This fungus is killing all my plants

[Notsogreenthumb]

Hi,

Last year one of my plants succumbed to a fungus attack and lost all of its leaves after they turned yellow with black spots. This then moved on to my hebe and totally killed that as well as my roses. I cut the roses and hebe back and the roses so far look ok and the hebe is making slow regrowth. It also killed another of my plants whose name I've forgotten.

Anyway the tree/ Shrubs which were first affected are affected again this year and its spread to my other potted plants. Any ideas what to do? Do I scrap them all before they spread it further?

I've forgotten the name of this plant but it begins with a and has beautiful white flowers usually. Unfortunately it hasn't flowered since the fungus attack either!

It's an Escallonia.. doesn't begin with A at all 😂

I would remove all the affected leaves and burn them/dispose of them well away from the plants. You’d have to be vigilant and keep removing any new leaves that were affected, even with just a tiny bit of black spot.

You could also try an anti-fungal spray like RoseClear but they’re supposed to be awful for killing bees and other pollinators.

I've had this before and someone recommended using a mix of baby oil and baking soda. (As long as they're not in the sun. Oil will burn them) It worked a treat. Others recommended watering down baking soda because it can change the pH and harm plants but the oily mix worked for me. If you want to play it safe, use baking soda, water and a touch of liquid soap (not detergent as it's too harsh).

Also as PP said, cut all effected leaves off and burn or bin them. Keep them well away from other plants and don't compost them as it'll stay in the compost and kill future plants. Anti fungal sprays as a last resort because they're bee killers.

The baking soda, water and soap are for the seemingly unaffected leaves to
Protect them. My oil mix did save a few infected leaves as I couldn't remove all the infected ones because the plant wouldn't have survived that.

Here's a silly question - the anti fungal sprays, could you not bring the plant into a shed or garage and spray them in there? Thus not harming the bees?

You’d have to dig it up first.

Thank you for the responses. I removed all affected leaves last year and disposed of them well away too and still the new growth has all been affected. Which is making me wonder if I'm fighting a losing battle 😳

I can try the oily mix and see what happens. Would they have to be in a shaded area for that so as to avoid the sun?

I could also bring them inside and use the anti fungal spray but I wonder how long that would take as I don't have much space for such big pots indoors

For the oily mix you need to keep it out of all direct sun which only works for plants able to tolerate that and it's already sick. I would recommend leaving them where they are and trying the milder water, baking soda and soap mix to start (wiping onto the leaves, not pouring over cos you don't want to change the pH of the soil)
And I would think the anti fungal spray probably harms bees by being on the plant that the bees land on, not just by spraying it outside.

It took a few weeks for mine to get over it.

Maybe you could try and turn the plant on its side and pour the water, baking soda and soap over too so you're getting every bit you can?

Thanks for the tips @OhRene. That's exactly what I'll do. One of the plants hardly has any leaves on if so it will be stripped completely bare. The other seems like it has more of a chance

It's hard to tell from the angle of the photos but do the plants need bigger pots and deeper compost? They look a bit small and half-filled from the pics. Are you regularly feeding the plants?

Generally plants can fight off these diseases if they are kept in optimum health, I would look at improving conditions before resorting to sprays.

@ViperAtTheGatesOfDawn yes they aren't great pics are they. The pots are at least 2/2.5 feet deep and a foot wide. Once I bought the plants hope I put them in a pot at least 4/5 times the size so I don't think that's the issue. The soil is also right to the top. Every plant that was against my shed suffered from fungal attacks so I've moved them now. The shed has a plastic/rubber coat and I wonder if that's housing a lot of bacteria.

I tried to change the soil of my plant and the soil was completely water logged , some of the drainage holes got blocked and others just weren't great. The roots are rotten too so I don't think there's a fix for this plant. A shame but at least I know in future to shelter it during heavy rains and to water it less .

If it was water logged, did you have crocks in the bottom over the drainage holes? His stops the soil filling them. Also get some pot feet or a wheeled stand to put things on so there's space between the base of the pot and the ground underneath.

No I didn't @WeAreTheHeroes. I had to google what crocks are but this time round I've added gritty sand, stones and soil. So I hope that helps these plants as they're much more expensive and I'd like to take them to my permanent home (whenever I can afford to buy)