My Chinese money plants seem to do well year round- outside in the shade in summer and in a south, but shaded window in the winter. However, although my two year old plants are thriving, one has a strange, yellow-white mosiac pattern on some of the leaves. The pattern has occurred intermittently ever since he was a baby. (The donor plant from which I took the cutting did not show evidence of this pattern.) The baby leaf that I rooted from him this summer also has developed this pattern, tho seems healthy and happy otherwise. I can find no evidence of insects, but could it be leaf-miners? A disease? The plants seem super healthy except for this strange mottling. I love these guys and would hate to lose them- any suggestions?
Hi Chilipepper and Michael- No, my poor plant is not producing bills or coins in any monetary currency, alas and alack! I am new at this, but I may have been lucky and uploaded a picture. If so, the greener leaf is the new cutting happily taking root in my kitchen window basil pot. The yellow, lime green veined leaf is an advanced stage of the mosiac pattern taken from my two year old plant. Or at least I think the yellow is an advanced stage of the same. The new leaves emerge green, but sometimes with a little mottling. Then they gradually turn to yellow in time after the mottling has taken hold... My two adult plants appear healthy- less than than 10 % yellow leaves at any one time, at most. Yet, all but the youngest leaves on the one plant show mottling to some degree. thanks for your replies. I welcome your sage advice- M2.
Have you given it a complete fertilizer with trace elements? It appears to have a deficiency of iron or zinc/manganese. Is your water alkaline? How is the drainage, does that pot have a hole to allow excess water and salts a way to escape?
Thanks Michael and Saltcedar- I don't think he is a yellow cultivar because my two adult plants came from cuttings from the same green mother plant and only one of the two-year old plants sports the mosiac to any degree. Maybe the drainage is a problem- I will check it out. Alkaline water- possibly, but the soil here is volcanic, so isn't that acid- creating? No flourides or much except a bit of chlorine in the drinking water here. As for fertilizing, I use biogold products- biogold vital for root development and disease protection and biogold original (N-5.5 P-6.5 K-3.5) as topdressing. Biogold rose fertilizer has additional minerals and amino acids- maybe I should try it. Do you think Kelp (left from making Miso soup dashi and ground in a blender) would provide the necessary minerals? I live in Japan, and organic growing is a rather specialized niche here. I have far too many container plants to change the soil as often as I should, so I need to stay with organics and home-made compost. Biogold is organic, easily obtainable, and has an English language website : http://www.biogold.co.jp/english/index.html So I generally stick to biogold or homemade fertilizers. If you have any suggestions as to concoctions I could whip up to increase the minerals I would be most appreciative- Thanks so much- M2
It sounds as if you have acidic water and soils so I'd check drainage and add a bit of rose fertilizer to see if it makes any difference.
Thanks all- Your suggestions seem to have worked- I repotted, improved drainage, doused with kelp, and used the rose fertilizer and...Now most of the yellowing leaves have turned green again- well, mostly a healthy deep green, but still with a faint mosiac pattern on the larger leaves. Plant seems very healthy tho- so something worked! Maybe Michael and Chilipepper are right- I have a mutant or sport- a brand new cultivar that will bring in buckets of money- as these plants are supposed to do....guess I have to share with you-all if that happens tho, don't I? I will let you know when the Yuan start rolling in- Thanks-
