Patchouli Brown Leaf Spots
Answered by: Inge Poot
Question from: Kim Garrison
Posted on: August 21, 2001

I have six patchouli plants in my greenhouse and they are beautiful, However one of them has a sort of transparent brown spot on the leaves and the leaves are curling under around the edges{I have never grown patchouli before and am not truly familiar with what exactly the plant should look like} Are there any particular pests and diseases I should be on the lookout for? I have seen no bugs of any sort and keep a very clean greenhouse with the right light and humidity, so I ‘m stumped as to what this might be. Any advice you might provide would be appreciated and a picture of what the plant looks like would be good also.

It sounds to me as if you have a false spider mite infestation. I assume lots of leaves of the one plant have brown spots. The mites are so small that you cannot see them with the naked eye. Spray your plants with neem oil at the rate of one teaspoon neem oil plus one quarter teaspoon dishwash detergent in one liter of water. Cinnamite at the rate of one teaspoon per liter of water would work too. You could also try insecticidal soap - best combined with pyrethryn available from Richters as pyrethrum soap spray, catalogue number T2212. Any of the light summer oils will work as well, but follow the directions on the bottle closely so that you don’t suffocate the plants as well as the mites.

Sorry, we do not have a photograph of the plant at this time.

Back to Growing Herbs | Q & A Index

Copyright © 1997-2024 Otto Richter and Sons Limited. All rights reserved.