Impatiens Growing Guide: Planting, Care & Harvest

Impatiens walleriana

Growing calendar

Typical timing for central Japan (Kanto region). Shift it for your own climate, and record your actual dates.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

Sow / plantFlowering

Guides

Common problems

Start from what you can see on the plant.

Wilting Yellow leaves Leaves dying Leaf spots Fruit problems

Pests and diseases (17)

Problems recorded for this plant, most serious first.

Bacterial Wilt

Disease

Leaves wilt while still green during the day and recover in the morning and evening; after a few days of this the plant dies. Cut the stem and stand it in water and a milky white bacterial ooze streams out in threads.

Powdery Mildew

Disease

White patches appear scattered on the upper leaf surface at first, then the whole leaf is coated in a white powder. Leaves later yellow, brown and die back, and reduced photosynthesis cuts growth and yield.

Late Blight

Disease

Dark green water-soaked lesions appear on the leaves and expand quickly into brown dead tissue. White mold forms on the underside and at the lesion edge, and dark brown lesions spread to stems and fruit.

Tomato Spotted Wilt

Disease

Brown necrotic spots and ring patterns appear on the leaves and the growing tips shrivel and darken. Fruit develops concentric yellow rings that make it unmarketable.

Brown Leaf Spot

Disease

Small light brown to gray-brown spots form on the leaves and enlarge into irregular lesions. When they merge the whole leaf dies and plant vigor drops sharply.

Southern Blight

Disease

The stem rots at soil level and white silky mycelium spreads over the crown and the surrounding soil surface. Brown sclerotia the size of rapeseed then form and the plant wilts and dies rapidly.

Anthracnose

Disease

Light brown to dark brown round lesions with sharp margins form on leaves and fruit, slightly sunken in the center. In wet weather salmon-pink slimy spore masses ooze out on the lesions.

Root Rot

Disease

Fine roots rot brown to blackish brown, growth stops and the lower leaves yellow. The plant wilts easily in the daytime and eventually dies outright.

Gray Mold

Disease

Water-soaked brown lesions form on flowers, fruit and leaves, densely covered by a fuzzy gray mold. Fruit rots and drops, and decay continues in storage after harvest.

Downy Mildew

Disease

Pale yellow to yellow-brown angular lesions form on the upper leaf surface with a gray-purple mold in the matching spot underneath. Lesions merge, the leaves die back and the plant declines early.

Necrotic MottleNecrotic RingspotAlternaria Leaf SpotMosaic DiseaseWhite Root RotFusarium Wilt and Damping-offLeaf Rot

Written byYasuGrowing vegetables and fruit in Chiba, Japan, and building Gadenin. Corrections are welcome. 15 years of growing.