Our Pachypodium lives outdoors in the summer and indoors in the winter. It is about 10 years old and stands about 4.5 feet. It has had a sort of mildew looking thing on the leaves for a few years, but recently worse with black areas and leaves falling off. BUT it still has new growth-slowly appearing. Please help tell us what we can do to make it healthy again!
The plant appears to be growing well, so I suspect that the damage occurs as a result of something in the environment. Often times, with a systemic fungal infection, new leaves are effected and overall health of the plant is compromised. This does not appear to be the case. I did notice that the leaves have what appears to be water spots. Is this a result of hard water (calcium salts), fertilizer use, or something else? Are you using organic fertilizers on the leaves? I do agree that this appears to be some type of fungal infection, but it is difficult to say if it is secondary damage from something that is being applied to the leaves or something else. A little more info on what you are doing with the plant would help.
thanks for the reply. When it is outdoors in the summer it gets watered with our automatic sprinkler system -so that occurs about 2x a week. It is hard water. But, bringing it in the house this fall I sprayed the leaves with water and sulphur- likely the spots. We water it in the winter about once a week with the addition of a weak fertilizer (just regular miracle-gro). It started getting the fungus spots about 2 -3 years ago-but worse this year. I used to think it was worse in the spring after it had been in the house with cool air, less sun, and less air flow. But, it doesn't clear up in the summer. THANK YOU
The spots appear to be a type of powdery mildew. It is common and spreads via air and insects. Your local garden center or retail nursery should have an appropriate antifungal. Repeated doses may be needed to eliminate the disease.
