I found some red spots on the underneath of the leaves of my ficus. I also came back from a 4 day trip and had large red spots on a few leaves. I am not sure if they are separate issues or the same. I get morning sun on the patio. I might have been over watering during the summer. I would water every day as opposed to waiting several days like I did during spring/winter. When I first noticed the red spots, I thought it was fungus or over watering.
We are in south east Florida near the coast.
Hi Alx,
I would exclude a fungus. To get a fungus i would assume you would need much more dense foliage to get a very humid atmosphere around the leaves.#
The red spots could be some mites. spider mites probably. But i wouldn’t panic, looks like only 1-2 leaves are infested. Just observe if more spots are coming.
The red areas i would say is sun burn. Perhaps you try to get some soft material below the trees. If trees stand on stone/concrete the air around gets really hot and dry which is not the best for a ficus. Just try to get some coaster below your pots like you did for the left ficus but perhaps a little bit larger to give them a more humid atmosphere. If you don’t have any coaster you can simply put some wood below them. Wood doesn’t heat up that much and stores a little bit of water as well if you use uncoated wood.
Hey,
That ain’t fungus, the large red spots are sunburn, it happens, nothing to be to concerned about.
And those small dots look like phisical damage.
Doesn’t look like spidermites to me that usually comes with leaf discoloration and dead tissue on the top of the leaves to, I see there are a few loose wires on the tree wind could blown the leaf to the sharp end of that making those poke holes.
Thanks for the feedback. I wouldn’t have considered spider mites since the spots don’t rub off and I did not see any insects even small ones. I am glad to confirm this is most likely sun burning. I will attempt to protect it a bit more. I think the glazing on the pot makes it a bit hotter as well which is something I did not consider.