Rex begonias powdery mildew
aviolet6
2 years ago
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aviolet6
2 years agoRelated Discussions
Iron Cross Begonia - is this powdery mildew?
Comments (1)Powdery mildew looks like a whiteish powder that has been dusted on a plants leaves, and it can be fairly easily wiped off. What you have does not look like PM....See MoreHow do I treat powdery mildew and potenital leaf spot on my begoinas?
Comments (7)if you havent already.. separate the plants as best you can ... read a bunch of these: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=potassium+bicarbonate+homemade+fungicide&t=ffcm&ia=web by the time you read thru a couple.. you ought to get the jist ... do not spray in sun ... or on hot days ... etc .. all the general rules .. adding actual leaf damage/burn to your problems wont accomplish much .... and here is a truism.. many say.. you arent a green thumb.. until you have killed every plant.. 3 times ... so if you lose ... so be it ... try again.. and trust me.. you will have learned something for the next time you try ... welcome to the forums... plz come back often ... ken ps: it is usually helpful to include your location.. big city name ... in this case.. im not sure if you are still holding these indoors ... as i would be here in MI ... or if they are already outside ... and if they are outside .. did you harden them off before they went outdoors ... can we rule out leaf damage from shipping.. transplanting.. sunburn ....etc ... there are many things that should be ruled out.. before we start spraying them ... a pic might help .......See MoreDoes my begonia have powdery mildew?
Comments (3)I sometimes trim all the leaves off (many) different plants if they are bad looking. The plant has to put out new growth if it wants to live. The reason most plants are easy (semi-easy) to propagate is their ability to put out new growth if they get broken, eaten, mowed, or dumped on. Indoors for winter, I really cut back on watering which seems to help a lot on mildew outbreaks. Being in a basement is conducive for mildew (damp, cool) but most come through winter okay. More light would help but my spaces are crowded so most of the canes go on the floor near a stand with the lights. Spraying with a fungicide will help tremendously but I really hate to spray if I don't have to. The mildew got so bad on my maculata (hybrids) that I had to do something as a lot of leaves had already fallen and I picked the rest of them off if they even had a smidgen of mildew on them. PS: I find the maculata hybrids to be more susceptible to mildew than other types of canes. This parviflora had so many damaged leaves that I cut/pinched most off May 23rd after putting it in a larger pot (I want to get a big plant again) This is what it looked like July 18th with a few pinholes either from insects or falling debris/maybe hard rain. This is what it looked like when I had it in a huge pot with other canes back in October, 2015....See MoreDoes anyone know what's wrong with this Begonia Rex?
Comments (5)Have you checked with a magnifying glass or jeweler's loupe for mites (most commonly found away from light on the undersides of leaves)? By "spots", are you referring to the discolored/necrotic lesions in the light part of the variegation and at leaf margins? Potting medium is generally an inhospitable home for micro and macroscopic soil life, which means that the soil breaks down very slowly, which means you shouldn't depend on breakdown of the hydrocarbon chains that make up the soil as your plant's source of nutrition. For best results, it's essential that you have a good nutritional supplementation program in place. If I assume the "spots" you refer to are what I described, you are probably not dealing with a biotic pathogen, like a fungal/ bacterial/ viral infection. It looks more cultural to me. Do you think the shopkeeper you bought it from might have propagated the plant from a cutting? If yes, could you make a call and find out if the medium contains coir or CHCs, and how much of each/either? Media with more than about 10% coir or CHCs presents a challenge to a number of plants. Watering from the top is best because it tends to encourage salts from tapwater or fertilizer solutions to accumulate in the medium, and that affects plants' ability to take up water. When you water, make sure you are wetting the entire soil mass and at least 20% of the entire volume used in watering the plant exits the drain hole, carrying any build-up of salts with it ..... and you're right to try to avoid getting the foliage wet as you water. I use a 2L Dramm watering can, fitted with a homemade nozzle (from a caulking cartridge tip) that gives me precise control over what gets wet and what doesn't. You mention the metric by which you determine when to water is 'a slightly wilted leaf attitude. By the time the plant is wilting, some f the finest roots will have died and the top of the plant will not grow until the lost rootage is regenerated. This cyclic death and regeneration of roots is a serious drain on the plant's energy reserves and is likely consuming all of the plant's current energy production. Plant's create their own food/energy through photosynthesis, so one thing you have going for you is, as days grow longer, your plant will have greater opportunity to grow. Cutting out that cyclic death/regeneration of roots would be a notable benefit to any plant. You can do that by A) watering from the top and making sure you are wetting the entire soil column, and B) Watering BEFORE the soil gets so dry the plant wilts. C) Using a 'tell' to tell you when it's time to water. See 'Tell' below. Did you read the link I provided? If yes, what contrasts did you notice when comparing what I wrote to your care regimen? If the suggestions I made and regular applications of fertilizer do not work, I suggest you bare-root and repot it. It would also be a good idea to lift the plant from the pot and inspect the roots for rot. Since the visual cues the plant offers are consistent with over-watering, I'm left to wonder how long (on average) the intervals are between waterings. Longer than a week is too long, from the plant's perspective. Al...See Moreaviolet6
2 years agohc mcdole
2 years agoPaul MI
2 years agoaviolet6
2 years agolast modified: 2 years ago
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