AusBonsai

Howdy,

I've been noticing a few black spots on a couple of my Leptospermum Laevigatum ... thinking it might be some kind of rust but if anybody can narrow it down a bit better than that (or correct me) and has an effective treatment for it I would appreciate it! We have had a bit of extra rain and I haven't altered my watering regime to compensate so it could be as simple as over-watering, although it hasn't affected all of them , only 2 or 3. Any advice welcome.


Pics below.

Cheers!

Possibly early stage myrtle rust, if so cut all affected growth and burn..

M60757572 wrote:Possibly early stage myrtle rust, if so cut all affected growth and burn..

Thanks for your reply. Not sure if it is Myrtle Rust or not but I have taken the precaution of removing all affected foliage... Most newer growth looks reasonably healthy which I hope is a good sign. Anything else I should do??

Had a look through 'Pests, Diseases, Ailments and Allies of Australian Plants', would agree doesn't look like rust, leaning towards leaf-spotting fungus. Book goes onto mention spreads during warm, humid or rainy weather and worse with plants overcrowded. Also mentioned often most prominent on older leaves, which seems to match the pictures.

Control: for minor infections prune infected stems.

CraigM wrote:Had a look through 'Pests, Diseases, Ailments and Allies of Australian Plants', would agree doesn't look like rust, leaning towards leaf-spotting fungus. Book goes onto mention spreads during warm, humid or rainy weather and worse with plants overcrowded. Also mentioned often most prominent on older leaves, which seems to match the pictures.

Control: for minor infections prune infected stems.

Hi CraigM, I did a quick google on leaf spotting fungus and I reckon you are right. Certainly the weather conditions prior to this spot development have been warmish/humid for this time of year and it is occurring mainly on older foliage. I have reserved a copy of a book relating to diseases/pests on natives so will do a bit more research when that arrives. Thanks for your time in researching ... much appreciated.