Borage With Afternoon Wilt And What Appears To Be Aphids

[BlackThumb]

At night this plant looks healthy. This is my first year growing Borage; I grew it from seed. I decided to get it because it was recommended as a companion plant for tomatoes to repel tomato hookworm.

My near vision isn't very good but there is some sort of moderate infestation of insects. I think they are aphids as sugar ants seem to be working them. I've tried using neem oil to kill or repel the insects that appear to be aphids, but the neem oil seems to have little effect.

Is it normal for Borage to have such extreme wilt on hot afternoons? It seems to recover fairly quickly after the sun goes down.

I'm debating (with myself) on whether I should keep the Borage plant. It seems to be a breeding ground for what appears to be aphids.

I'm afraid the aphids from the Borage plant might spread and start causing problems for my tomato plants. However on the other side of the coin; perhaps the Borage plant is acting as a sacrificial decoy plant to draw aphids away from the tomato plant.

So any opinions as to what is causing the wilt and how to prevent it? Or should I just ignore and except the wilt?

Any opinions as to whether I should keep the Borage plant or not?

[kath]

I've grown borage from seed several times in the past and I have one plant this year, and I've never seen it do the 'wilting in the daytime' thing. As far as aphids, neem should work on them. I had a lot of aphids last week and got rid of the ones on my tomato plants with insecticidal soap and ones being farmed by ants on the stems of flowers with an herbal spray of some kind-that got rid of the ants, too. If you'd like more info on the particular spray, let me know and I can go out to the shed and check the ingredients. Good luck!

[BlackThumb]

Here is a photo three hours later.



As bad as it looks I think it's been this bad before and has recovered.

I think perhaps the container is too small for the plant and that may be causing the wilt. Last year I had tomato plants in 4 gallon containers and during a hot bright day they had a little bit of wilt during the midday; and they recovered overnight. This year I'm using 10 gallon containers and the tomatoes are doing much better and have nearly no midday wilt and require less frequent watering.

Since it is not a characteristic of Borage to wilt in the midday, it must be something else. Perhaps the container size or the aphids.

I may try transplanting it to a larger container. Right now I think it's in about a half half-gallon or a quart container, I may transplant it to a 4 gallon container. IIRC Borage doesn't do well when transplanting.

Thanks kath

[kath]

It was hard for me to see what it was planted in by the photo. Borage plants get to be about2-2 1/2' high and 2 1/2-3' wide, so if it's in a small container, it could just be getting too dry, I guess. It's amazing that it can recover from the state in that second photo!

[habitat_gardener]

Yes, it needs a larger container -- at least 12 inches in diameter, according to the Storey booklet on growing herbs in containers! Borage has a taproot, so the larger the container, the better. I'd keep it at least until it goes to seed, then put aside that container and hope for reseeding. (For wildflowers, at least, I get higher germination from self-seeding than from planting the seeds myself. I start with one plant, let it go to seed, then I have it every year.)

In my garden, the past 2 years I've had borage plants get as tall as 4 ft. and up to 4 ft. wide -- easily 2-4 times the size that most books cite. They're all volunteers, and I let them grow at the corners of beds until I need the space. One plant was encroaching on a path and blocking access to the raspberries, so I cut it back by half in one direction and by half again on the other side. It's still a monster. When I finally compost the monster plants, the main stem is 3-5 inches in diameter. (I need to remove the biggest plant soon to make room for tomato plants, so if I remember I'll measure it.)

I haven't noticed any aphids. I occasionally notice a lone ant when I'm eating the flowers in the garden, though. The main problem is that the ones growing in shadier spots get mildew. Since I have plenty of plants and a robust seed bank in my soil, I pull them out when the mildew starts showing up.

I just love borage. Bees love it, too. Sometimes I stand in front of my plant and eat some flowers, maybe 50 or 100 of them -- it hardly makes a dent. The flowers don't travel well, and wilted flowers don't look very appetizing, so I end up eating them right in the garden as I watch the bees.

Sometimes I make borage tea for my plants -- a bucket filled with cut-up borage, then filled with water. Since borage has a taproot, it brings up minerals from deeper in the soil. It's an especially good source of silica and potassium.

[lj in ny]

I think it needs a larger container too. Also, How much sun is it getting? It looks like it's planted against a light colored wall- I'm wondering if the light/heat reflecting off the wall is too much for the plant to handle.