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Natural Bactericide

bentalphanerd

bentalphanerd

My plan for winter pods by starting the plants in mostly shade & moving them to more sun as it gets colder has hit its first snag.

Some of the plants have developed what looks like dirt mostly on the bottom of the leaves, it doesn't wash off. I was trying to do a Pam & cruised the internet for advice, but I keep getting distracted lol.

I'm sure its a bacteria/fungus of some kind as I've done 3 neem treatments in the last 2 weeks fighting aphids. They've gone now lol, but all that moisture on shaded leaves has probably caused this.

Sorry I don't have a pic...my camera refuses to do anything that close.

Umm so question...Whats a good organic bactericide?
 
It depends a lot on what your problem is, a fungus would be treated differently than a parasite. If the latter happen to be the cause stinging nettle brew would be a good choice.

If you can't take a close up pic, just take what you can and post it, it'll be better than nothing. Or put a leave or two on your scanner if you have one.

If you have a good, knowledgeable garden center or nursery nearby, try picking a leaf and showing it to them.
 
Bent, can you rub it off? I can't tell if that's damage to the leaf, or something growing on it. Some sort of mold or fungus would be my guess since they're been in a shady location. Is your humidity high right now? Neem is also a mild fungicide, so a good spraying might help.

Or, maybe diluting some hydrogen peroxide in water and spraying them might help.
 
Thanks Pam. it doesn't rub or even scratch off. They are in a shady spot & I have been using neem..but it seemed to have made no improvement or maybe worse.
I'll try to pick up some H2O2 today. Is the amount in anti-dandruff shampoo o.k?
 
Looking at it my first guess was a fungus or nematodes until I noticed that the leave veins are still green.

If you're lucky it's just a lack of magnesium. Try to help that first, before trying anything too harsh on them. If it turns out to be a fungus, remove the infected leaves and separate the plants from any healthy ones as far as possible.

Another indication of a lack of magnesium are long roots with less side shoots than there should be.
 
Chiliac said:
Looking at it my first guess was a fungus or nematodes until I noticed that the leave veins are still green.
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You're not the first person I've seen mention nematodes in conjuncture with leaf damage, and I'm really curious. Around here the nematode to fear is the root knot nematode, and, as the name suggests, the damage is largely to the roots. If you're seeing it in the leaf, the plant is pretty much on its way to that great compost bin in the sky.

So, what kind of nematode damages the leaf without killing the plant? I mean, I know there are all kinds of regional pests and diseases, and the members from tropical areas can have 10 times as many bugs as the rest of us; but I've never read anything about a nematode that damages the leaves on a plant. And now I feel like I have this vast gap in my knowledge, and I want to plug it!
 
There are several kinds of namatodes (the largest being 8 meters in length!), not only in plants, the ones you are talking about are root nematodes. The one I had in mind is first living in the soil and then "swims" upwards every time the plant gets watered. If water is sprayed on the plant it literally swims up the plant until he enters a leaf.

I don't know it's englisg name, we call it "Leaf Eelworm", maybe it's sth like that in english, too!?

If you wanna find out if they are the cause of damage done to your leaves, pick one and cut it in half and drop it in a glass of water. After a short while, the nematodes will swim on top.
 
Errr... you mean do I touch them after smoking etc.??? Sorry... not sure if I got it right.

If that's what you mean, I try to handle them with clean hands only, exceptions are soil etc, of course.

The question is not weird, I'm just not sure if I understood you correctly!
 
Chiliac said:
Errr... you mean do I touch them after smoking etc.??? Sorry... not sure if I got it right.

If that's what you mean, I try to handle them with clean hands only, exceptions are soil etc, of course.

The question is not weird, I'm just not sure if I understood you correctly!
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Right, I've read that if after exposure to tobacco you handle pepper plants you could expose them to Mosaic (http://msucares.com/pubs/publications/p0801.htm)
 
That is correct, although it is a tough chance, but I'd rather wash my hands once too often than damge my plants.

Some wild varieties are immune to that virus though...
 
I took a leaf down to the garden shop & in true nerd-garden fashion they were as baffled as I am.
I went with their suggestion of an all round fungus spray containing 0.05g/L myclobutanil and a dose of liquid seaweed fert.

I'll try it on 2 infected plants & see what happens.

I really hate using this s*t, but can't risk this thing getting into the entire garden.
 
looks to me like aphid honeydew which has encourage a sooty mold fungus to grow... any instant results achieved from the spray? you could also try feeding the plants to give them a little extra strength to help them combat their enemy.
 
Cant see any change today, i'm presuming it'll be another day or 2. I gave them a dose of fert & seaweed after the spraying.

fingers & toes crossed
 
The spraying won't make the infected leaves look any better (given that what you purchased is the proper cure for your problem), did it get any worse than y'day?

Good luck, man! Have you checked for nematodes (just to scratch that possibility from the list)?
 
haven't done the nematode test, been a bit of a slow day for me today :D

I'll do that tomorrow. I'll move a couple of the infected into direct sun also. It'll knock them out of my winter pod production experiment....but hey, tis a small price to pay.
 
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