Phytophthora in citrus

[Road Rat Nat]

Hello,

I think one of my citrus trees has phytophthora. Does anyone have any experience with successfully treating it? The poor thing has been terribly neglected and I think it has a gash from the mower. I've only started gardening properly this year over the last couple of months. Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

@daveb or @JP 1983 a clue?

I've seen it before, but people left it untreated...

 

[JP 1983]

Cut off all oozy bark. Dig away the soil underneath the tree to expose the root system to the air - leave it to dry out. It is unlikely you can improve drainage under such an established tree, but you could consider aerating the soil with a steel rod or pitchfork. Apparently a phosphite (phorphoric acid) solution can be applied to the root system of affected trees which will fortify the plants own natural defenses.

Unfortunately, because Phytophthora is not a true fungus, it is not as susceptible to copper sulphate as some other fungal diseases are, so that is not an option here.

 

[daveb]

Cut off all oozy bark. Dig away the soil underneath the tree to expose the root system to the air - leave it to dry out. It is unlikely you can improve drainage under such an established tree, but you could consider aerating the soil with a steel rod or pitchfork. Apparently a phosphite (phorphoric acid) solution can be applied to the root system of affected trees which will fortify the plants own natural defenses.

Unfortunately, because Phytophthora is not a true fungus, it is not as susceptible to copper sulphate as some other fungal diseases are, so that is not an option here.

i have heard of some here in orchards have used a product AgriFos to treat. Have had to deal with phytophthora on one small fruit tree ages ago on property I had in Florida, the tree guy that came did as JP1983 mentioned. It is classified as a water mold similar to Pythium. Phytophthora is found primarily in woody plants, Versus Pythium you see more in herbaceous type plants. The potato blights of the 1800's were caused as a result of Phytophthora. Since that are both closely related I did some research and the same spray and watering i mention in another post can be used to treat it in some plants same as treatment for Pythium with a mix of hydrogen peroxide 3% solutions 1:1 ratio with water, but this would only be a surface or where it can soak in and soil drench but not affective to internal mold that has penetrated deep into the wood

 

[Road Rat Nat]

Thank you both. I'll give that a try.