Cephalotus - fungicide sensitivity; suggesitons?

[leejoneelee]

Howdy folks,

I have a mature cephalotus that developed a white powdery fungus problem. I tried "Serenade Disease Control" which uses the QST 713 strain of Bacillus Subtilis as the active ingredient. Within a short period (2 or so days), the moss surrounding the plant had died, and my little cephalotus's leaves are starting to shrivel and new trap growth is starting to die. After a few day of watching and misting the slow leaf death/shock continues.

Needless to say, I am worried about cultivar sensitivity and my little plant's future health.

I am wondering if anyone else has had this experience?

I am contemplating a full repotting, rinse-off (incl. superthrive of roots) should it be the case that the medium is now poisoned. Opinions?

I don't know. I have never encountered this situation before.

Any wisdom, suggestions, opinions would be appreciated.

respectfully (and hopefully) yours,

jon

 

[Not a Number]

Did you spray with the ready-to-use product? It could be the inactive ingredients, not the Bacillus, causing the problem.

Always do a test with ready-to-use products or see if others have used them with little or no problems first.

 

[Av8tor1]

I use bacillius subtilis on mine, but a diff product... I have tried serenade once or twice, it didnt seem to hurt them, (but I didnt like that heavy brown carrier they use, dunno whats in it)

FWIW, I've been using Bacillius/Trichoderma products on my cephs for at least 2 yrs

I have noticed that the Bacillius seems to speed up the process of any dead plant material decaying... seems like it turns any dead material a charcoal gray color in just a day or two, guessing it starves out the unwanted pathogens... but this is all just casual observation on my part

if im right it would be more a preventive then a cure, at least that is my assumptiopn LOL

pyro would be the one to ask.... he deals with it on a professional level

to be safe you may wanna flush and put into an area of good airflow,

personally, i think your instincts sounds correct, they sound like a good plan to me...

with cephs any window of opprotunity is very, very short...



Av

 

[Alexis]

There are plenty of safe fungicides out there but unfortunately it looks like you were unlucky picking a dud. Even a product containing a safe active ingredient can have additional minor chemicals in it that cause harm.

As it's clear your plant is keeling over rapidly, I'd uproot and give the roots a good rinse. It might be worth splitting it so there's more chance of some part of the plant making it.

Cephs hate being disturbed, so don't be surprise if the die off continues. Hopefully some rhizome and root will survive and it might spring back to life in a couple of months.

Don't bother with superthrive - a few B vitamins won't help at all.

 

[leejoneelee]

Thanks for the input folks; would be interested in what 'pyro' has to say.

One thing is certainly correct, I should have done a test first, instead of trusting the product salesman and the product's 'organic' label.

I did a test on the moss portion of a Butterwort I have and the moss browned after a couple of days, confirmation of the fungicides negative effects.

Anyhow, I am where I am regardless and saving C is the priority.

 

[WildBill]

Hi leejonlee -

I think I had that same white powdery fungus on my cephs last winter. Since I already had it, I used Neem Oil (mix with water and a dash of detergent) is a spray bottle. I did lose a few pitchers but the plants recovered well. Neem is also effective on things like aphids. Some of those Cephs are outside now and my Hummer's Giant has sent up a flower!!!

The fungaplagued plants were in a terrarium, so I opened the top more and moved the Cephs near the open parts. Other folks in the NECPS have used cinnamon to dust their CPs in order to combat fungus with good results. Frank Meglio gave us that excellent tip.

Good luck.

WildBill

 

[leejoneelee]

Well, the Ceph has been cleaned down to roots, rinsed well, rhizome split and repotted, yellowing and wilted leaves trimmed. Now a few days later we have a clean, apparently still alive albeit svelter plant. We'll see; impatiently waiting for that delightfully fuzzy new growth to begin.

I have some bits of rhizome and basal shoots in a propagating tray -- we'll see if we just can't sprout a couple twins after all this mess is over.

As a piece of info for the 'group': "Serenade garden Brand Disease Control ready to use (QST 713 strain of Bacillus subtilis 0.074% / Inert ingredients 99.926%) used as directed by the instructions will kill off the moss surrounding your plants and is 99.99% the reason my Ceph leaves and traps went 6' under.

ty for everyone's help and opinions.

cheers,

jon

 

[Av8tor1]

i have never tried their premixed formula, the only times ive tried it has been the concentrate... its a viscous brown liquid, I still have the rest of the bottle... wally world carries it

you would think it would have an expiration date, but it doesnt... seems odd but I dunno

I do like the "Sub Culture" product awfully well, but I have to order it online

good luck, sounds like you did great...

keep us posted,
Av

 

[curlingguy]

I used a product called Safer's "Defender" on my two cephs when they were suffering from grey mildew. Its .40% sulphur. Seemed to cure the problem with no ill affects. I would just spray the plant then top water it to rinse the excess that got on the soil and not the plant.