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African violet fungus ID and treatment help

jenclarkbarjenclarkbar Posts: 2
edited December 2018 in Plants
My African violet plant has little brown spots on the leaves and stem. The spots are not part of the plant, I can pick them off and it leaves a little spot of white powder. On one plant the leaves are dying, and it has spread to a violet in a nearby pot. Does anybody know what this is and how to treat it? 

Posts

  • PosyPosy Posts: 3,601
    Well, someone with more knowledge than I may put me right but I think those are scale insects and they are a bugger to get rid of. In theory you can pick them off by hand but I have never really succeeded with this and have usually ended up throwing away the plant after months of pointless effort. I'm sorry not to be more positive!
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 10,307
    I agree Posy - looks just like scale insects.
    Never seen them on an African violet before.
    There's some info I found here, don't know how reliable it is though.
    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • Kitty 2Kitty 2 Posts: 5,150
    I agree that they are scale insects. As it doesn't look like a particularly heavy infestation I would continue picking them off and trying my best to clear off the 'white fluff' also. The fluff is them laying their eggs for the next generation.

    I have read online that they can be killed by carefully dabbing methylated spirit onto the insects with a cotton bud, but have never tried it.
    I had them on an outdoor acer and removed them by hand.
  • jenclarkbarjenclarkbar Posts: 2
    I have isolated the plant, will pick some bugs off, and use the spirits on the ones I can't reach.
    Thank you all for the help. I have 4 violets, so I am happy that I know what to do. 
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