help!! i'm losing my av's again!

11 years ago

Hi everyone, I'm having problems again and I really need some help. I'm losing my AV's again but this time it is due to powdery mildew. Also think my soil mixture is not right. I have about 25 named varieties and alot of them have babies. I noticed white stuff on the lower part of the leaves and also on the pieces of perlite in the soil mix. Let me back up just a minute. I had algae growing on top of the soil of ones I had bought. So I purchased pyhsan 20 made a weak solution of the stuff and treated my plants. They seemed to handle it ok but had a few rough days. They seemed to come out of it and I thought everything was Ok, I noticed they were dry so I watered them with fertilizer just yesterday as they felt dry to the touch. They are in 3 oz. solo cups and some of the smaller ones are in 1 oz. solo cups.

My soil mixture is 50% perlite, 25% coarse vermiculite and 25% peat. It was suggested that I put thin layer of perlite on the bottom of the cups then filled the rest with the soil mixture. Finally I got mouse ears on alot of them, then the algae appeared so I did physan treatment.The physan really didn't make much of a difference and it was alot of work so I didn't bother to do the follow up 10 day treatment. Just cleaning the top of the dirt made more of a difference so I did this to all of them. Now I just watered them the other day as they were dry to the touch and I have powdery mildew. I have noticed that alot of the mildew is on the perlite. I have cleaned some of the with q-tip and alcohol but I still have the mildew on many plants. I did just put a small fan up tonight to give them adequate air circulation to see if this will help.

Should I transplant them into a better mixture or just leave them alone for now. Some have babies and it is affecting those. They are still to small to separate. I have some leaves that still do not have mouse ears or babies yet on others but I have noticed mildew on the bottom of some of these leaves. I started all of this in July so should I transplant them into a new soil mixture of 1:1:1? I am fertilizing with 7:7:7 each time I water. Some I top water and some are in wick watering containers. Please help me!!! I lost my 1st bunch of leaves and had to start all over. I know I must be doing something wrong just not sure what to do now. They are under lights and have about 12-14 hrs. per day. Sorry I went on so long but just wanted to let you know what's going on so I could get some advice. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I have googled this and did a search on the forums but didn't find enough information to help. Any thoughts......

Thank you so much for listening to my AV problems!

Comments (3)

gardencraze
11 years ago
Oh my goodnes calshaye, I see where that would be a aproblem.
I'm new to av's so I can't help, but it will be very interesting to see questions and answers.
whenever I get cought up in any addiction LOL I go big. I have 19 blooming plants 15 that have mouse ears and 14 leaves started. Plus I have aready loved 5 to death.LOL

I have a tiger that I bought at a show'Tiger at the show that I'm so in love with, 17inch leave span, leaves are almost 5 in.wide, Full of blomms.
Carmen
terrilou
11 years ago
I'm sorry for all your problems. Powdery mildew likes damp, stagnant, and cool conditions. You are employing a fan & if your mix is drying, could your growing area be too cool? I have really had limited experience with PM so didn't know it would hang around on perlite. Some growers use a fungicide for PM. I've also heard of Lysol as a treatment & I've used just plain old milk.
I have had algae on occasion but usually just ignore it as I don't think it will harm a plant unless you really have gobs of it. I have read that physan is hard on plants.
As for your mix, everyone has his or her own favorite medium for rooting leaves & growing. I use the same mix for both, basically peat and perlite 50/50. I no longer use vermiculite because it just doesn't seem to be the same product we used in the old days (I'm talking the 70's) and it keeps the mix too wet. As for transplanting, I don't like to disturb leaves that are rooting unless the mix is holding too much moisture or is too compact for air exchange.
Don't give up! You will figure this out and then have lots of plants.

Terri
Related Professionals
Norfolk Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Baltimore Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Palm Springs Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Burlington Landscape Contractors · Dallas Landscape Contractors · Doctor Phillips Landscape Contractors · Dudley Landscape Contractors · Forest Hills Landscape Contractors · Goodlettsville Landscape Contractors · Kearny Landscape Contractors · North Canton Landscape Contractors · Tuscaloosa Landscape Contractors · Tustin Landscape Contractors · Vashon Landscape Contractors · West Palm Beach Landscape Contractors
irina_co
11 years ago
Calshaye -

I think to identify the problem we need to see the pics of your algae and Powdery Mildew. Something doesn't ring right.

Powdery mildew on perlite? I can imagine some fuzzy mold on perlite, but not PM. PM looks like somebody sprinkled your leaves with fine white powder. You will not be able to see it on perlite no matter what. If it is a fuzzy mold, not PM - it is harmless - and replacing the soil on the surface is probably the max you need to do.

Algae - if you have it - no reasonable amount of Physan is going to kill it. Very concentrated Physan probably will - but your plants will be killed first. It is mostly harmless, it consumes the fertilizer to some extent and it is absolutely bad if you are trying to grow something from seeds.It will choke them. otherwise - replacing the top layer of the soil is probably the most you need to do - or just leave it alone.

How much fertilizer you put in your water? What is the brand of your 7:7:7?

It would be really helpful if you take pics, if you have trouble posting them here - send them directly to me - if you click on my name - Gardenweb will give an option to send an email.

Good Luck and so far do not do anything.

Irina