triggering an SAR response via salicylic acid application does not take weeks to take effect... im suggesting using a soap, which will probably be just as effectively kill surface pathogens as h202 or essential oils or anything else pretty much, probably less abrasive than h2o2 would be... but the uptake of the salicylic acid is whats more important, and should happen uhh overnight? however fast the plant takes up water... as soon as that molecule enters the plants system, dissolved in water through the roots or leaves, the response begins happening. i mentioned weeks because rarely a single application of anything gets the job done thoroughly... a week from now, after you plant has been healing, new fungal spores may germinate and restart the infection.... fungi have multiple cycles they go through.... its like giving your plant antibiotics... think about when humans take antibiotics, 24 hrs, most the disease is under attack, symptoms regress. but you gotta take the prescription for the full 2 weeks, otherwise surviving pathogen may reinfect with even more vigor. similar concept here.
my thought is unless you get your plants immune system beefed up, and address the environmental conditions, especially since you said that you dont think you can whatever is eating it, things might continue as they are.
it is very possible for for it to be a combination of things... environmental conditions (humidity, light) nutrients, etc can effect you plants immune system. say your leaves get sunburnt, or dry out or wilt. that tissue dies. infecting saprophytic (lives on dead plant tissue ) fungi land, germinate, eat dead tissue. as these saprobe fungi grow, they will release toxins to kill the living tissue, to make more dead tissue to eat. at the same time, most plants have a number of endophytic fungus and bacteria, and viruses too i guess, living inside the plant all the time, in symbiosis ( most of the time), or parasitic... sometimes, these endos can get out of order as well... when environment isnt right... this is millions of years of evolution fine tuning these relationships in nature... in our gardens, all sorts of things get out of balance
an obligate parasite, like a fungus that requires living tissues to live in grow, are pretty host specific, and therefor would seem unlikely to me that it would kind of randomly pop up in your garden, outside this plants natural habitat range (im assuming), unless it was living in the plant all along (in which case it probably wouldnt be a very good parasite, or you'd notice problems sooner... unless conditions suddnenly changed in favor of the parasite). so then look over at the other end of the spectrum, with saprophytes that like stuff thats already dead. for a saprobe to infect you plant, you plant would have to have some sort of damage or open wound, or dead tissues connected with the live ones. so, the fungus may just be a secondary symptom to a greater problem, because, where did the wound come from? no bugs you say, could be pruning or somethings, but my thought is some leaf died back (because of lighting, humidity, temps, something environmental), allowing for saprobe fungus to enter and go to town. that fungus, once inside, will continue to kill. or possibly something endophytic has gotten out of balance. in both scenarios, the long term solution is change the environmental conditions.
i know i keep stressing the environmental conditions, but its because if that is the case, then even though you are seeing this plant visibly infected, others in your garden may be suffering, and have yet to show it. if its host specific, then it wont spread to plants of different species, and getting conditions right will allow this plant to try to heal itself. if it is not host specific, then its just waiting for more dead tissues, and if other plants start to show symptoms from conditions not being right, then saprobe can move in on those dead tissues, moving to other plants. or those endos get out of balance.
idk what the fate of this plant will be, but i wish you the best! but, as stressful as it all is im sure, try to listen to your plant, read what it is trying to tell you. it may be sacrificing itself for the better good, to save the other plants of your garden. but idk, its your plant, you know it best. listen! dont let its message go unheard! its all a learning experience, to me, a good lesson learned is worth more than anything physical, even if its a beautiful living magic plant..... Thats the magic of these plants, this is a way of communication. its trying to teach you something.
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Topic: Something is attacking my p viridis, a fungus looks like (Read 17060 times)