Brown-orange spots on leafs & difformed leafs

10 years ago

Hello everybody,

First of all, congrats to all of you for keeping this forum open, with loads of useful info available when no one to ask around.

Here in Belgium, zone 9b, at the end of February 2016 I have rooted 5 cuttings brought from the island of Crete and all of them displayed abundant growth.

The plants went outside end of May (East oriented patio) and 2 out of 5 flowered to my surprise by mid July.

After treating preventively with a Neem oil 0.5% solution (begining of August), the trees started to show leafs with brown-orange spots. After 2 days the leafs would fall, while new growth continued at the tips.

If my reading is correct, it seems that the new rooted cuttings do not like this kind of treatment associated with direct Sun exposure from sunrise until 2PM. Learned it the hard way. And this is valid for all 5 of them + 3 older trees.

Moreover, I spotted on some leafs some sort of a winged orange flat "seed", could it be some sort of a fungus propagating this way?

I fertilize once every 15 days with a 6:3:6 organic solution and water lightly once a week.

The new cuttings are in a 2/3 light mix - 1/3 coconut substrate, the others in 100% coconut fiber.

Any opinion/advice highly appreciated.

Thanks,

Michael

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Comments (5)

Dave in NoVA • N. Virginia • zone 7A
10 years ago
Can you get a close up of this 'winged orange flat seed'? I don't see what you are talking about. Could be rust of course.
michael_europe_zone8b thanked Dave in NoVA • N. Virginia • zone 7A
PRO
the_first_kms2
10 years ago
I don't see the orange either. I do see the brown spots which are quite indicative of Rust appearing on the bottom sides of the leaves. I have generally had good success with Neem oil. I buy the concentrate at 70% solution and mix 1 oz per gallon. Off the top of my head that would be a bit higher than the .5% concentration you stated but not decisively higher.

If its older damaged leaves falling off and I still had rust I would continue treatments using all recommended precautions (not doing it in full sun, etc.) until the rust was gone.
michael_europe_zone8b thanked the_first_kms2
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michael_europe_zone8b
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks for looking into this.

Neem oil is a new thing for me, I was somehow cautions about not overdoing it. I used a 100% pure cold pressed neem seed oil diluted to 0.5% + some black soap, I will bring it up to max 1% next time, and totally avoid sun exposure after treatment.

This morning I managed to get a picture of the winged flat orange coloured "seed". Here it is. Good or bad news? If bad, how to help the trees?

Thanks,

Michael
PRO
the_first_kms2
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Aphids? Try spraying off all the leaves top and bottom with a garden hose to remove the insects and hopefully their eggs too. Then continue neem oil treatment.
michael_europe_zone8b thanked the_first_kms2
michael_europe_zone8b
Original Author
9 years ago
Thank you for the advice. I will water spray & treat with neem oil like suggested. For the next days we have a forecast of sun with +/- 30°C, should I completely avoid direct Sun exposure and for how many days after the treatment?

As you may see, many leafs are really stunted and deformed, could it be that spider mites are present? Bayer 3x1 or similar would work?

All the best,

Michael