Powdery mildew spots on my succulents..
So I’ve had spots here and there before, & I remove the leaves & try to keep them away from other plants, but spores are super hard to contain in any condition. Anyways despite not watering as much, or lack of humidity, (some) of my plants have been developing white fuzzy spots on the leaves & they will spread to more parts of the plant, essentially causing me to remove the affected leaves so it doesn’t spread even more.. but it still keeps popping up. I hate it because it’s causing damage to my plants that can be prevented. I think some of it may have to do with the improper airflow, they are in my bed room on a shelf & I don’t think there’s enough air circulation for my plants. I’ve tried a fan, but what are some other good options for prevention? I ran out of my fungicide so I’m ordering more of that, because it protects my plants from all sorts of things. but since I don’t use it as a foliage spray I’m not sure if it really does much for the leaves that have already been affected . I don’t have any photos of the powdery mildew, I’ll try to find a photo of something similar & post in comments for reference. #PestControl #powderymildew #PlantInfo #GreggersSupportingGreggers #GregGang #HappyPlants #help #SucculentSquad #Succulents
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Best Answer
Hey! Powedery Mildew is one of those fungi you never wanna see in your succs. The darn thing thrives in low air flow and....thats it. Wintertime usually helps fungi (of all kind) spread easier.
And hey, here is what you CAN do.
First and foremost lets understand that there isnt ONE solution for PM that works for everyone, powdery mildew is the worst thing ever, there isn't such a thing as a fungicide that works for all, where some might have find smth to help, it might just not make it for you.
Here are some tips and tricks then:
1.For me (personally) removing the spores MANUALLY and cleaning the WHOOOLE plant afterwards with water has worked (some people use water with milk or warm water). Then leave the succulent somewhere else for at least one month to see if the pesky thing makes a comeback (this process will leave the leafs with BROWN spots, sometimes even brown and bumpy spots, think of it as a scar, do not mess with those if you see em as you are just opening a wound that could attract more pests or fungi.
2. Copper fungicide, this has a VERY high sucess rate for what I've read, I have never tried it but it seems to work. People in the US have told me they can easily find it at walmart or home depo!
3. Yes, do remove all leafs with it! Amazing that you are already doing this tbh!
4. If the plant is far too gone...as sad as it sounds, please consider disposing of it before it infects the rest of your plants.
I had a stacked caressula get PM, I REFUSED to trash it until it was too late, the stacked caressula died, it infected 3 other succulents and killed 1 other one that was thriving beforehand.
Please get rid of the ones that are far too gone and try with the ones that you think are still worth it!!!
And hey, here is what you CAN do.
First and foremost lets understand that there isnt ONE solution for PM that works for everyone, powdery mildew is the worst thing ever, there isn't such a thing as a fungicide that works for all, where some might have find smth to help, it might just not make it for you.
Here are some tips and tricks then:
1.For me (personally) removing the spores MANUALLY and cleaning the WHOOOLE plant afterwards with water has worked (some people use water with milk or warm water). Then leave the succulent somewhere else for at least one month to see if the pesky thing makes a comeback (this process will leave the leafs with BROWN spots, sometimes even brown and bumpy spots, think of it as a scar, do not mess with those if you see em as you are just opening a wound that could attract more pests or fungi.
2. Copper fungicide, this has a VERY high sucess rate for what I've read, I have never tried it but it seems to work. People in the US have told me they can easily find it at walmart or home depo!
3. Yes, do remove all leafs with it! Amazing that you are already doing this tbh!
4. If the plant is far too gone...as sad as it sounds, please consider disposing of it before it infects the rest of your plants.
I had a stacked caressula get PM, I REFUSED to trash it until it was too late, the stacked caressula died, it infected 3 other succulents and killed 1 other one that was thriving beforehand.
Please get rid of the ones that are far too gone and try with the ones that you think are still worth it!!!
I know exactly what your talking about ,this is a type of fungus mildew etc least that’s why I’m finding. I’ve had three plants total get this stuff. Let me know what you decide to do. I believe I’m watering those too much or not humid. I live in North Texas where do you live? A lotl of my plants are on a grow light, south window, and outside but these happen to be inside on the grow light.
@DirectPlanera yes this is it ! I live in NC but my plants are inside right now because it’s too cold for them to be outdoors.. mine are inside under grow lights as well. They are packed pretty tightly on my shelf, and that in itself can cause a lack of airflow in between the pots, so that’s one reason the moisture gets trapped.
I've gotten this also recently. Another thing I feel is that lack of FRESH air is a contributing factor. I have been using Neem oil to spray the leaves that are only slightly affected, removing the worst affected leaves, and spraying the top soil as well, hoping that during watering some of that flushes through the soil. I've chopped/propped my Chocolate Soldier Kolanchoe though, as it is really hard to spray through fuzzy leaves and not worsen the problem. That Plant, and possibly props, may need to eventually be replaced ☹️
A tiny bit of copper fungicide in the soil may help. I’m a fan of using liquid castille soap mixed with water to spritz on my plants to give them a bath. I use a soft toothbrush on hardy plants to scrub otherwise it’s just cotton swabs or my fingers on delicate foliage. Let the mixture sit on the foliage and stems for a few minutes then rinse with warm water. They need this every so often since they aren’t getting natural rainfall. Plant baths work wonders along with a bit of copper fungicide. I’d do it on separate occasions and use the copper on the foliage a day after the bath since you shouldn’t rinse the liquid copper off the foliage.
Update many more plants now have this and I tossed that neem oil from Walmart to 100% Neem oil cold pressed unrefined bottle off Amazon and also Cooper fruguside. The copper is from Home Depot 4% copper in bottle. That seems to be doing the job. Although i now realize the airflow is no good for this place in my room. My succulents outside never have gotten this stuff and I should have isolated my plant right away. I’ve lost at least 5 plants because they were just baby plants and the treatments plus mildew was too much. I hope you have a better go at this than me. It’s a hard lesson because I didn’t use common sense and isolate that plant now it’s on plants everywhere I have a succulent. Happy gardening!