the problem and know about cause and lack of treatment. Too many garden centers are selling the Impatiens without the signage noting a problem can occur. Kudos to Mischler’s for being forthright. Even though we had a dry season, many people have been watering the Impatiens constantly and exacerbating the fungus. It is a double edge sword for this plant, because they are very ‘vocal’ about their need for water.
We were very disappointed in the progress of our impatiens this year. We first attributed it to chipmunks, then to inadequate watering, then to insects. Downy mildew is very disheartening-the impatiens were always spectacular in that spot! Think we’ll try for coleus next spring.