Damage to a plant is one of the first pieces of evidence that a plant is in some kind of stress or trouble. In general various types of visible discoloration, leaf malformations, and sub par performance. For each symptom there is a wide number of causes and suggested remedies - cultural or physiological, insect, or disease.

Flowers sparse or none Causes are usually cultural or physiological: insufficient sunlight, photoperiodism (wrong day length), dormancy, container too large or too small, too much or too little fertilizer, need for phosphorus, soil too acid or too alkaline, or too heavy, flowering wood pruned off in error.

Flowers decayed, moldy, rotted Usually the result of some bacterial rot or blight, or botrytis.

Flowers discolored, deformed, disfigured Suspect insects like aphid, thrip, cyclamen mite. Slugs and snails, beetles, leaf rollers chew flowers, sometimes cut them off completely.

Growth too fast, limp, leggy Plant may have been overfertilized, temperature may be too high. If the lanky, limp stems lean and topple toward the only source of light, cause is insufficient daylight.

Growth slow and poor, sickly Check cultural causes like: container too small, winter dormancy, too much or too little fertilizer, lack of nitrogen, soil too acid or alkaline, or too poor or too heavy, temperature too low, insufficient moisture in the soil. Slow, sickly growth may also result from attack by red spider mite or nematode.

Leaves discolored, spotted, stippled, blotched Can be caused by insects like white fly, scale, lace bug, leaf hopper, leaf miner, thrip, foliar nematode, red spider mite; diseases like bacterial blight, botrytis, fungus leaf spot, bacterial rot, rust, mosaic. Black sooty mold may be evidence of honeydew deposited by aphid, white fly, scale. White coating over leaves usually indicates powdery mildew.

Leaves with unhealthy texture Appear limp, soggy, swollen. Cultural cause may be: humidity too high, overwatering, temperature too low, insufficient light. If leaf edges crisp and dry, suspect low humidity or hot sun.

Leaves deformed, curled, puckered Check possibility of a virus disease, or presence of insects like aphid, stem nematode, leaf hopper, thrip, leaf miner, leaf roller, leaf tier, cyclamen or red spider mite.

Leaves wilted, yellow The plant may need nitrogen, or the white fly may be at work. Another possibility, fungus black spot.

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