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ultra_violet

Brown Spots with Halos?

ultra_violet
10 years ago

Occasionally I find brown spots on my African violets' leaves, usually the size of period, sometimes it's a thin brown line, but always ringed by a yellow halo. In the photo I lit the leaf from behind so the halo shows better. Could this be a fungus? Thanks.

Comments (7)

  • taxonomist3
    10 years ago

    Seems more like a virus. I think you may want to consider tossing it.

  • mooseblossoms
    10 years ago

    It may be damage from thrips. Have you noticed any spilled pollen on the flower petals? The adults thrips like to feed off the pollen sacs. The resulting spilled pollen is a clear indicator of their presence. They lay their eggs in plant tissue where the resulting larvae will feed, which might be the damage you are seeing.

    When I first started growing AVs, I didn't know what thrips were. I had to learn the hard way when they showed up in the 'violet room'. I had the spilled pollen signs, plus I had damage similar to what your photo shows only on the leaf edges. I treated the plants for thrips, plus removed every leaf with signs of damage.

    I had worried about INSV when I first saw the spots, but the leaves tested negative. And, once the thrips were gone, the spots never appeared again.

    Of course, the spots and the thrips could have been a huge coincidence and had nothing to do with each other, but that's my story, and I'm sticking to it!

    Here is a link that might be useful: Thrips damage

    This post was edited by mooseblossoms on Sat, Apr 13, 13 at 13:19

  • ultra_violet
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    @Taxonomist3: I really hope a virus isn't the culprit, never dealt with viral issues before. My method has been to remove leaves with numerous and/or larger spots.

    @mooseblossoms: I haven't seen any spilled pollen. Besides the damage on your leaf edges, did you have spotted damage as well? I uploaded another photo to show the spots on mine, can't really tell whether mine look diffferent from thrips damage pics you linked me to. What does INSV mean, and how did you test for it?

    Thanks.

  • aegis1000
    10 years ago

    Plant have spots sometimes. They are not perfect genetically, nor is their growing environment perfect.

    Perhaps something took a nibble from a leaf, then decided it wasn't for him/her.

    Perhaps you brushed against a leaf, slightly damaging it.

    Perhaps the leaf was somewhat damaged growing out from the crown (due to some crowding).

    Perhaps something in the air (oil, smoke, ash, etc.) settled on the leaf, causing a deformation.

    There are all kinds of ways that this might occur, ... and most of them pose no continuing threat to the plant.

  • mooseblossoms
    10 years ago

    I admit the threat of INSV makes me want to panic over every little thing! So, thank you, aegis, for giving me a little peace of mind! :-)

    @ultra_violet:
    I looked over some old photos, and, yes, there were a few smaller spots not on the edge that look just like yours. But, as aegis pointed out, it could be nothing!
    I attached a link that will help explain INSV.

    Here is a link that might be useful: INSV

  • irina_co
    10 years ago

    INSV comes with seriously distorted leaves and misshapen muted colored flowers. UV leaves look way too good.

    Could be thrips damage. If you have thirps - get rid of them.

    I.

  • PRO
    Whitelacey
    8 years ago

    An old thread, I know, but I was re-reading some tonight. The spot could be a result of too much Manganese. These spots typically have a light yellow area around them. The virus Rhizoctonia will also produce such spots but they are typically oval to peanut shaped.

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