i have a camellia sinensis that is in bad shape. it was doing fine the first couple of months i had it, even though i was probably overwatering it and the soil it was in was not draining well. about a month ago some of the leaves started turning brown around the outside. I found out that this was a fungus. so i began cutting down the affected parts of the leaves and plucking the ones that had a lot of browning. I also have been applying a fungicide spray. I changed the soil and added a good amount of perlite to the soil so that it would drain well and have reduced the watering, allowing the soil to dry completely before watering. But the browning continues. and i have now had to pluck all but about 4 or 5 leaves. is there anyway of saving this plant? when can i expect the leaves to grow back if it is going to survive? how can i get rid of this fungus once and for all? any ideas would be well appreciated. it was a very attractive plant before this happened i would love to be able to restore it.
I've had very similar problems with plants like this as well. Often, overwatering can hurt the plant enough that it will allow the fungus (or disease) to pretty much take over. There really isn't much you can do if the plant is already in the advanced stage. I would cut back on the watering a bit, watering it only if it absolutely appears that it needs it. I would give it plenty of sun, but not so much that it will wilt the leaves and or dry it out. Hope that helps, I know it's a bit generic... I've had quite a few plants die from disease and fungus due to me overwatering them.
