White specks

[Gordon]

hello

Little white specks are appearing all over my Italian Parsley plants. I grow them indoors. Have you seen this before? They are still growing, so I was unsure if this was a disease or not.

[Andy Hamilton]

Were the spots/specks brown first? This might be a fungus that is well know to effect parsley. If it is I am afraid you might have to destroy what you have and start again. As far as I know there is no treatment.

Sorry to be bring you bad news.

[Gordon]

Yes they were brown first.

At least I know what it is, I have another question now, how can I prevent this from happening again?

[Andy Hamilton]

As long as you do not use the same pots or compost as before you should be ok. Ensure you are not overwatering too.

[Dave]

I've got this on a parsley plant I'm growing and it seems to be growing fine. Some of the new growth has not got the white specks on it and it hasn't deteriorated at all. So unless Andy knows otherwise, I'd be tempted to leave the plant but separate it from others and see what happens.

[Millymollymandy]

On the other hand (after what I wrote after that guest's trash on the apple thread), even registered people are writing non-topical rubbish too. Maybe I should be the early morning moderator?

[ina]

Yes, you do seem to get up very early! So do I, but I usually need a cup of coffee in bed before I get going... Have already checked my friend's goats this morning. She's on holiday, and the goats are being naughty and keep getting out. So I repeat my warning to you, MMM - if you are serious about getting goats yourself, get the fencing sorted out first...

Ina

[Millymollymandy]

I'm not sure about goats now as in the course of research it turns out that a lot of what I have in my little woodland is poisonous to goats - so would probably involve a lot of electric fencing and I bet that costs a bomb.

[IrishAbroad]

Back to the parsley fungus. I had it last year but a good dose of Elder Bark tea did the trick...

Boil Elder bark (old bark is better than new growth) for about an hour or so (fill a pan with strips of bark then add enough water to cover). Keep topping up the water if needed. Let it cool then spray on the parsley. It works well for other fungal infections to. It even worked on my stinky feet when all the manufactured creams and ointments failed

I think I posted something like this before but I've a memory like a sieve!

For waxy leaf plants add some very very mild soap (like castile etc)

Oh and it kill aphids too!!!

Elder is my plant (well tree) of the month. Well that and hawthorn as it's halved my colesterol in 2 weeks !!!!

Martin

[Millymollymandy]

I think it was Elder leaves to make an insecticide. Sounds like it is a very handy tree to have, but wouldn't it harm the tree to take it's bark off?

So what do you do with hawthorn? I didn't even know it was edible.

[IrishAbroad]

with the Elder I just cut a branch off and strip the bark and the leaves - we have 100's of trees near where I live so a little pruning doesn't hurt.

Hawthorn... simply make a tea out of the leaves and/or flowers. I was reading articles on the net and the medical community is doing a lot of research on hawthorn at the moment.

THERE research has shown

1. It reduces cholesterol production
2. It actually cleans out your veins and arteries reversing heart disease and thrombosis.
3. It regulates the heartbeat, curing heart flutters and palpitations (I get that after my 13th/14th coffee)

And the main thing they have shown is it's harmless, non toxic, doesn't interfere with other medication and can be taken for as long and as often as you want.

I mix my tea with other herbal teas cos it tastes like shit

[Millymollymandy]

Ah, there had to be a downside! Will have a Google.

[IrishAbroad]

http://www.zhealthinfo.com/hawthorn.htm
http://www.med.umich.edu/umim/research/ ... wthorn.htm

[ina]

I think I posted something like this before but I've a memory like a sieve!

Gingko is supposed to help with that... Maybe make that the plant of next month?

Ina

[IrishAbroad]

Not a lot of Gingko grwoing in our hedgerows though