Plant Needs
Light Requirement: Part Shade to Shade
Maintenance Category: Easy
Bloom Time: Planting To Frost
Hardiness Zones: 10a, 10b, 11a, 11b
Water Category: Average
Uses: Container
Landscape
Uses Notes:
Use in shaded gardens or patio pots

Maintenance Notes:
Tuberous begonias can be quite susceptible to a disease called powdery mildew. To better understand how to prevent, diagnose, and treat the disease read the information below.

Symptoms

Even though there are several types of powdery mildew fungi, they all produce similar symptoms on plant parts. Powdery mildews are characterized by spots or patches of white to grayish, talcum-powder-like growth. Tiny, pinhead-sized, spherical fruiting structures that are first white, later yellow-brown and finally black, may be present singly or in a group. These are the cleistothecia or overwintering bodies of the fungus.

The disease is most commonly observed on the upper sides of the leaves. It also affects the bottom sides of leaves, young stems, buds, flowers and young fruit. Infected leaves may become distorted, turn yellow with small patches of green, and fall prematurely. Infected buds may fail to open.

Conditions That Favor the Disease

The severity of the disease depends on many factors: variety of the host plant, age and condition of the plant, and weather conditions during the growing season.

Powdery mildews are severe in warm, dry climates. This is because the fungus does not need the presence of water on the leaf surface for infection to occur. However, the relative humidity of the air does need to be high for spore germination. Therefore, the disease is common in crowded plantings where air circulation is poor and in damp, shaded areas.

Incidence of infection increases as relative humidity rises to 90 percent, but it does not occur when leaf surfaces are wet (e.g., in a rain shower). Young, succulent growth usually is more susceptible than older plant tissues.

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