What are these white spots on my Bambusa textilis?

Controlling pests of bamboo

Moderator: needmore

Post Reply
User avatar
gbock
Posts: 94
Joined: Sun Oct 04, 2009 5:13 am
Location info: 73
Location: Davis, CA
Contact:

What are these white spots on my Bambusa textilis?

Post by gbock »

In the last couple of months, the white spots seen in photo below have appeared on many leaves on my Bambusa textilis 'Mutabilis'. Does anybody have any idea what it could be?

Thank you!

Image
Check out my blog at http://www.bambooandmore.info.
User avatar
needmore
Posts: 5008
Joined: Sat Oct 01, 2005 9:14 pm
Location info: 0
Bamboo Society Membership: ABS - America
Location: Kea'au, HI

Re: What are these white spots on my Bambusa textilis?

Post by needmore »

Looks like bamboo mite damage.
Brad Salmon, zone 12B Kea'au, HI
http://www.needmorebamboo.com
User avatar
gbock
Posts: 94
Joined: Sun Oct 04, 2009 5:13 am
Location info: 73
Location: Davis, CA
Contact:

Re: What are these white spots on my Bambusa textilis?

Post by gbock »

needmore wrote:Looks like bamboo mite damage.
Brad, I checked about 20 leaves, and there is no sign whatsoever of any mites, or any other insects. The leaves are perfectly clean. The white blotches are dry spots, as if the leaves were drying up selectively. And yet, the plant overall is very healthy, producing new leaves and thicker culms than ever. It also has one culm (the "mother culm" of the division) that has been flowering selectively since I got it last fall, with no ill effect on the overall plant.

Very strange.
Check out my blog at http://www.bambooandmore.info.
User avatar
needmore
Posts: 5008
Joined: Sat Oct 01, 2005 9:14 pm
Location info: 0
Bamboo Society Membership: ABS - America
Location: Kea'au, HI

Re: What are these white spots on my Bambusa textilis?

Post by needmore »

Perhaps it is something else, with the little mite issues I've had here I've seen the damage but never found the mites so they must be tiny, the webs were present though.
Brad Salmon, zone 12B Kea'au, HI
http://www.needmorebamboo.com
User avatar
gbock
Posts: 94
Joined: Sun Oct 04, 2009 5:13 am
Location info: 73
Location: Davis, CA
Contact:

Re: What are these white spots on my Bambusa textilis?

Post by gbock »

needmore wrote:...the webs were present though.
I fully expected to see some sign of mites, but there was nothing. I'm relieved, because this Bambusa textilis is quite close to one of my favorites, Bambusa eutuldoides 'Viridividatta'.

I know this sounds weird, but the spots remind of hail damage on succulents. We did have a severe hail storm a few months back that marred quite a few plants, but I'd think bamboo wouldn't sustain leaf damage like that from hail???
Check out my blog at http://www.bambooandmore.info.
User avatar
foxd
Posts: 3221
Joined: Wed Feb 09, 2005 7:30 pm
Location info: 21
Bamboo Society Membership: ABS - America
Location: Zone 5b/6a Bloomington, INElevation: 770-790 feet

Re: What are these white spots on my Bambusa textilis?

Post by foxd »

I did some Googling and found a reference to dry spots on leaves being caused by a bacterial infection.
Southern Indiana.
My Bamboo List.

The legal issues that will arise when the undead walk the earth are legion, and addressing them all is well beyond what could reasonably be accomplished in this brief Essay. Indeed, a complete treatment of the tax issues alone would require several volumes.
User avatar
gbock
Posts: 94
Joined: Sun Oct 04, 2009 5:13 am
Location info: 73
Location: Davis, CA
Contact:

Re: What are these white spots on my Bambusa textilis?

Post by gbock »

foxd wrote:I did some Googling and found a reference to dry spots on leaves being caused by a bacterial infection.
I'd love to follow up on this. Do you remember where you saw that reference? I wasn't able to find anything useful. Thanks!
Check out my blog at http://www.bambooandmore.info.
Alan_L
Posts: 2966
Joined: Sat Jan 03, 2009 4:13 pm
Location info: 81
Location: St. Louis area

Re: What are these white spots on my Bambusa textilis?

Post by Alan_L »

Any chance something was dripped or sprayed on that plant? It's in your front yard, right -- something from a passing car maybe? Does it look like a pattern from drips or spray drops?
User avatar
gbock
Posts: 94
Joined: Sun Oct 04, 2009 5:13 am
Location info: 73
Location: Davis, CA
Contact:

Re: What are these white spots on my Bambusa textilis?

Post by gbock »

Alan_L wrote:Any chance something was dripped or sprayed on that plant? It's in your front yard, right -- something from a passing car maybe? Does it look like a pattern from drips or spray drops?
Alan,

Funny you should mention that. My first thought had been bleach stains from Chlorox :-).

This bamboo is near a city street light. I have no idea if they go around washing those but if they did, it's likely cleaning solution would have ended up on the plant. But as I doubt the city has money to have street lights washed.

The spots are higher up as well so too high for anything that could have come from a car. I'll post some more photos later.

Gerhard
Check out my blog at http://www.bambooandmore.info.
User avatar
gbock
Posts: 94
Joined: Sun Oct 04, 2009 5:13 am
Location info: 73
Location: Davis, CA
Contact:

Re: What are these white spots on my Bambusa textilis?

Post by gbock »

Here are some closeups. Please remember that these are highly magnified, so even dust specks look large.

FRONT:

Image

Image

BACK:
Image

Image

Maybe these will help?
Check out my blog at http://www.bambooandmore.info.
User avatar
foxd
Posts: 3221
Joined: Wed Feb 09, 2005 7:30 pm
Location info: 21
Bamboo Society Membership: ABS - America
Location: Zone 5b/6a Bloomington, INElevation: 770-790 feet

Re: What are these white spots on my Bambusa textilis?

Post by foxd »

gbock wrote:
foxd wrote:I did some Googling and found a reference to dry spots on leaves being caused by a bacterial infection.
I'd love to follow up on this. Do you remember where you saw that reference? I wasn't able to find anything useful. Thanks!
Refining the search, the key word are "leaf spot disease".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaf_spot
Southern Indiana.
My Bamboo List.

The legal issues that will arise when the undead walk the earth are legion, and addressing them all is well beyond what could reasonably be accomplished in this brief Essay. Indeed, a complete treatment of the tax issues alone would require several volumes.
Tarzanus
Posts: 1457
Joined: Sun Jan 16, 2011 12:05 am
Location info: 0
Location: Ljubljana, Slovenia

Re: What are these white spots on my Bambusa textilis?

Post by Tarzanus »

I've had similar spots on my seedlings in the spring. Didn't find any pests so I blamed the wind. It appeared when we've had strong wind for almost a week, leaves were being pushed into freshly growing leaf spears and perhaps pattern you can see on your leaves can be result of such damage. My problem went away just as fast as it appeared. Next generation of leaves was healthy again.
User avatar
gbock
Posts: 94
Joined: Sun Oct 04, 2009 5:13 am
Location info: 73
Location: Davis, CA
Contact:

Re: What are these white spots on my Bambusa textilis?

Post by gbock »

Tarzanus, we do have high winds occasionally, so it's definitely a possibility. I'm not seeing the pattern on brand new leaves.

We had a cooler than usual start to the summer, followed by a week of 100+ degrees, so maybe the rapid rise in temperatures played a role in this??
Check out my blog at http://www.bambooandmore.info.
marcat
Posts: 838
Joined: Sun Jan 14, 2007 10:11 pm
Location info: 28
Location: Seadrift, Texas

Re: What are these white spots on my Bambusa textilis?

Post by marcat »

With that repeating pattern in those pics I would say the damage was done when the leaf was small just developing.
MarCat
Post Reply