Artichoke plant troubleshooting - Ask Extension
My artichoke plant started out beautifully this year with large green leaves. Then the leaves started curling and turned brown. It is starting to af...
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Artichoke plant troubleshooting #465046
Asked June 24, 2018, 8:50 PM EDT
My artichoke plant started out beautifully this year with large green leaves. Then the leaves started curling and turned brown. It is starting to affect the bulbs. The stalk has kind of a gray powder at the base of each leaf. Eventually the entire plant is affected. Incidentally, there is a small apple tree next to it and one side of it has brown, curly, dead leaves. Is this the same disease? How do I treat this?
Thanks for your help! pics below
Linn County Oregon
Expert Response
Hi and thanks for contacting Ask an Expert.
The gray powdery material is mold. Thank you for the picture. You have cut off the artichoke which is the flower of the plant. The dead leaf attached to the stock is dying because it is not needed to provide food for the artichoke and the stem was open and dried it out. Same with the other stalk that I see mold on. You can take those off at the base. Artichokes are continually growing new stocks much like some flowers. Our weather, warm and moist, causes the mold to grow. Use an organic fungicide like Neem oil to head off the mold. Remove the stalks and dispose of them in the garbage not a compost pile if you have one. Add an OMRI listed (it will be on the front of the package) steer manure/compost combination to feed the artichoke and stimulate new growth.
The fact that the artichoke was turning brown could be inadequate water or too much sun or over-maturity for use as food. They do grow best in cloudy areas.
The apple tree could be an herbicide drift accident. Since you did not send a picture, I cannot tell for sure. When herbicide hits a plant that it was not intended to spray, it is often in a drift pattern like a cloud drifting across it. If all you see is brown leaves on part of the tree, not other signs, no breaks in the limbs, no bugs on the underside, it could be an herbicide that hit it. Especially because you say it is only on one side of the tree.
If this is a small area, cut the dead limbs out and dispose of them again in the garbage be it herbicide or disease.
Neem oil is very potent and will kill bugs too. Do not spray on beneficials like bees, lady bugs or their larva (they look like tiny alligators with some red or orange on their backs). Please follow the instructions when using any pesticide.
I hope this answers your question. Please contact again if you have further concerns.
The gray powdery material is mold. Thank you for the picture. You have cut off the artichoke which is the flower of the plant. The dead leaf attached to the stock is dying because it is not needed to provide food for the artichoke and the stem was open and dried it out. Same with the other stalk that I see mold on. You can take those off at the base. Artichokes are continually growing new stocks much like some flowers. Our weather, warm and moist, causes the mold to grow. Use an organic fungicide like Neem oil to head off the mold. Remove the stalks and dispose of them in the garbage not a compost pile if you have one. Add an OMRI listed (it will be on the front of the package) steer manure/compost combination to feed the artichoke and stimulate new growth.
The fact that the artichoke was turning brown could be inadequate water or too much sun or over-maturity for use as food. They do grow best in cloudy areas.
The apple tree could be an herbicide drift accident. Since you did not send a picture, I cannot tell for sure. When herbicide hits a plant that it was not intended to spray, it is often in a drift pattern like a cloud drifting across it. If all you see is brown leaves on part of the tree, not other signs, no breaks in the limbs, no bugs on the underside, it could be an herbicide that hit it. Especially because you say it is only on one side of the tree.
If this is a small area, cut the dead limbs out and dispose of them again in the garbage be it herbicide or disease.
Neem oil is very potent and will kill bugs too. Do not spray on beneficials like bees, lady bugs or their larva (they look like tiny alligators with some red or orange on their backs). Please follow the instructions when using any pesticide.
I hope this answers your question. Please contact again if you have further concerns.
