Fungus? Pests?
Noticing these brown spots showing up on all my plants…is this a fungus? Is it safe to treat my pothos, spider plant and philodendron with captain jack copper fungicide? #HappyPlants #PlantsMakePeopleHappy #PlantAddict
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Hi LaDawn,
This looks like old physical tissue damage rather than a fungus. Those brown spots are irregular and look like scratches, which is normal for tissue damage. This happens for many reasons, like leaves rubbing against things, pets, or damage while the leaf was unfurling. You said your noticing these spots showing up on your plants, do mean you 100% know they were not there before? Or are you only occasionally looking? And I’m only saying that because you could just be getting reoccurring damage in each new leaf, that you might not be noticing.
What I would be concerned about, are the pale specs I see on some of the leaves. You should inspect the plant,(top and bottom) of the leaves. Look for thrips or mites. But the larger brown spots? I wouldn’t say fungal damage from these photos.
I wouldn’t spray captain jacks because it’s for fungal/bacterial diseases. It won’t repair the damage that is already there. And if there is no fungus, you risk leaf spotting or phytotoxicity.
For now I would monitor the existing marks and inspect very carefully for pests.
This looks like old physical tissue damage rather than a fungus. Those brown spots are irregular and look like scratches, which is normal for tissue damage. This happens for many reasons, like leaves rubbing against things, pets, or damage while the leaf was unfurling. You said your noticing these spots showing up on your plants, do mean you 100% know they were not there before? Or are you only occasionally looking? And I’m only saying that because you could just be getting reoccurring damage in each new leaf, that you might not be noticing.
What I would be concerned about, are the pale specs I see on some of the leaves. You should inspect the plant,(top and bottom) of the leaves. Look for thrips or mites. But the larger brown spots? I wouldn’t say fungal damage from these photos.
I wouldn’t spray captain jacks because it’s for fungal/bacterial diseases. It won’t repair the damage that is already there. And if there is no fungus, you risk leaf spotting or phytotoxicity.
For now I would monitor the existing marks and inspect very carefully for pests.
@Mariposa91 It looks like you have mites . You’re going to need to clean them all . Since you named three plants there’s no sense in isolation. Copper fungicide is great for fungus on house plants but you’ll need an insecticide like neem oil or diluted water with dish soap unless you have something else for that . You’ll need to treat them every three too four days to break the cycle . Just be sure to treat under and upper of leaves along with the soil. Sorry this happened but the good news is with the right care you can rid yourself of them .
Mites are tough to deal with. I would take a look at your other plants to see if it’s the same issue for everything or just a particular area. Moist soil helps attract them and they breed in it. I usually just have to repot and spray the roots and leaves to clean off any stragglers.