Fluoride toxicity
Fluoride toxicity
April 17, 2009
Question: I have a house plant, a Dracaena, and it has these blotchy brown spots on the leaves. Is that a fungus or something?
Answer: The brown spots may not be fungal disease but may be a symptom of fluoride toxicity. These types of cultural/nutrient problems often produce symptoms similar to that of fungal diseases.
Some Dracaena are quite sensitive to this element, which may be present in your water. Other sources of fluoride include perlite, a processed rock that is present in many potting mixes.
To solve the problem, you might want to water with nonflouridated water for a while and see if symptoms improve. Also, if you adjust the soil pH to between 6.0 and 6.5, this substantially reduced fluoride because at this pH, it becomes less available to the plant. You also may want to fertilize sparingly, watch the watering and consider repotting the plant to eliminate salt toxicity.
April 17, 2009
Question: I have a house plant, a Dracaena, and it has these blotchy brown spots on the leaves. Is that a fungus or something?
Answer: The brown spots may not be fungal disease but may be a symptom of fluoride toxicity. These types of cultural/nutrient problems often produce symptoms similar to that of fungal diseases.
Some Dracaena are quite sensitive to this element, which may be present in your water. Other sources of fluoride include perlite, a processed rock that is present in many potting mixes.
To solve the problem, you might want to water with nonflouridated water for a while and see if symptoms improve. Also, if you adjust the soil pH to between 6.0 and 6.5, this substantially reduced fluoride because at this pH, it becomes less available to the plant. You also may want to fertilize sparingly, watch the watering and consider repotting the plant to eliminate salt toxicity.
posted by Bill at
9:54 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home