Auckland
November
Q.
Some of my passionfruit are getting light brown spots on the outside, how can I fix this?
Fran
A.
- This is likely to be Brown Spot a common fungal disease of passionfruit and prevalent in spring and summer. There is a similar disease called Grease Spot which has a similar appearance that is prevalent in autumn and winter.
- Remove the infected fruit and leaves, pickup any fallen leaves and fruit to help stop the disease spreading.
- Regular applications of a copper based fungicide spray are effective as a preventative measure.
- Improve air circulation around the vine by thinning to minimise conditions for the fungal disease to spread.
- Keep your vine regularly fed with a specialty fertiliser such as Tui Citrus Food, every 4-6 weeks in the growing season, or weekly applications of Tui Superfood Citrus & Fruit liquid fertiliser in the growing season.
- Make sure it is well watered and mulch around the vine to help conserve soil moisture.
- Avoid watering the foliage, direct water to the soil to avoid creating ideal conditions for fungal diseases to spread.
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What are the brown spots on my passionfruit? Comments
You say use copper based sprays to treat brown spot on passionfruit. Will any copper based spray suffice or are there any specific ones recommended.
Kelvin Dunn
Lianne
Hi Kelvin, any copper based spray will suffice, look for ones that have a surfactant in it as this adheres to the leaf better and gives better coverage. Your local garden centre will be able to recommend the right spray for you. Just be mindful copper sprays are a protectant and not a curative treatment, along with consistent watering and feeding and air flow around the plant, you should be able to keep your plants relatively disease free.