---
title: "Earlier this month some sort of bacteria/virus spread rapidly…"
description: "Earlier this month some sort of bacteria/virus spread rapidly throughout all my plants. I cut off all infected leaves, separated my plants and began…"
url: "https://getplanta.com/community/lKxUkhzRR_aIJD7o1QvtwQ/MnKOm0j9fdFYiJsGAKhHz0"
community: "Pests, diseases and problems"
author: "Plants&theirMediums"
published: "2025-01-27T00:59:34.010367Z"
language: "en"
image: "https://images.getplanta.com/v2/cloudinary/global_data/communities/pestsDiseasesAndProblems.jpg"
---

[Community](https://getplanta.com/community.md) / [Pests, diseases and problems](https://getplanta.com/community/lKxUkhzRR_aIJD7o1QvtwQ.md)

# Earlier this month some sort of bacteria/virus spread rapidly…

_Posted by Plants\&theirMediums on 2025-01-27_

Earlier this month some sort of bacteria/virus spread rapidly throughout all my plants. I cut off all infected leaves, separated my plants and began treatment/prevention immediately. However, the rest of the leaves of all of them ended up getting it too. I cut all my plants bald, and continued to sterilize everything between handling them, I dropped humidity, and stopped watering. Sadly, as their leaves are growing back, they’re all growing back WITH the bacteria/virus. On top of that, it is appearing on their stems as well. Im now debating whether to go ahead and throw pretty much all of them away, and start from scratch. As a last effort, I’ve bought some physan 20, and will apply that to see if maybe any new growth can grow issue free.

I think one of the things that caused this was that I may have touched an infected plant i didn’t know was infected and then touched a healthy plant in my greenhouse. Also, never again will i quarantine new plants together even if they’re new from the same place. A single plant may have had it and spread it to all the other plants in quarantine. From now on, I’ll also treat my plants for bacteria, fungi, and viruses YEAR ROUND alternating between treatment types just as i do for pests. I’ll also try my best to not touch the leaf of a plant and then touch another. Etc etc.

If I do have to throw them away, it will be practically my whole collection, but theres nothing I can do. I just hope someone can maybe learn from my experience as I attempt to learn from it as well.

Im open to any ideas you may have to save even a few plants.

## 4 comments

### Sunny commented on 2025-01-27

Photos? It’s difficult to comment without seeing the affected plants.

#### Plants\&theirMediums replied on 2025-01-27

![Attachment 1 of 3](https://images.getplanta.com/v1/resize/hIAmsuIEQtvTNlDed333jyvEeCcsIV5tv39Lex2EtF0/_PV7hui9R5mRImtcMuZrnw.webp?size=large)

![Attachment 2 of 3](https://images.getplanta.com/v1/resize/hIAmsuIEQtvTNlDed333jyvEeCcsIV5tv39Lex2EtF0/gtHzXrTHRL6uR_j11YLmBw.webp?size=large)

![Attachment 3 of 3](https://images.getplanta.com/v1/resize/hIAmsuIEQtvTNlDed333jyvEeCcsIV5tv39Lex2EtF0/7EuFT8axSC-ffVzXmeBPCA.webp?size=large)

### PlantsInHarlem commented on 2025-01-27

I feel your pain. I had to do the same with my small but growing collection of jade plants. Ended up throwing the entire lot away because I made the mistake of touching several plants while looking for disease without washing in between inspections. Heartbreaking. But now I have one thriving and healthy one that I’ll be propagating come spring.

### Buffy commented on 2025-01-27

Wow. I had NO idea that a human could spread bacteria/virus from plant to plant. Thank you for this information and I am so sorry that treasured houseplants were lost. It is very kind of you to educate those of us who are still learning!

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