Hello,
I recently noticed a strange brown pigmentation appearing on the leaves of my Ficus ginseng. The one in the picture is the most affected but it seems to be spreading to the other ones. Is this a disease? I don't see any bugs and I purchased it recently so I have no idea what it is.
Any help is appreciated. Thank you.

I am not sure what is causing it, but we could do with a bit more information. What country are you in? How are you watering? Where are you keeping it? Will it rub off the leaves with a wet cloth?

Hello,
I live in Romania but near the sea. I tried rubbing it off with a wet cotton-pad but without success. During the day temperatures reach around 28 degrees Celsius and at night about 17 degrees Celsius. The pot has drainage holes and the soil is moist, not swampy - I try not to over-water it. Since I currently keep it outside I spray the roots with a bit of water so they don't dry out.

I suspect that it is brown leaf spot fungus so if it is any disease tht spreads then take off effected leaves. But with ficus if you take too many of the leaves off then it may die so get a fungicide would be my opinion if it has spreaded to most leaves. Oh and if it is the leaf spot fungus then stop misting.

bob wrote: I suspect that it is brown leaf spot fungus so if it is any disease tht spreads then take off effected leaves. But with ficus if you take too many of the leaves off then it may die so get a fungicide would be my opinion if it has spreaded to most leaves. Oh and if it is the leaf spot fungus then stop misting.

That, or, more likely, you have spider mite in your plant. THese are tiny, and cause white and brown spots on the leaves.

Just as an FYI.. You can completely defoliate ficus without any problems.

Yes, it may spider mite. The thing is that they appear on the underside of the leaf. Anyway, if thee is fine webbing on the plant then leatherbacks opinion is present. Now, getting rid of them....... They can adapt to pesticides but is unlikely. First of all the despise humidity so if it is them then get it humid. Another thing may be a pesticide (systematic). I may be wrong with the cure info, i do not have much experience with pests. Good luck

First of all thank you for all the replies
I checked the plant with a magnifying glass and there is no sign of any insects, so I guess it may be a fungal disease. I will try applying a fungicide and stop misting for a while. I will post updates if I notice any strange evolution of the disease.
Thank you.

bob wrote: Yes, it may spider mite. The thing is that they appear on the underside of the leaf. Anyway, if thee is fine webbing on the plant then leatherbacks opinion is present. Now, getting rid of them....... They can adapt to pesticides but is unlikely.

Spider mite in small infestations do not have webbing that you will notice.

Spider mites do not adapt to pesticides. What a nonsense.

I am just saying what is going on in the gardening world, technically it is my fault for not explaining it properly, sorry, i mean that they can withstand some pesticides. Sorry. But imagine if they could adapt to pesticides, that would be a bugger :lol:

bob wrote: technically it is my fault for not explaining it properly

Technically it is not a matter of not explaining it properly, but meaning something completely different.

bob wrote: Yes, it may spider mite [...].They can adapt to pesticides

Talking about something completely different: