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oneirogenia

t. iboga has little white "growths" (?) on under side of leaves

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Hi all,

My 4 year old iboga, which has strongly persisted thru all kinds of problems including fungus gnats, drought and other things is now after one full year of a regulated indoor environment (in an "ibogrow" box, under fluorescent plant bulb, 50-70% humidity, 28-35 degrees C, a small fan, once a day automated watering and regular light fertilizer) is doing really well, growing substantially and almost constantly flowering (though no sign of seeds). It looks super healthy but has an issue that's been ongoing and seeming to get worse now - there are these tiny white things hanging from the underside of the leaves. Its always had this to some extent and I've tried to look it up to see if it is an infestation or something but it has been growing so well that I figured whatever it was couldn't be that bad. But I still wonder, especially now that it seems to be getting more prolific.

The white suspects almost look like little larvae hanging down from the leaves, but to my knowledge it has never hatched into anything...

I'm almost wondering if it might be dripping latex in small amounts that then solidifies and hangs from the underside of the plant?

I will post a photo later tonight or tomorrow but until then, if anyone has any idea what this might be, or has had this on their plants too please let me know.

Also, does anyone know if iboga's are self-fertile? I read that they were but I've been trying to help the pollination by using a tiny fine brush to spread the pollen around to other flowers and so far haven't had any luck. Any info would be great.

Cheers from BC, Canada

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they appear to be self fertile, yes. a cat hair is probably a better pollination tool for this species. In general the plant needs to be quite woody before it will consider settign seed.

The growths may be callous tissue. The humidity might encourage roots to form. I have seen this on cuttings grown under humidity domes. strangely enough it doesn't seem to happen when the plant is grown in much higher humidity in the open, ie it is probably stagnating air that causes it.

Make sure this is what it is though as a insect infestation could be a problem in such a system.

any pics?

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Hi Torsten,

thx for the reply...Its taken me awhile to get the pics but here they are. It seems to be getting worse now...

Fungus? Roots/callous tissue? I don't think its any kind of bug because it hasn't ever hatched into anything, though I could be wrong. Its had this issue for a year now but never this much. The white suspects seemed to dry up a little today while outside in the sun which makes me think its a fungus of sorts...???

As you can see, except for this the ibo looks happy, perhaps not as glossy leaved as I'd expected but very vigorous.

Also I'm curious as to why the ibo is constantly flowering? Do they all do this at this age? Just keep flowering non-stop or could it have something to do with the nutrient and light levels? its been flowering for at least 3 months.

Any help would be grand.

Cheers.

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i get this on my plants, but NOWHERE near as bad. I am pretty sure it was just callous tissue or rootlets etc. Doesn't seem to hurt the plant so wouldn't worry.

The flowering is fine. They do that for most of the year until they start setting fruit which is when they slow down a bit.

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are they able to form plantlets from the leaves like that? interesting hwo they do that.

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my thought,

You have great humidity and your plant is gathering additional water off of the ambient air.

I've had a carpet of these "arial roots" on the undersides of my p viridis years ago.

These were seed grown plants and isolated from any type of infectious insect

yet we developed the same types of features under the leaves.

I suggest that you take one leaf and half burry it in moss and see what happens.

There's also a suggestion that you might want to break it in a few sections

and see if they'll react like P.V. leaves with multiple clones arising off of the one sectioned leaf.

please update

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leaf cuttings only work on VERY few plants. iboga leaves will easily form roots, but will not produce a new shoot.

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I've had the same phenomenon on a Rivea plant that was in a very humid location in the house. I'm sure there is no harm, the plant is just enjoying the humidity ?

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thanks T, good to know. as rare as leave cuttings are, they are out there :) Are you aware of any dogbanes that do? never seen mention of them, nto have i been able to get any to sprout, but never know til ya ask.

mauve, were they roots? i have had similar things on my rivea in the wet season, though on mine it was for sure fungal.

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Kadakuda: no idea, realy, for me it looked like roots but for what i know it could have been the symbiotic fungus... :scratchhead:

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