Parasitic Algae??

Bullwinkle

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17/11/10
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Keith called me to say that anyone who bought plants from him should watch out for any strange leaf spots for anyone who bought plants from him.He sprayed his plants twice before the sale but he wants everyone to be on the lookout.He will add some more info to this thread .
 
Has anyone ever had an parasitic algae? its starts off from small brownish spot and gets bigger, kinda of transparent. When I first notice the problem I sprayed the plant with liquid copper and took some leaves to the agriculture extension service. The leaves that I sprayed the algae was dead. At that time the lady told me it was a fungus. So, I checked the plants I took to the sale and seen nothing on them. [ plants were sprayed twice with liquid copper ] a few days later I noticed it on more plants, so I went back to the ag station and had someone else look at it. This time there was a white mildew looking spot on the leaf. The lady in charge said I had an parasitic algae with a secondary fungus. She told me to keep spraying with liquid copper. She said it was because we had a very wet summer. so, anyone that got one of my plants should keep it away from other plants and spray again with liquid copper. I have never heard of a parasitic algae, has anyone else ever had this problem?
 
Google the term parasitic algae and you'll learn more than you care to but did not see anything on treatments on a quick first pass. Appreciate the heads up, Keith.
Getting into some deep fog here....
 
Has anyone ever had an parasitic algae? its starts off from small brownish spot and gets bigger, kinda of transparent. When I first notice the problem I sprayed the plant with liquid copper and took some leaves to the agriculture extension service. The leaves that I sprayed the algae was dead. At that time the lady told me it was a fungus. So, I checked the plants I took to the sale and seen nothing on them. [ plants were sprayed twice with liquid copper ] a few days later I noticed it on more plants, so I went back to the ag station and had someone else look at it. This time there was a white mildew looking spot on the leaf. The lady in charge said I had an parasitic algae with a secondary fungus. She told me to keep spraying with liquid copper. She said it was because we had a very wet summer. so, anyone that got one of my plants should keep it away from other plants and spray again with liquid copper. I have never heard of a parasitic algae, has anyone else ever had this problem?

I'd use some caution with the copper fungicide Keith. It is an essential micro nutrient that is needed in small quantities. Over use can cause a copper toxicity in your plants.
 
Cephaleuros sp. is the culprit after some more Google searching but only one paper of several mentioned any control and that was a Bordeaux solution (or a copper fungicide). No mention anywhere of the use of any other fungicides like Daconil. Copper will probably NOT kill scale insects; the mature scale insects need to be smothered by an oil whereas the little buggers or juveniles can be killed by contact insecticides.
 
I will try to send Mike some pics tomorrow so he can post them for me. Man, where did this come from, If Id had known this was possible I would have sprayed often. Ron, I hear what your saying about copper toxicity, but by the time I done, you will be able to mine copper out of my yard. I know its not the right time of year to do this, but Im going to cut back 75 percent of my crotons down to bare stalks. I dont see any other way. I wouldnt be able to hit every spot on the leaves.
 
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Keith sent me a couple of examples of the leaves with the algae
 
Im still at a loss about this, I know it was a wet summer, but I have been thru wet summers in years past but never had this problem. Never knew there was such a thing as an parasitic algae. Ive heard of a parasitic fungus, its in alot of croton collections. [ its about the size of a bb, but can be larger, round brownish in color ] Marie, Jeff, Kurt , have you seen this before.
 
Keith, don't do anything drastic. It's probably more cosmetic than anything. Besides, we're about to head into the dry season, so it may become history before long. Don't water at night, only in the morning so the leaves don't stay wet overnight. I bet it will take care of itself. Don't worry yet and don't do anything drastic!
 
I know this sounds simplistic but the heavy soap and water in a spray bottle allpication still works for me. Our dry summer has kicked my behind with scale and all the above.
 
Keith, don't do anything drastic. It's probably more cosmetic than anything. Besides, we're about to head into the dry season, so it may become history before long. Don't water at night, only in the morning so the leaves don't stay wet overnight. I bet it will take care of itself. Don't worry yet and don't do anything drastic!

I'm with Ana. Why would you cut off the organs that produce carbohydrates right before the cold sets in. Stop beating yourself up, from what I've been reading plants almost always grow out of it. They outlive the life cycle of the offending malady.
 
Marie told me to call the Fl. dept. of ag., so I did. I talked to a plant pathologist and I had him pull up these pics on the forum. He said hes 95% sure - just from looking at the pics it is cepahaleuros virescens. He said to call it a parasitic algae was pushing it a little. He said Magnolias planted in their parking lot have it. HE said a copper based product should kill it. He said once its on the leaf , it pretty much stays there. Even though it may dry out this winter, once it gets wet it may pop back to life. So, IF I understand this, I will have to hit every spot of this with repeated applications of copper to get rid of it. So, I think my best bet is to do what I had planned and cut everything infected down to bare stalks and go from there. Let my hard lesson be of help to all you croton lovers- use copper in your spraying program as a preventative.
 
Whatever you decide to do, keep us posted in this thread. have you considered cutting back one bead and just treating with Cu another one (not too close) - a controlled experiment of sorts.
 
Almost done- by tomorrow my whole shade house will be defoliated, nothing but bare stalks left- on to the next infected area of my yard.
 
Almost done- by tomorrow my whole shade house will be defoliated, nothing but bare stalks left- on to the next infected area of my yard.

Keith, would you be able to dip/submerge your smaller potted plants? That would assure that every surface was treated.
 
Its pretty much on the bigger stuff,I wouldnt be able to dip them. While I was at the store buying liquid copper, I noticed Bayer had a product called moss and algae killer. I thought I might try this also, because the ag. guy said copper or anything that had an algaecide in it. It also is used to kill lichens, and I have been looking for something like that. Has anyone used this product before on or around crotons? I may spray it on some this weekend to see if they can take it. Yesterday I sprayed Tilex straight from the bottle on some and I dont see any damage, much to my surprise.
 
I asked Perry about this the other day. How do you mix yours for spraying crotons?
 
I should have a croton society meeting at my house now. Colorful leaves are overated, you can come and see the natural beauty of bare stalks. I defoliated about 250 -300 plants. I have went thru 4 or 5 bottles of copper spraying the ones I didnt strip down. Its strange to me that no one at my extension service has heard of or dealt with this problem before. I was told it was cepahaleuros virescens by an ag. pathologist from the Fl. dept. of ag. [ he pulled up pics off this site] Its hard to get an ag. agent to come to your house, but the guy from my extension office said he would send someone to my house to collect samples and send them off to get a positive diagnosis. So, I will spray every 2 weeks with copper until I get rid of this- or until I or my crotons die from copper poison.
 
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