Following a recent post on botrytis on this fuchsia stem, (see 'Troubleshooting Furry Mould On Fuchsia Stem'),
I can say that a drop of thick domestic bleach - the smallest drop that falls naturally out of the bottle - in a 500ml hand spray not only contained this disease, but actually seemed to remove it. I tried this on a couple of plants and the result was the same in both cases. You might also remember that I used kitchen cleaner with bleach, carefully applied, last year on the troubled triphylla. This also worked, and the plant survived without any obvious detriment.
Young fuchsia cuttings seem to take a bit of a pasting, though. And I'm sure it will damage the tender young root hairs. However, they are still living - just.
PREVENTION
Watering with one or two drops of bleach per gallon (4.5 litres) of water is said to give effective prevention against botrytis. But don't know if it will actually remove it.
BABY BOTTLE STERILANT
Chlorine has been used for years in the mushroom industry against bacterial blotch. Last year I tried baby bottle chlorine sterilant (supermarket own brand) at recommended strength. This seemed to work against the fungus, but caused some damage to the larger cuttings. Younger cuttings were damaged even more. However, these nearly all survived, of a fashion - without botrytis. I was going to do some tests with weaker concentrations, but haven't got around to it. Story of my life!
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