Spots on Carob Tree

Jose Reymondez

Posts: 138

Location: Galicia, Spain Zone 9

posted 11 years ago

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My friend gifted me a baby carob from a market in N. Portugal, anyone know what the spots might indicate?

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John Elliott

pollinator

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104

posted 11 years ago

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Does it wash off? Can you rub the leaves when wet with your fingers and get the spots to disappear? Or are the spots diseased areas in the leaf structure?

Jose Reymondez

Posts: 138

Location: Galicia, Spain Zone 9

posted 11 years ago

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They're in the leaf structure.

I'm gonna try some foliar application of compost tea and see if the newer leaves don't come out that way.

Also, its in a more humid spring climate than its used to.

John Elliott

pollinator

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104

posted 11 years ago

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Try some neem in addition to the compost tea. Black spots make one suspect some type of fungal infection. If it washes off (as a lot of the black does around here), then no harm, no foul. But if it is in the leaf structure, you need to take some positive action as your tree is under attack and needs help fighting it off.

Michael Qulek

Posts: 469

posted 11 years ago

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Those are the most sickly nitrogen-deficent carob leaves I've ever seen. I've raised my own carob from pod seeds, and the leaves are always deep green because carob is a nitrogen fixer.

I'd do two things. Spray a broad spectrum fungicide on the leaves. If that doesn't help the leaves heal, I'd burn the tree and start over. Fungal infections are something you DO NOT want to tolerate.

If you can find a carob nearby, just pick some of the pods and break them open. Chew the pulp and spit out the seeds. Scarify the seedcoat lightly with sandpaper, then sprout them on a moist paper towel.

Skip the compost tea. You should have guessed intitively that compost is full of microbes trying their best to break down plant tissue. Why would you want to put out a fire with gasoline?

Jose Reymondez

Posts: 138

Location: Galicia, Spain Zone 9

posted 11 years ago

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In Elaine Ingham's Compost Tea Brewing Manual, she describes using compost tea as a suppressant of infections. She says A\a good compost tea is full of organisms that outcompete those that break down plant tissue.

So much information, hard to know what to do!

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