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trinette schefflera arboricola bacterial leaf spots

by Nazar
(Lancaster, NY)

Hi there,
Through my research about the symptoms of my beautiful and poor schefflera, I knew that it got infected with a bacterial disease as it shown in the attached pictures.

I hope that you can advise me to what should be done to save this lovely plant for this disease.

I went to the nursery that I got the plant from and they suggested to use the horticultural SPry Oil, I have used it for 5 days till now, but I don't see any retreat from the disease yet, actually it increased and the leaves started to fall insanely quick.

By the way, I'm using the Miracle-Gro 3002010 Shake 'N Feed 8Lb All Purp Plant Food, to fertilize the plant.

So, please help!

Comments for trinette schefflera arboricola bacterial leaf spots

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Dec 22, 2020

Two things
by: Jacki Cammidge, Certified Horticulturist

I'm not sure why this place would have sold you oil, for a bacterial infection.

Oil products work well on insect infestations like scale where it clogs up the breathing apparatus on the insect pest. It will do absolutely nothing for bacteria. This place obviously doesn't believe in paying a horticulturist, they just allow sales persons to flog whatever product they can to the unsuspecting public (you).

Stop using it!

Also stop fertilizing. A sick plant cannot use feeding now. And all it will do is compound the issue. Especially using a chemical fertilizer, which changes the pH of the soil, and can burn roots, when the plant will need all of its resources.

Things you can do; remove as many leaves as you can that are showing the damage. This includes any that have fallen off and are lying on the soil. This is a source of new infection, so get rid of them completely, in the garbage or burn them, don't put them in the compost.

Then, make sure the plant has good ventilation. Bacteria take advantage of damp conditions, so if possible, isolate the plant away from others, and put a small fan on it to give more air flow.

This is not going to go away overnight. Be patient.

PS; I just looked closer at the picture and what you have is scale, not a bacterial infection. So, the oil will work, in fact it probably already has and they are dead. Pick one off with a toothpick or something and see. Live scale are soft inside.

In any case, stop fertilizing, and stay vigilant, as these horrible pests are really sneaky and can move onto other plants. Check everything.

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