Various Species Affected by Fungus

bretts

Hi Guys
I have been doing Bonsai for about 5 years and was dedicated by some issues last season. I think I have narrowed it down to fungi but it seems I must have attracted every known fungus possible to affect so many different species.
You guys seem to know your stuff so I will start by posting some pictures and see if you can help me with any answers.
First up is Trident Maple

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bretts

Now Hawthorn. The first pic is of two I collected last year. One is growing ok and is only slightly affected the other is obviously in some trouble and is shown in the close ups.
The last picture is another hawthorn growing out in the ground again less affected but showing the similar leaf curl

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bretts

Carpinus was somewhat differently affected but still similar. I also lost some dormant buds'
Also Elm

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bretts

Missed a carpinus pic

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bretts

Robina and Chinese Tallow

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bretts

And Privet
Thanks kindly for any help

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Eric Frei

Have you tried or sprayed anything?

There's two ways to go here.

1. Use a broad spectrum fungicide, usually copper based like Copper oxychloride
2. Go organic and take a longer term fix by increasing the good guys who consume the bad guys, a blend of trichoderma & seasol spray.

Using fungicide can kill the good guys as well as the bad guys so keep that in mind. Using the organic method you will build some self sustainability into the plants.

Also an exceptionally good thing to do is spray them with silica now and then. One of the best kept secrets around.

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bretts

Hi Ekka thanks kindly for your reply.

I have used various sprays but was trying not to complicate things with my opinion to start with
Having no clue at first, I started off with things to kill pests such as neem oil and confidor. I had found a little thrips here and there!
Then when fungus was suggested I moved onto the systemic fungicide triforone.
None of this did any good. Oh but it did trouble the little thrip devils

Several bonsai growers where affected with this in tridents as myself over the last few years but it hit me real hard last year which I think was some what climatic as well as mechanical such as removing alot of trees out of the ground into pots in not that much space.
Anyway another person was able to get a pathology test done on one of the tridents in the pictures and was told it was fungus and to treat with Bravo (chlorothalonil) and they got good results. The name of the fungus from the pathology test was lost along the way though.
I tried bravo and also got good results especially on the tridents. Privets are as is today still. I often get advice to defoliate at treatment with such afflictions in bonsai but I found that gave the fungus a leg up and even killed some trees.
My best guess so far is anthracnose but it seems there are many different varieties that affect different species. So I wonder if I am dealing with one sought of anthracnose and would love to be able to put a name to it so I can treat most effectively.
It was a shocker of a season last year and I have found so much fungus around my yard (Such as rust on Willow that I have never seen before) and even around town. I have noticed as the cold weather set in even trees that seemed fine came out with fungus on the bottom of the leaf. Even my Bloody weeds have fungus. So I guess it could be several anthracnose
I have lime sulfured all the deciduous trees through Winter I have been methodical in cleaning away debris from the garden and pulling all weeds. I treated the Pines(kocide blue Extra) that showed some sines of needle blight(not sure that is the name ?). Circling brown on a few needles.
I was thinking on top of this I would treat (deciduous at least) with bravo at bud burst and maybe again a couple of weeks later as instructions say.
I have started to wonder if the Kocide Blue extra would be a better option all round, it is COPPER HYDROXIDE not sure how different Copper oxychloride is that you recommend so I will also look into that.
I am balancing between making sure I get a good start to the season and trying not to use too much bad chemicals like Bravo with kids in the Family.

So that's my story. I will look into the other suggestions you gave as well. I have considered the milk spray for fungus. I think it is 1 litre of milk to 10 litre of water applied twice a week. Time consuming but at least it won't give the kids cancer.
Thanks again for your advice!

Eric Frei

I would go the trichoderma spray if I were you, test shows it eats just about all bad fungi, it cannot do harm to your plants, and you need to bring in some good guys because the deluge of chemicals will only further sterilize the environment they have.

I call it life support, what old fashioned farming does, kill all bugs, all fungi, fertilize then harvest. You need to get them plants off the life support system.

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Bernard Keays

Brett,

I’m not a expert on Bonsai but I would consider changing the growing environment by increasing light and air flow. This could be achieved by moving or placing the plants higher off the ground. If you have hedges or trees in the immediate area you could tend to these by trimming back the hedges and lifting trees. I would avoid watering in the evening. If this isn't practical, I would try and avoid wetting the leaves. This could be keeping the leaves damp over night and be splashing the spores onto the new leaves. For those leaves that are affected, I would pluck them off as you find them. I would also consider diversifying your collection by growing more disease resistant trees. Or grow unrelated plants like pine, cypress, juniper, elm, ginkgo, camellia, olive & fig.

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Bernie

bretts

Thanks Bernard,
I have considered the possibility that if this persists I may not be able to grow certain species but I am still hopeful it was just a bad year.
Certain things I did probably made it worse than it needed to be. I found in previous years the trees in the ground where mostly affected and last year without giving it much thought as it had never caused me too much trouble They got mixed in with the rest of the collection plus it was too congested.
So I may have made it worse for myself but I saw several street trees out in the open that where also afflicted so I guess it is not just the conditions I had them in.
Alot will go back in the ground this year so that should open things up a bit again.

Thanks Ekka, I have been looking around for trichoderma spray on the Internet but I can't seem to find it. Do you have a supplier you could suggest.

Thanks for the help guys.

Eric Frei

Check your PM's

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