I bought an Areca palm as a house plant at the end of August this year and it has been slowly dying ever since... The "specalist" at the green house we bought it from doesn't seem to know what shes talking about becuase we have done the things she said and it keeps dying. It has a pest that has both fluffy white cotton things and round hard white things on it. I looked at photos of Mealybugs but these things look much smaller then that.. and im not sure that is the only problem! The main thing I have been noticing is that the fronds start to brown at the tip and this eventually works its way down the entire frond until the whole frond is dead. It seems to be doing this grouping by grouping. Some of the fronds appear perfectly fine while others are completely dead! I dont know what to do! It was an expensive plant and I dont just want to go out and buy another only to have the same thing happen all over again! Help!
Areca palm are somewhat prone to mealy bug and spider mites. they like to be damp overall but not waterlogged. they dont like drying out at all. dry brown tips sounds like humidity might be too low?
It does sound like mealybugs or scale. Use a Q-tip with alcohol on them. You could also try a product called Neem oil.
thanks a lot for your reply :D do you think that would be enough to get them all? even the ones that are hidden in the base beteween the stalk and the hard outer layer? And yea our humidity is too low for sure becuase winter gets very dry in Canada... but would that kill entire peices of the plant? IF so maybe I should go out and get something for that.
Rarely does a single treatment do it. I would say 2 or 3 treats. Make sure you get thorough coverage including all undersides of leaves. Can you post a photo of the pests ?
I managed to kill a beautiful Areca that had similar problems because I didn't realize it in time. Mine had spider mites (you will see very fine webs) - and alchohol will get rid of them - it's just time consuming. Also they HATE dry air - spray as much water on it as often as you can. And, don't let it get cold - they hate that too. Hope it works out for you - they are really lovely plants.
