Help! Need diagnosis. Ringspots on leaves of AV

8 years ago

last modified: 8 years ago

I have just noticed that one of my African violets has developed ringspots on the leaves. The tissue at the center of the spot is dead, and the outer ring is dying. There is only one spot on each affected leaf, and about 1/3 of the leaves have a spot. The plant appears otherwise healthy. I bought it at Lowes in September 2015 as a bloomed-out bargain. At the beginning of December I repotted it from the orginal optimara nursery pot to a ceramic self-watering pot using 1:1:1 Perlite, Vermiculite, Peat. It looked healthy at the time and had a good root ball. The spots are a recent development.

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Anne-Marie Novo-Gradac
Original Author
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Here is a photo of the plant
Anne-Marie Novo-Gradac
Original Author
8 years ago
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Cut back on that fertilizer to half of what you're using now. Spider mites will appear as very tiny salt and pepper like specks on the underside of the lower leaves. Watch them and you'll see them move. If washed off with a stream of water from a water wand every other day for a week, you'll break the propagation cycle. Spider mites suck the fluids out of individual cells causing the leaf to turn yellow and fall off. Roses aren't as tender as you might think. As long as it doesn't get below freezing, yours will be fine. Just watch the temps and bring it inside before nightfall. Keep it out of cold winds. The temps drop quickly as the sun sets. Doing this will allow it to acclimate to the outdoors and natural sunlight. I just removed several over wintered cuttings from a coldframe and repotted them. I left them out and placed them on a self in my unheated greenhouse. Even though it got to below freezing last night, they looked fine today. How long has this rose tree been in that pot? Perhaps it's time to repot into a larger pot and with new soil! If you can pull it out of its current pot without loosing soil from the root ball, take a look at the roots on the outside. If there's lot of tiny roots growing around in a circle, it's root bound. That won't explain the dark leaf edges but repotting may help.
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I think the most likely culprit is epinasty due to overwatering and potentially a soil mix that is too heavy (too much soil/compost in containers can compact and/or get sludgy). The general rule of thumb for watering tomatoes, whether in-ground or in containers, is to dig down into the soil first to see whether it's dry a couple inches down (deeper for in-ground plants) and actually needs water. If the soil surface is still moist, watering is absolutely not needed and could be detrimental. There's also a possibility that the mulch or compost or "farm dirt" could have been contaminated with herbicides, but herbicide injury is usually more distorted looking than that and usually is accompanied by yellowing or other discoloration. You can test this out by planting peas in the soil next to the tomatoes. If the peas germinate and emerge looking normal, herbicide is not the problem. That doesn't look like any of the common viruses to me.
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irina_co
8 years ago
I am always on a lookout for virus - lost the whole collection in 2007 to the virus.

Wait until it opens buds - if flowers are misshapen and the color is off - chuck it and soak the pot in Clorox.

Do you have thrips? You get something from Lowe's, exspecially something that was sitting in a nursery department for a while - you can easily bring thrips home. They carry the virus and can spread the infection on all plants in a house.

I didn't see this kind of spots on AVs, but I saw similar on florist gloxinias infected by a thrips bite. And the way to monitor the presence of teh virus in a greenhouse - is to plant Petunias - they react to the INSV virus with exactly same spots.

The spots could be nothing - but I hope that I scared you enough to keep away from this kind of bargains and avoid bringing home sick plants. Not all discount plants suffer from a plain neglect and can be nursed back to health. Some carry infection that will wipe every single plant in the house, there is no cure for virus.
fortyseven_gw
8 years ago
Vermiculite tends to keep the potting mix too damp in some areas. I stopped using it. If I were you, I'd restart the plant by removing a healthy leaf and rooting in 1:1 perlite:potting mix. Place in sealed plastic bag. Isolate the plant with spots. If Irina doesnt know, no one does. But I suspect a fungus, in which case, ditch the plant. Watch the leaf in the Baggie for any signs of rot. Joanne
irina_co
8 years ago
It can be a bacterial infection, fungus, virus or culture issues. But since it is the only one - the rest are healthy - it shouldn't be culture. Regarding the rest of them ,,,it is not easy to get rid of these things, or may be impossible. I would at minimum keep this plant in a separate room. Progeny too.
Anne-Marie Novo-Gradac
Original Author
8 years ago
I have isolated the plant and am watching it carefully. If it is INSV then I am preparing myself for losing everything. I have not noticed thrips, but I know they can be hard to spot. I keep the plants at work in a public hallway, so the environment is relatively uncontrolled. One possibility is the plant got splashed by a cleaning fluid or hot coffee or some other mystery fluid by a passerby. Another suggestion was that it might be fertilizer burn. I never used to use fertilizer, but recently started adding liquid fertilizer to the water reservoir. I think I started doing that about 6 weeks ago. I make a pretty weak solution, so I doubt that is it, but I suppose if I actually dripped the fertilizer solution on the leaves it is a possibility. Time will tell. If it is INSV, how long will it take to be sure?
irina_co
8 years ago
I would think it is a cleaning fluid. It is some kind of a burn - it can be thrips bites or by drops of window cleaner. Aha - that is something that never happens at home- that's why. It looks like healthy plant otherwise. INSV is affecting the flowers in very bad way. If it blooms with healthy blossoms - you are home free. And whoever is doing the cleaning - can continue an underhanded sabotage. It is just a cosmetic damage.
Anne-Marie Novo-Gradac
Original Author
8 years ago
It was just starting to bloom for the first time when I noticed the spots. The first few blooms are open now and look fine. I think I will keep it isolated a bit longer to make sure that no new spots show up before I restore it to the general population. I have about 30 violets at work, but they are all inexpensive varieties. It would have been frustrating to lose them all, but not devastating.
irina_co
8 years ago
I think you are OK. I thought about some damaging substance that could do it - but at home we usually do not spray our plants with 409 or Clorox.

Help! Need diagnosis. Ringspots on leaves of AV

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Anne-Marie Novo-Gradac
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Help! Need diagnosis. Ringspots on leaves of AV

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Anne-Marie Novo-GradacOriginal Author

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