Weird white spots on plants of many different species

September 24, 2018 9:14 AM

What is this what stuff on my parent's plants?

It's appearing on many of the leaves in the backyard, and in some plants only seems to develop on the tips of the leaves.

Is it a fungus?

posted by Slackermagee to Home & Garden (3 answers total)

Powdery mildew?
posted by bibliotropic at 10:06 AM on September 24, 2018 [1 favorite]

Looks like powdery mildew to me. Some plants are more susceptible than others, and its a common part of garden life. I'd take a sterile pair of clippers and remove affected sections. Additionally, air circulation helps prevent it entirely. When plants are left unpruned (or pruned improperly) dense growth causes an environment favorable to powdery mildew, as does a long stretch of grey, rainy weather. If they're not in a cold climate where it's already decidedly fall, they may want to prune out weaker, interior stems in addition to removing affected leaves. Then, follow a good pruning practice going forward. Check out this pruning guide.
posted by missmary6 at 3:25 PM on September 24, 2018

This is often the result of overhead watering late in the day. Switch to ground watering early in the day and it should help.
posted by eleslie at 10:34 PM on September 24, 2018