Vern I also have a Tashkent I bought from Raintree this spring and it has the same problem . It's on a couple leaves . It also has FMV. It looks like rust but I'm not positive.It does not seem to be spreading. On one of the new shoots on mine the the stem and leaves are deformed . I did move it away from my other figs.I am going to spray it with a fungicide. Bill.

Bill, I went out and looked at my TashKent again. All my leaves have this rust stuff on them. It has not hurt the growth of this tree. It has grown like a house-a-fire. I even did a Herman on it and pinched off the top bud, hoping it would spread out.

I am going to the Farmer's Coop today. I will take a leaf with me and see if they know of something to cure it.

Something of interest I found out the other day. We have had lots of rain here and the grass and weeds have about taken over. I told a friend of mine that I went to Lowes the other day and bought some Roundup to kill some of the weeds. He told me that you can buy generic Roundup for about a fourth the price of Roundup at the Farmer's Coop. He said he compared the labels and they had the same ingredients in them. After the rain stops I am going to returen my Roundup at Lowes and head for the Farmer's Coop.

Vern

It is Rust. I took a bunch of pictures in my backyard last Sunday, including pictures of leaf rust. There has been a deluge of rain in Houston and it has really taken a toll on the figs.

Here are some examples of leaf rust:

Nazarti

Petite Negri

I forgot to check which variety this is

Excel

a more extreme case on TX Everbearing

I've got more pictures, I'll start a new thread as I process them. But you get an idea of what leaf rust can do.

Treatment is with a Bordeaux (neutral copper) spray early on. If you are in a constantly humid or rainy environment, you may not be able to effectively control it. If it gets bad and the leaves fall off, new ones will grow back. Just hope it gets the trees with the early figs and not the late ones.

~james

James, I took one of the leaves to the Farmer's Coop yesterday. He verified that it is leaf rust. I bought some stuff to spray on the trees that he recommended. Now it needs to stop raining so I can spray the trees.

Vern

Besides Bordeaux, is sulfur also an appropriate treatment for fig rust?

No. According to UC Davis, sulfur only protects healthy tissue from becoming infected. Copper sulfate (Bordeaux) helps control diseases.

As an aside, copper sulfate spray and a Bordeuax mixture should not be used interchangeably. Bordeaux mixtures contain hydrated lime which, among other things, helps it adhere to the leaves/trees better as well as more effective. A copper sulfate spray will be less toxic to the plant and will reduce the chance of burning the leaves (especially the younger leaves). Generally, during the spring and summer months you will want to use a copper spray. You may need more frequent applications. During the fall and winter periods, a Bordeaux spray will linger longer on the tree. With any of them, it is important to get complete coverage to be effective.

If you use any other fungicides, pesticides or fertilizer, you should check the compatibility between the products you are using. Also, take the appropriate protection for yourself. Sulfur is a skin irritant. Bordeaux mixture is somewhat corrosive (probably so is the copper to a lesser degree).

~james

Thanks for the info. I have a Kadota fig from Home Depot that is about 4-5 years old. I'm not sure but it seems to be too short (4-5ft) and slim (2-3 ft wide) for its age. Anyway every year its leaves start out beautiful green then get yellow to brown to black and then drop. It does produce some figs however. It appears to be rust based on the pictures that I've seen here. I never do anything more than water this tree but I decided to try something next year to try to prevent or cure the rust.

On my larger potted trees I have nipped off the leafs that showed the signs of rust, they seem come back even better.

Once, the rust was bad enough where I removed all of the leaves on the tree and they came back even better w/o even using bordeux or the 3 in combo Neem oil fungicide.