I checked the FAQ links, but this looks a little different than the pictures, so I wasn't sure. 3 photos
Here is the top side.
Is this rust?
Underside.
Close up. Sorry 'bout the glare. I'm sensitive to the latex, so I don't touch bleeding leaves.
that is not rust. just looks like dead parts of the leaf. this is rust http://www.plumeria101.com/problems/rust.html.
lets try that again. check out http://www.plumeria101.com/problems/rust.html to see rust. (i hate when the "." at the end of a sentence is added to the link!)
That's what I looked at and it didn't seem the same to me. So what might be causing the leaves to wrinkle and curl and have that brown stuff underneath? It looks almost velvety.
Also, on one other leaf, the edge is curled with some white webbing inside. Doesn't look like mealy or white fly. I have a vague memory of some kind of bug that curls into a leaf, but can't recall precisely.
it would be best if you would show pics of the whole plant and tell us a little about your growing conditions and how the plants have been growing this summer. that would help.
Curling leaf with white fuzz or web inside curl is a spider.
Those leaves are also deformed
I say stress
Perhaps these will help.
Second.
your plumeria looks healthy. there might be some stress as mentioned above. don't know from what. could be hot root zone or not enough water. hard to tell since i don't know what the weather is like there or how you care for them. i don't think you need to worry.
Last.
I've had this plant 6-8 weeks (?). Shortly after I got it home, it was infested with some black bugs I couldn't identify. Tried spraying with water, then resorted to Neem x1, which seemed to clear it up.
It is in full hot sun from about 10am to dusk now, on concrete and gravel. We have just come out of our very wet foggy mornings, so I will have to adjust watering. I'm paranoid about over watering, I admit. I usually just stick my finger in the pot to see if it's dry. :-(
My last post was delayed. Thanks, Malestrom, for the spider tip. We have tons of them everywhere right now, so I can understand that.
Temps are in the 80s now; we're about 12 miles from the coast in San Diego County. That help? We do have a lot of wind/strong breezes all day, which tends to dry things out.
OK. Will watch the watering and stop worrying. Thanks for the help.
Kathleen
you're probably dealing with 110+ degree temps in the root zone.
What exactly is "hot root zone?" I couldn't find the term anywhere. Does it mean I should be watering more often?
LOL! i just meant that the soil in a black pot in full sun will heat to a temp higher than the ambient temp.
LOL indeed!
Kathleen, my recommendation is lots of regular watering since you have well-draining soil and warm temperatures. You don't have to worry about overwatering until winter. I agree that the deformed leaves could be spiders, spider mites, or a delayed reaction to the record cold temps we had this winter. I have all three too, and I just pull off the ugly leaves if they are unsightly. If you have spider mites, you can treat with Neem in the evening or just give the leaves a good blast with a spray of water when you water.
Thanks, Clare. I don't see any mites, but there are other little crawly things around - mostly little spiders. I'll keep an eye on it and up the watering some. I have the worst experiences with plumies, but I'm determined to have at least one blooming.
May I please post my question here. I purchased a plumie a while back. Upon bringing the plant home, I noticed some "blisters-like" indentation on the trunk. I suspect, water log damage. The plant was mislabelled as "ginger" and recommended for shade. Anyhow, I gradually expose the plant to full sun. It seems to have recovered well, and continues to bloom. Yesterday I've noticed the yellow powdery substance on its underside leaves. And it has spreaded the infection to my neighboring plumeria. Will Dacornil be effective on controlling this Rust fungus? Will it burn the fleshy leave of the plumeria?
Kim
Kim-you can either just remove the leaves with the rust (which is easiest to do) and throw the leaves away in the garbage or read the label on the Daconil container to see if it treats rust-it may, it is usually good for a lot of air borne spores of fungus (anthracnose etc). My guess is that it won't hurt the leaves, but may affect the blooms. If you do use it, be sure to keep the leaves dry for a few days, at least so that the Daconil doesn't get washed off.
tigerlily; thank you very much. I was concerned about stripping off the leaves, since they're uniformly affected. There will be no leaves left for this little plant. I'll investigate the Dacornil spray more closely.
Kim
Kim, at this time of the year-you can take the leaves off of all yr plumerias and in less than two weeks you won't even be able to tell. I just did it to two plants and you can't even see which ones I did it to-thats how fast they grow right now.
I am not sure if it is a typo on yr part but it is spelled Daconil...no r in there in case you google it
When I cut the leaves off, do I just cut the leave and leave the parts that attatch to the cane intact for them to drop off on their own? Like that technique when we defoliage bonsai's maples? I'm nervous doing this kind of surgery on a plumie that's blooming.
Kim, just snap the leaves off at the base of the stem-doing this should not affect the blooming-that is already in progress!
it's best that you leave a small amount of the leaf stem when removing leaves. what's left of the stem will dry up and fall off in a few days.
Thank you everyone,
My 1st instinct is to leave a little bit of the stem when I defoliage those infected leaves. tucsonplumeriaz, thank you, for validated my concern.
Someone once told me, gardening is like an art, no two "experts" in the field will "prune" certain tree the exact same way. Neither of the two is wrong. Since it's an art. I appreciated all the input.
Well, it may be an art in some respects, and we all do some things differently for sure, but it is a science in some respects too where there is right and wrong. Normally, I just pull off the leaves. I have over 500 plumerias and don't have time to do anything but pull them off. Furthermore, if you are dealing with rust which spreads by spores, I would get rid of the whole leaf, stem and all, and then I would spray all remaining parts with a fungicide. If you leave spores on your plant, the rust will come back. Since you said it has spread already, you need to remove every single leaf with it because if you miss some, it will spread quickly to new leaves. The good news is that it is not fatal; it is just unsightly.
Edited to add: your saying is cute, but there is a right way and a wrong way to prune a tree!
This message was edited Jul 22, 2007 12:57 PM