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Encanto Farms Nursery > Topics > Fig Mosaic Virus (FMV) or Fig Rust
 
 


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khaie322

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Posted Reply with quote  #1 
Hi Everyone,

I am new to this forum and also new to fig.

I recently bought this fig (picture attached) but there are some yellow spots. I went through the forum post and have narrowed down to either Fig Mosaic Virus (FMV) or fig rust but I cannot be sure for certain.

Any of you have any insight as to how to determine if it's either FMV or Fig rust?

Any help is much appreciated.

Thank you

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SuperMario1

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Posted Reply with quote  #2 
Looks like FMV. Just make sure the plant gets good light and nutrition and it should do fine. The older/larger the plant, the less apparent the symptoms will be generally.
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hoosierbanana

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Posted Reply with quote  #3 
Hello Khaie, if the newest leaf which looks healthy now develops the same spots then the chlorotic spots are caused by fig bud mites, Aceria ficus. You need 30x or greater magnification and bright lighting to see them, they sell inexpensive handheld microscopes with led lights that work very well. Look on the undersides of the newest leaves and the buds, they look more like very tiny elongated grubs than spider type mites. http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/1895756/fig-mite-symptoms
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khaie322

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Posted Reply with quote  #4 
Thanks SuperMario and Hoosier banana.

So should I destroy it or else it will transmit the virus to other healthy plants or how can I prevent it from spreading?

hoosierbanana

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Posted Reply with quote  #5 
Well, you could try to get your money back from the seller. That is what I'd do. Or kill the mites and see how it does, it might not have FMV at all, or it might show severe virus symptoms in the near future. FMV needs the mites to transfer from plant to plant, so as long as you can manage to keep the mites out of your collection you can prevent FMV from spreading.
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ricky

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Posted Reply with quote  #6 
I search on line, I find spider mites on fig tree pictures, However, I would like to know what fig mite look like and how small is it.
Because, my fig trees have leaves as FMV leaves but I find ants/aphids suck on young (bud)leaves.

I might be wrong, If fig's leaves are sucked by clean mites and other with poision feeding, it will show FMV leaves, once you get rid of mites, it will recovered.
It fig's leaves are sucked by virus mites, it shows FMV leaves, once you get rid of mites, its symptom might disappear, However when tree is weak, it will show FMV leaves again by itself.

Spider mites on fig tree, really small, I wonder what fig mites look like?
Spider mite-1.jpg

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Morganna_Wylde

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Posted Reply with quote  #7 
Hi all. I'm new to the forum and fairly new to figs. I was just wondering what everyone uses to treat mites? I have Forbid, which is death on spider and broad mites on brugmansia, and just wonder if anyone uses it on their figs? I have read that it is used in the cannabis industry , but curious about use and safety for figs.
hoosierbanana

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Posted Reply with quote  #8 
I used Forbid, Avid and some Azatrol. The translaminar action of Forbid and its residual action do make it very effective. It is labeled for ornamentals and non-bearing trees in the U.S. and the same chemical is labeled for many fruits and vegetables in Canada though. Neem oil could be effective as systemic but might not do the job as a spray, getting contact with them is difficult because they are so small and sheltered in the buds.

Ricky, you are correct that if the mites do not carry FMV they will cause no lasting symptoms after they are gone. If they do have FMV you might not see symptoms until one or 2 years later, the tree does not need to be weak, or underfertilized or anything like that. Some buds will have more virus than others and those will be the ones to show symptoms. When you prune a tree with FMV that is when you see it the most. Fig bud mites are so small you cannot even see details at 40x, just squirmy grub looking things.

Argentine ants are on some of my trees too this year, the damage they cause does make it harder to tell if a tree has virus symptoms.

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cdeguida4

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Posted Reply with quote  #9 
Quote:
Originally Posted by hoosierbanana
I used Forbid, Avid and some Azatrol. The translaminar action of Forbid and its residual action do make it very effective. It is labeled for ornamentals and non-bearing trees in the U.S. and the same chemical is labeled for many fruits and vegetables in Canada though. Neem oil could be effective as systemic but might not do the job as a spray, getting contact with them is difficult because they are so small and sheltered in the buds.

Ricky, you are correct that if the mites do not carry FMV they will cause no lasting symptoms after they are gone. If they do have FMV you might not see symptoms until one or 2 years later, the tree does not need to be weak, or underfertilized or anything like that. Some buds will have more virus than others and those will be the ones to show symptoms. When you prune a tree with FMV that is when you see it the most. Fig bud mites are so small you cannot even see details at 40x, just squirmy grub looking things.

Argentine ants are on some of my trees too this year, the damage they cause does make it harder to tell if a tree has virus symptoms.

P5240027.JPG 

P5240013.JPG 

P5240019.JPG 
  


are those the mites in the buds? I have something very similar right now, but when i look really close they appear to have wings. but I have a bunch inside the buds on my Stella. Neem didnt seem to do the trick for those guys. 
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fignutty

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Posted Reply with quote  #10 
Chris the last picture looks like aphids to me. Aphids can have wings meaning some do and some don't.
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hoosierbanana

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Posted Reply with quote  #11 
Sorry that was not more clear. The first 2 pictures show aphid damaged leaves, the third is the aphids. Argentine ants "farm" aphids and scale insects on many types of plants so they can drink the honeydew that the aphids excrete. They also go after ripe figs later on, you need to use baits to kill the colony.     

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ricky

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Posted Reply with quote  #12 
Thanks for those clear pictures, I have Argentine ants "Farm" problem, They damage young leaves and They look like FMV leaves.

I have other question, we have limited fig tree varieties in our area, I got couple fig trees from locally collector with low price at spring time with leaf buds only, few months has passed,  They has those FMV alike leaves without Ants problem, even with heavy dose fertilizer, they don't grow very much, However, New suckers from soil grow quickly, Do you think that they have FMV?  If they have FMV, should I get rid of them?
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hoosierbanana

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Posted Reply with quote  #13 
Cutting off the diseased or stunted trunks and letting the healthy suckers make a new plant is the way to go, even when it is not FMV but maybe stunted from being in a container or the bark is damaged. As it gets bigger and stronger you might see some FMV here and there but just keep pruning. 
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khaie322

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Posted Reply with quote  #14 
If the mother plant is infected. By FMV, it's suckers are FMV free?
khaie322

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Posted Reply with quote  #15 
Hoosier,

Are you saying If the mother plant is infected with FMV, it's suckers will be FMV free?
brianm

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Posted Reply with quote  #16 
That won't be the case. The mite will still transfer it. It's just usually the suckers sgow up clean until they are infected eventually.
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hoosierbanana

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Posted Reply with quote  #17 
Keeping the mites out is really priority #1 of having a healthy collection.

Khaie, there is no guarantee about whether the suckers will have symptoms or not. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't. They come from a part of the plant that is growing fast, and they also grow very fast themselves, and that dilutes the amount of virus in their cells. If you make new plants from cuttings of a healthy sucker they should mostly be symptoms free, or at least healthier overall than the mother tree. 
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brianm

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Posted Reply with quote  #18 
Quote:
Originally Posted by hoosierbanana
Keeping the mites out is really priority #1 of having a healthy collection.

Khaie, there is no guarantee about whether the suckers will have symptoms or not. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't. They come from a part of the plant that is growing fast, and they also grow very fast themselves, and that dilutes the amount of virus in their cells. If you make new plants from cuttings of a healthy sucker they should mostly be symptoms free, or at least healthier overall than the mother tree. 

Great explanation Brent
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ljermontov

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Posted Reply with quote  #19 
20160814_153600.jpg  20160814_153555.jpg  20160814_153605.jpg 

Hello and greetings from Dalmatia,Croatia.
I am a hobby gardener who wishes to expand my fig orchard by producing my own plants.
Cuttings were taken from my two, 30 and 70 year old trees,variety Sušioka AKA Zamorčica,Sušilica.
I now hawe six plants and two of it has leafs like this .
Is it a FMV and shall I discard them.
Thank You.
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ljermontov

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Posted Reply with quote  #20 
20160814_153555.jpg 

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ljermontov

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Posted Reply with quote  #21 
20160814_153600.jpg 

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ljermontov

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Posted Reply with quote  #22 
20160814_153605.jpg 

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ljermontov

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Posted Reply with quote  #23 
Unfourtunately the disease on my figs is FMV.
It has been diagnosed by the famous croatian scientist and a fig expert Dr.sc. Zeljko Prgomet .
I thank him on that.
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Werter1

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Posted Reply with quote  #24 
If I understand correctly, the old trees caught the disease?

How come? By infected tools, or newly planted infected trees nearby?

So, what will you do next?
ricky

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Posted Reply with quote  #25 
You need to understand 2 things here, FMV virues which we can not see them, but fig mites, we can see them using 60X microscope.

Those fig bud mites are really small, I bought a click on Len for my Cell phone and I am able to see them only when they are moving.
They hardly moving normally, so it is very hard to see them.

I would like to use bee friendly spray, I tried pure green oil, it is pretty useless and need to apply 5+ times and not quite inexpensive, I end up using canola oil due to low cost,  I wish that I can get neem oil  in Canada.

fig_mites_60X_clip on.jpg 



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brianm

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Posted Reply with quote  #26 
Wow that's really cool.
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hoosierbanana

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Posted Reply with quote  #27 
Thanks for posting that picture Ricky! 
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brianm

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Posted Reply with quote  #28 
Just ordered the clip on microscope
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brianm

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Posted Reply with quote  #29 
Wow this thing is really cool. I haven't seen anything moving underneath the leaves just hair. Do you physically see them moving under the microscope?
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ricky

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Posted Reply with quote  #30 
Hi BrianM:

Those fig bud mites are really small hardy moving, I have to look very carefully and they do move slowly.

I guess that those mites are able to fly when right time come, Just like Aphids, When too many of them, some of them grow wings and fly to other plants, it is hard to stop them by doing nothing.
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