These are before and after pictures of the same plant. It was so pretty, and I was so excited to find a ferox at a local nursery. (It was on sale, too!!!) Unfortunately, it’s been ravaged by powdery mildew. I’ve had to keep cutting it further and further back. It used to have a bunch of growth points, but those all died from powdery mildew. It was doing so good for awhile. I haven’t trimmed the current leaves with mildew because they’re the only leaves it’s got left. I’ve sprayed it down with a fungicide and hydrogen peroxide, and I’ve got it on the top corner of my shelf where it gets the most air circulation, and I’ve got my ceiling fan going on low. Any idea on how to save it? I’m not above chopping back to the roots/propping.
If it helps, I’m in southern Maine. I don’t have a humidifier going, and our house generally sits around 40-50% humidity, and 65-70°F, although my plant shelf is against the heated baseboards. I used to keep the humidifiers going, mainly for me and not for the plants, but I just couldn’t keep up, and none of my plants seemed to have a problem without the humidifiers.
All my begonias are potted in a mix of equal parts perlite, coco coir/peat, and a handful of earthworm castings. The roots look good, and I water when the top inch or two of the soil is dry. I don’t let them dry out completely like I do with my aroids because I’ve heard they don’t like that.
This isn’t the only begonia I have that’s been ravaged by powdery mildew. I’ve got a maculata that was in not so great condition when I got it, it was one plant in a gallon sized nursery pot. I repotted it into a four inch pot, and when it got powdery mildew, chopped it back to the roots. It’s coming back, but it’s got mildew again. They’re such pretty plants, but they’re killing me with this. I’ve got a soli-mutata that seems to be pretty resistant to literally everything I throw at it.
Any help would be appreciated. Thank you so much!! 🙂
by YardIights
2 Comments
Sulfur fungicide works really well for powdery mildew. You can spray it on ahead of time if you want but it does leave a white residue. Good airflow also helps.
I just had my first round with powdery mildew, and the two things I had in my house were neem oil and Physan 20. The physan seemed a little nuclear, so I did a good spray-down with neem, made sure it got everywhere, and let the leaves dry well. So far, so good; no more mildew.
Edit to add that I did remove the most severely affected leaves, but since most of the leaves did have at least one little spot, I decided to only take off the really, really bad ones.