Date: Wed, 05 May 1999 09:27:22 -0500 (CDT) From: z_simkunasra@TITAN.SFASU.EDU To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg1541$foo@default> Subject: Hey Sundew Sundew!!!!! About your Black Drosera!!!!!
I'm wondering if you may have sooty mold growing on you sundews. This
black fungus always follows an aphid infestation, because these bugs are
glutinous pigs. They suck more sap than they ever need and poop the stuff
out as they suck away. This is a perfect medium for sooty mold and I've
seen plants become completely covered with the stuff in just days. I have
an orange tree that had this problem for a whole year after I wiped out
the aphids. I sprayed and sprayed and sprayed, but the stuff would not go
away; so I got ruff. I defoilated the entire tree, burned the leaves, and
sprayed the plant liberally with Benomyl. Now it has fresh green foilage
and now signs of fungus. Droseras on the other hand secrete sugary stuff
all by themselves and what's to stop sooty mold from growing on them. If
I could see the plants inperson I could tell you for sure if that's what
it is. If you do learn that it is sooty mold I would remove the plants,
change their media, clean the tank with a lot of chlorox (clean the tank
of chlorox before puting the plants back of course), and spray them with a
systemic fungiside.
Now it could be one other terrible thing; Bacteria. You said that the
center and tips of your Drosera's leaves are turning black. This is a
characteristic sign of a Bacterial infection. You also said that the
smell of your terrarium has changed. Is is a stagnant smell. If so
that's bacteria. If this is the case and your plants are infected you can
try a bacterialside. Most likely that will not work because the
bacteria is already throughout the entire plant once symtoms occure; in
which case the only thing left to do is remove your plants and burn
them. Otherwise they'll infect any future plants you collect. Also a
plant can live quite a while before dieing from bacterial infections so
don't be fooled by the sight of an infected plant still plugging along.
Robertivore
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Tue Jan 02 2001 - 17:31:57 PST