Areca Palm under ATTACK!

Discussion in 'Garden Pest Management and Identification' started by Aber, Sep 30, 2008.

  1. Aber

    Aber Member

    Messages:
    8
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Nanaimo, Canada
    Hi Everyone, i have (had) a lovely Areca palm that has had a string of bad luck lately and isn't looking so lovely. First of all it had spidermites and millipeds...so i sprayed with END-ALL, and repotted in fresh soil. When I did this soil flush i was worried that i wasn't able to get a lot of soil into the deep parts of the root ball, but decided that as i watered soil would wash in there and i could top up from the top.

    Now, a couple weeks later i feel like the palm is improving however its not drinking a lot of water. I am spraying the palm at least twice a day to keep the humidity up, and it is over (not soaking in) a humidity pebble tray.

    Now the current problem...I just went to water after about 5 days, not super dry but I felt the plant looked a bit limp. Immediately on the soil surface I saw quite a few fungus nats crawling around. WHAT DO I DO?
     
  2. Aber

    Aber Member

    Messages:
    8
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Nanaimo, Canada
    well in doing some more reading on this site i took another look at my bugs. I only find them in the soil, not on the plant. They are concentrated around the base of the canes. They are a silvery white but i don't think i would call them flies. They only crawl. I can't see wings, if they are there they are not functional. Any ideas?
     
  3. joclyn

    joclyn Rising Contributor

    Messages:
    2,707
    Likes Received:
    1
    Location:
    philly, pa, usa 6b
    can you post a pic?
     
  4. Aber

    Aber Member

    Messages:
    8
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Nanaimo, Canada
    Hi unfortunately I know that these bugs would not show up.

    to further the saga I did talk too two different garden stores today and am now completely confused. One adviced to sprinkle charcoal on the soils surface, and perhaps spray with the same end-all i treated for spider mites for. The other store claimed that you should "NEVER" mist a palm, that it leads to root rot. They said don't worry about the gnats. Got home from work to find another milliped type bug (but don't think it is) wrapped around one of the canes. Needless to say this palm is driving me nuts!
     

Share This Page