December 11, 2024 – Written by Derek Hassing
Echinacea Plug
There are two reasons why you may be seeing this in Echinacea. First, let’s take KISMET® ‘Red’, it can show a red-purple coloring in the leaf which is a stress reaction. The anthocyanins come through in the leaf as it’s the most mobile. You will see this common in red, orange, and deep purple flowering plants, as it is their red pigment showing up. They will grow out of it, but the red leaf will stay that way until it dies off or is removed.
More general the other issue can be specifically cold stress. When they are too cold, or they are in a place where they are being hit with cold air regularly, these symptoms can arise. Leaves will look puckered and feel a little thicker. If it feels like they would easily break it’s a good sign that they are too cold. During transit can be exposed to these conditions. We mitigate that as much as we can by avoiding shipments and winter packaging.
Echinacea Spots on Leaves
Echinacea will do best if they are kept between 16-21 degrees Celsius or 62-70 degrees Fahrenheit. Right in the mid-range is where I aim for in the summer, that’s a hard temperature to hold to but they do fine warmer. Being too cold will cause you far more problems. If they are cold for too long, they will go into a pseudo-dormancy, something like a stall out. In plug form, the plant will not have enough starch stored in the roots to get them through.
Reference List:
Plant Pigments their Manipulation V14 (Annual Plant Reviews)
Qiu Z;Wang X;Gao J;Guo Y;Huang Z;Du Y; (n.d.). The tomato Hoffman’s anthocyaninless gene encodes a bHLH transcription factor involved in anthocyanin biosynthesis that is developmentally regulated and induced by low temperatures. PloS one. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26943362/