My papaya was started from seed 2 years ago. The leaves are becoming pale. On the underside there are tiny webs and small black spots. What can I treat it with? It will break my heart if it dies.
Need Papaya Advice
Since you mention tiny webs and small black spots I'm going to suspect spider mites. I don't like to use chemicals (even organic ones) unless it's an emergency so I control spider mites by blasting them off with a strong jet from the hose (make sure to get the undersides of the leaves when you do this). I generally repeat the treatment every couple of days or so for a while just to make sure they are totally gone, and I also mist the plant a couple times a day since spider mites don't like humidity. Even if you like using chemicals, I would still do the blasting off with the hose approach, then follow up by spraying the undersides of the leaves with the chemical of choice (check the label, if it kills spider mites it will say so on the label).
The other thing that is really important to do is to do the same treatment on any plants that were sitting near the papaya. Even if they don't look infected yet they probably are, but if you can catch it now and get rid of the mites then they'll never get in as bad shape as the papaya. And keep them all away from your other plants (if possible) until you know the mites are gone.
I have to add though that if you hadn't mentioned the webs and black spots and I had just looked at the picture, my first thought would have been chlorosis which means that the plant needs iron. So I'm not sure if the yellowing is just from the spider mites, or if you have mites on top of chlorosis. If that's the case, I would deal with the mites first since it's not good to fertilize a plant when it's under a lot of stress, but then once the mites are cleared up give it some iron (check your soil pH first though--if the pH is too high then the plant can't absorb the iron that's there so adjust the pH first and see if the problem clears up).
Thanks so much for your quick response. I will try this today.
Are they ok? my papayas are looking sad since the rainforest weather has passed over us...i hope it comes back