Fungus in our garden in Chapala

Hello all,

I have been a lurker on the webboards for several years now. I usually find the information I am looking for, and more, without needing to post a message. You do a good job!

I would like to ask the gardeners out there about fungus infestation in the garden. We have it. We learned about Amtrak fungicide and have done 2 of the recommended 4 weekly applications so far. We have palms and bougainvillea.

What is your experience with fungus? Will the Amtrak likely work? There is some concern that the fungus gets immune to the chemical and might not work. What would be next steps if it doesn’t work? Do you need to start over with new plants?

If your neighbors have it, is that where it comes from? Or is fungus a regular occurrence down there, not really anybody’s fault as microscopic spores are spread by the wind and rain, like dandelions at home in Canada?

Is it advisable to do a preventative spraying regime for fungus, and if so, what kind of schedule would you advise. We mostly deal with dandelions in May-June in Canada but gardening seems to be more year round here.

Thank you in advance for all input.

This first thing you need to do to get some help from local gardeners is to describe your "fungus". It me, at least, fungus is mushrooms. Are you talking about moldy looking stuff on your plant's leaves that maybe powdery mildew? Sometimes, what looks like mildew is really a specific type of bug. More info please.

Oh so sorry.  I was unsure what information would be helpful...We consulted with some garden places and fumigators to get the cause.  Mushrooms are a type of fungus, the commonality is that they both multiply by spores.  Not all fungus has the mushroom cap though.  I am not on site, but I believe what we are dealing with is identifiable by the effect it has, the leaves turn yellow and die, more so than moldy or powdery appearance.  There may be some other effects...I'll have to check.  Does this help for now?

Are you talking about the black fungus? If you are , it feeds on the sticy substance produced by scale so you need to get rid off scale to begin with.
I used Malathion for 3 months and it disappeared. Right now scale is reproducing like crazy but you can get it by sprayin a liquid made of onions chili and garlic macerated in water for a week. THis is waht indigeneous in Chiapas do on the corn and it controls fungus and other plague.

Thank you. I'll check exactly what fungus type we have.

Thanks all.

I am by no means an expert, especially for local conditions. I bought a broad spectrum fungicide from the "Garden Center" in Riberas. Here is what she recommended: http://www.groworganic.com/serenade-garden-disease-control-biofungicide-32-oz-concentrate.html

My purpose is to prevent 'damping off' of seedlings. I haven't seen any fungus on any of our plants. This is a very large garden, over 40 years old. I would guess that there is not enough air movement, too much watering, too much clay in the soil, or all of the above.

for your sprayer
3cups mashed chopped up red onions,
3 garlic cloves mashes
one cup of powder soap foca
2 cups of corn flower
let macerate for 8 days.

This was given to me by an indigenous farmer , it is his grand father recipe.


The largest organic farmer confirmed that they use onion to get rid off plague on coffee plants but he also told me that much of the plants are attacked by plague ar attacked because the plant is stressed, either the soil is not appropriate, or over watering or lack of water , wrong location and so on.

We have a horrible time this year with all citrus trees, coffee and crotons.

Brigitte, any idea how to get rid of those small white flies? They are killing my pepper plants. I have tried the commercial stuff (like Safers soap) but they just come right back.

Try the onion mixture . It has the soap the flour and whatever the onion does.

In April I used malathion on everything because we were not around so we were not going to eat them but now I have to revert to something more friendly.
I have them too but they leave the peppers alone I think just because they love other plants better...
With all these bugs and fungi the idea is to control them but forget about eliminating them for ever...
The birds in my place are the ones eating all the piquins but I have a lot of them and the birds reseed them..The ones that are voracious are the ones with the yellow or red bellies..

I thought I was getting whitefly on some seedlings. I asked a gardener on the TOB who said that she was going to try hydrogen peroxide 5%. I wanted to know if it worked, she said that nothing really works on a one shot basis. You have to realize that whitefly goes through 6 different stages, to kill it could require 6 different techniques. The easiest and best is early detection and physical removal of the flies while they are fairly big. You have to learn the life cycles and mark them on your calendar. It seems like a lot of work but remember you only have to break one of the cycles to kill them - until they comeback again! That's where Brigitte's onion mixture would repel them. There is another popular, local recipe which uses tobacco.

http://www.sophisticatededge.com/whitefly-lifecycle.html

If you spray every week you cover or so until they are all gone, It took more than a month for me..For any insect you have to cover the whole life cycle or it will come back..not that they do not come back anyways..
In Chiapas the coffee grower use the tobacco as a fertilizer or an addition to the soil, they say that it helps the plants against stress and diseases.They also burry the dead coffe leaves in the soil in the plantations.

Try Telstar; it's the only chemical that's know to kill whitefly. Whitefly is the bane of greenhouses because it is so difficult to eradicate. Talk to Laura at the Garden Center in Riberas. She is very knowledgeable.