Elephant plant with bacteria

Question

Hi!
My name is Almudena, I live in Spain and I’ve had an elephant bush plant for two years now in my terrace in Madrid.
It was really small at the beginning and grew up very big but recently and after heavy rains in Madrid it is covered with this brown spots…
I was told in a shop that it could be a bacteria and they recommend me to use copper eventually (but I don’t know in which proportion)… The name of the one that I bought is Copper Fungicide Drycop 50 DF.
Could you help me please? Will it eventually go away by itself? It has begun to affect the other plants in my terrace…

Thanks and congrats for your website.
Almudena

Answer 1

This will not go away on its own. You can use copper fungicides, although many plants are very sensitive to these. So I would test it on a small area before hand to make sure. I actually recommend a much more gentle method. Dolomitic lime and wettable sulfur will kill off the infection, as well as recondition the soil back to a more fertile condition.

Copper fungicides can make the soil very toxic if used improperly. You will need to follow all instructions very carefully, and remember that you will be working with a poison. Each manufacturer can have different instruction, so just be sure to read them carefully.