Hibiscus Help?

Question

I received a hibiscus plant as a gift about 3 months ago and, up until now, the plant has been doing very well. I have it in a pot and it gets sun and water. But recently within the past two days, I have noticed a black and white fuzz around the buds and starting on some of the leaves. I have tried finding information as to what could be causing this, but have not had much luck. Does anyone know what this is, if it is fatal to the plant, and what I can do to get rid of it? Any advice would be appreciated.

Answer 1

It sounds as if you have a fungal infection on your Hibiscus, which they can sometimes get.  

You can get treatments for fungal problems,  and firstly remove any badly damaged parts of your plant, before spraying.  The spores will still be around in higher quantities than normal  - they're around us all the time, but this infection will have produced tons more of them.   A common problem is powdery mildew, though this fungal infection normally produces a grey/white fuzzy covering- what you have is something similar.

Repeat spray at the interval recommended on the fungicide that you use.  Treatments are available at nurseries, home/garden centres, such as Home Depot/Focus etc.

Baking soda diluted a tea spoon into a quart of water is also effective against many fungal problems. Add a drop or two of washing up liquid, which helps to wet plants leaves with the solution, and spray every 2 weeks or so onto your plant.  Diluted skimmed milk also seems to help strengthen a plants ability to fight off the infection too.  Dilute 1 to 2 parts milk to 10 parts water, and spray onto your plant freely.

Feed your plant well, and ensure that there is good air circulation too.   The feeding will help to strengthen it, and grow well.

Hope this helps.  Good luck!  Rob

Answer 2

do u water it at night? that sounds like it might be some type of mold or bug nest. i heard watering after dark can give mold a chance to grow. your garden center should know what u can do. if i were u i would go ask them. i had some tiny black dots on my leaves and flowers last year. i didn't let them sit on my plant long enough to find out what they would do. i sprayed it with Bayer Advanced for flowers and they went away. i hope yours lives