I have several of these plants (4) two are healthy, leaves are very green, no markings, but two have started developing brown markings on some of the leaves. Sorry I don't know the name if this plant. My questions are, What is wrong with the leaves? (diseases, fungus, etc) Is there anything that can be done to remove it? If it is something contagious is there the possibility of spreading it to other plants nearby? Thank you in advance for any information!
I'm reading from a book by Harold Koopowitz on Clivias. He says that there are several bacterial and fungal problems that can affect them, but doesn't give much specific info about each, nor pictures, but says to use the appropriate fungicide when fungal is suspected. He does say that at the first sign of infection (bacterial now, but would apply to both), remove and isolate the plant (of course), and to cut away all of the infected tissue. "Use a clean instrument for each cut as the blade itself will infect clean tissue after it has been in contact with the bacterium or fungus. 70 percent alcohol, 10 percent bleach or 3 percent hydrogen peroxide for the blade. Remove all traces of infection and dust cut surfaces with powdered sulfur or copper oxychloride." It does kind of look fungal to me. I would go ahead and remove all of the affected material as above. Check out what broad-spectrum type of fungicides are available for tropical plants. That may be something you should consider. Maybe others have more specfic knowledge of this kind of problem. On a final note, I've seen some cases of burn from sunlight with clivias, but that doesn't look like the problem to me. Hmmm. Let's see what others have to say.
Thank you for identifying my plant and possible disease. It looks like a fungus to me as well, I guess I have no choice but to operate :)
That is a nice Clivia. It looks almost as if the plant suffered some type of stress when it was forming the most damaged leaves. Has this 'spotting' been spreading onto newer leaves? If spreading then I'd definitely cut but if not I'd wait and see if any more damage occured at a specific time in the growth cycle to determine the cause. I think I had something like this years ago but the plant finally shed the older damaged leaves.Your plant has many, many leaves (mine continually gains growth but does shed oldest leaves) and looks quite healthy on the older and newer leaves. Do you propagate the berries/seeds? I like the look of the berries as they swell and ripen to bright red. On the Clivia forums many variations of this plant are discussed as well as their care. Here is alink to one: http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/clivia/ Good luck Shaun
