White root rot
Leaves lose their gloss, turn yellow, curl down and fall, and thick white threads cover the roots and the collar, with orange brackets at the base later.
Crops it strikes
What you see
When to act
Around any yellowing or dead tree, scrape the soil from the collar and the main roots of its neighbors and look for white threads stuck to the bark. Treat every tree whose collar shows threads, and check again every few months.
What to spray
- HexaconazoleFRAC 3ShopeeLazada
- TebuconazoleFRAC 3ShopeeLazada
- Sulfur (worked into the planting hole)FRAC M2ShopeeLazada
Active ingredients only, never brands. The FRAC group tells how it works: switch to a different group next time, so the disease does not learn to survive it. Spray only when the damage is worth the cost, and only with products registered with the Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority for your crop. Follow the label. The Shopee and Lazada links only show who sells something with that active ingredient, not a recommendation of any seller or product.
How to prevent it
- When clearing land, dig out and burn old stumps and roots of forest trees and old rubber. They carry the fungus into the new planting.
- Sow legume cover crops between the rows. They speed the rotting of buried roots and starve the fungus.
- In the first years, open the soil at the collar of trees near a sick one every few months and remove white threads early.
- Dig a trench around a group of sick trees to cut root contact with healthy ones.
- Remove dead trees with their roots and burn them. Leave the hole open to dry before you replant.
Natural enemies and biological help
- Trichoderma mixed with compost in the planting hole and around the collar helps keep the fungus off new roots.
Where this comes from
Not sure it is this one?
Many diseases look alike. Send a photo to Anee, the smart farm technician in anee.io. She reads it with your crop, its age and the weather, and tells you what it most likely is and what to do first. In Tagalog or English.