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overthar

possible disease on hibiscus plant

overthar
17 years ago

My mother's Hibiscus plant appears to have a disease, not too sure if it is, or if this is even normal for this type of plant as I'm not too familiar with plants. It has her worried and I was wondering if there is anyway to heal the plant. It's been on going for about 2 months now.

It appears to have a white fungus all over it that engulfs the limbs, and spots the leaves. Most of the leaves have fallen off, but some are still green and holding on, but have white spots all over them. I tried doing some research on google for it myself, but ended up here.

I'm not sure if it's related, but a relative was sick and had vomitted into the plant ( yeah I know, gross), but I wanted to just point that out, to make sure that it didn't end up getting sick because of that.

I don't have a very good camera, so I took some pictures with a low quality cellphone camera. If anyone can give any information on this, I'd much appreciate it, thanks in advance.





Comments (3)

  • simplyroses
    17 years ago

    Hi-just by the pictures it looks like mealy bugs. The best thing is to do is to cut the plant back-wash the top thoroughly and repot into fresh soil. It takes the plant a couple of months to grow back. The new growth will be healthy. I have cut several of mine back and they are fine. Mealy bugs are hard to get rid of.

  • watergal
    17 years ago

    That's a pretty bad mealy infestation. Not sure that the plant will have the strength to bounce back but you can certainly try what simplyroses suggested. I would also take it outdoors on a mild day and treat the soil with Bayer Tree and Shrub drench. Do not use that indoors.

  • dauthe_bellsouth_net
    13 years ago

    What is black soot like substance on the leaves and buds?