Wednesday 25 March 2015

Help

For the first time since I started growing succulents there is a problem that worries me.  Some of the the agaves have taken a turn for the worse. At first it was those I didn't realy care about: spares, or small plants that can be replaced. These are left in the worst place, unprotected before they are ready and so often struggle. I don't mind loosing them and so I didn't really think much about it, we all loose plants over winter.

At the same time, coming out of winter, I noticed some of the lower leaves on a couple of the larger agaves in the main dry bed.  The main plants are the set of agave montanas


Winter damage on lower leaves is quite common, so it didn't worry me, what made me look more closely was the agave nigras.


These photos were taken today and it really brought home how bad the probem has got. It's no longer just the lower leaves, but half the plant and that has changed in only a few weeks.


Looking closely you can see round patches in the dead leave, on the less damaged leaves these show up as black spots. Looking closely there are clear raise patches.


I did a little searching online and it seems this is a fungal infection. That's about as far as I have got, so if anyone recognises it please leave a comment.  I am going to have to figure out how to treat it as at the rate it's going it will go through my agaves before the end of spring. 

My plan is to cut off as much of the infected growth as I can and then see if there is a fungicide in the UK that is stronge enough to treat the rest of the plant.  Having never had a problem before I am not sure if this is the correct course of action or not.  I am guessing if it is a fungus it will have already spread to the other agaves and everything is going to have to be treated. The mild wet winter, and wet spring have to a lot to answer for..

It is a shame that the dead leaves are going to have to be distroyed, they are quite pretty, and remind me of contour maps.



Fingers crossed it at least stays restricted to the agaves.

So if anyone has any advice please leave a comment, any information will be a great help. Especially if is news that this can be easily treated and is not something to worry about.

9 comments:

  1. Ugh! That just sucks. I have had something similar show up on a couple agaves in the past. One in a container (it was inside for the winter) and one in the ground. I removed both plants and disposed of them. Thankfully it didn't spread to others. Good luck!

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    1. Thanks. Sady I checked today and it is showing on every agave and many of the yuccas in the bed, so if it can't be treated then almost all of the plants in the bed will have to be binned.

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    2. omg, i had posted a few links...i found one man in AZ. who's an expert w/succulents... but I see your comment and u r right- they will have to be pulled.... One of the links said it was due to too much moisture... was your winter pretty harsh w/rain?

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    3. Our winter was really mild, much more so than usual, which may have been the problem.

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  2. Have you tried posting photos on the BCSS Forum?

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  3. Any fungicides available in your country? Mild wet winter would be deadly, yes--cold will kill off or stunt the fungus growth, mild will encourage it. Sorry to see that, bad luck... :(

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    1. Only a few they had a big crack down last year and banned lots. But went to a botanical gardens today to get some advice and am trying a fungicide they recomended. Fingers crossed,

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  4. You could try Agaveville or Xericworld? I think they have an active thread about fungus at the moment. I hope you can resolve it without having to bin anything.

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