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White bougainvillea has a mysterious split-color bract
One bract in this white bougainvillea is divided down the middle, presenting as half-red/half-white.
Q: I have never seen this happen to a bougainvillea before. One bract divided down the middle, half-red/half-white on my white bougainvillea. I brought the plant in just before Halloween. Is this normal? I have grown bougainvillea for 50 years and, again, have never seen this happen. 鈥� A.H., sa国际传媒官网网页入口
A: I鈥檓 guessing that the bougainvillea was well in bloom as you brought it in, and wondered if you fertilized just beforehand or soon after bringing it in.
I asked a fellow plant enthusiast what she thought about what you鈥檙e noticing, and her thoughts were that perhaps the plant is missing or got an over-abundance of trace minerals in its diet that could have given it a kick in the pants to do odd things.
I poked around online and most sites I explored suggested that it鈥檚 a genetic happenstance. Something triggered a latent gene within the bougainvillea and showing the bi-color bract you鈥檙e noticing is the plant鈥檚 way of dealing with a change of bringing it in for winter, over/under fertilization, or a change in the watering schedule being offered.
To me, it looks pretty nifty, and I鈥檓 confident that nothing is wrong with the bougainvillea, just an anomaly that the plant is dealing with.
Besides, if you鈥檝e grown bougainvilleas for 50 years, you are doing things right as it is. It鈥檚 just this one is being quirky. Personally, I鈥檇 enjoy the oddity.
Q: I don鈥檛 know the name (type) of my plant, but it鈥檚 very unhappy. At first, all of the leaves looked dead on the ends. I trimmed all of them, but it鈥檚 still losing whole leaves like crazy. I moved the plant several months ago, so now I intend to move it back to where it was. Is this a sunlight problem, a water problem or what? I collect several fallen leaves each day. 鈥� K.Mc., sa国际传媒官网网页入口
A: In the first photo you sent, I see curtains. Are they relatively thick and keep the light fairly muted where the plant lives now, and was it a lot brighter where it used to live? If so, then I do think light 鈥� or rather lack of 鈥� is a big reason why it鈥檚 having a hard time adjusting.
I also wonder about how it鈥檚 watered, too. Being offered just enough water could easily explain the tips drying out. I don鈥檛 see a saucer other than what is on the stand and think that when you water it gets just barely enough, so there is no excess overflow onto the carpeting. If that鈥檚 the case, I鈥檇 suggest adding a deeper saucer for the pot to sit on in the stand so you can offer more water when you do.
When you do water, and the additional saucer has sat in the collected puddle, use a turkey baster to suck up and reapply that water to the soil. Essentially rewatering. When you have sucked up and reapplied the water, certainly some will collect in the deeper saucer, but you鈥檒l ensure that all the soil and root mass has gotten wet by the reapplying.
Just remember to suck up the excess if it鈥檚 still in the saucer the next day. You can鈥檛 go from a smidgen of water to sitting in a puddle. That鈥檚 not good.
I also see a cat tree right next to the pot. Are you confident that Gato isn鈥檛 peeing in the plant pot? Just a weird thought from looking at the picture. If any pee is being deposited, then the leaf loss and dropping could be an aftereffect of that.
I want to suggest that you give a good look-see to the underside of the collected dropped leaves. Employ a magnifying glass or jeweler鈥檚 loupe and inspect closely under really bright light. Do you see any sort of sandy or grainy looking stuff? That could be mites and explain a lot of the difficulty this one is having.
If the plant was a lot happier where it used to be, then I鈥檇 move it back, and go ahead and bump up the water offered by adding a saucer, as long as you promise to not let the whole kit and caboodle sit in a puddle for extended periods of time. Remember that underwater and overwater symptoms look a lot alike.
I think that offering a more thorough watering, brighter light, checking the leaves for mites and treating if necessary, will bring your plant back around.
Hope this helps and Happy Diggin鈥� In!
Tracey Fitzgibbon is a certified nurseryman. Send garden-related questions to Digging In, sa国际传媒官网网页入口, 7777 Jefferson NE, sa国际传媒官网网页入口, NM 87109, or to features@abqjournal.com.
