I'm new to this forum, so I don't know whether this is the best place to post this. I have a small sun room with a variety of tropical plants. Recently, I've noticed small (~0.5 mm) spherical specks on the leaves of my banana and palm plants and on the woodwork where these plants touch the walls. The specks are quite well fastened, but break off when pried a bit. I attach a photo taken under a microscope and a photo on them on the slide. At first I assumed they were simply dried sap from the plant after its leaf had been punctured, but there are enough of them now, that I've started to wonder if they are something left by some sort of pest. Can anybody help me out as to what these are? Many thanks Jim Simpson
My suspicion is that they ARE a pest, of an insect variety. If you could post a photo of the stuff in situ a diagnosis might be possible. (Prognosis as well.) By the way---welcome!
Thanks for the welcome - here are 2 further photos showing these things attached to the upper side of a palm leaf. I've circled them in red. As I wrote yesterday, they look like dried up bits of sap and are well stuck to the leaf - its just that they seem to be multiplying! thanks for any help you can provide. js
Hmm. Puzzling! I am inclined to go with the sap idea...this does not look like one of the usual suspects, i.e. scale insects or mealy bugs. Doesn't really look like the eggs of something, either. And you say the stuff is on the wall, too. Not the place a plant-sucking insect would choose! Plus, it looks as if your plant is healthy (very!) which would not be the case if it had the aforementioned. ---However, you say that the stuff seems to be increasing, which I know would concern me if this were my plant. If it were, I would try gently removing the stuff and keeping a close eye on subsequent developments. Perhaps you could spy some tiny reclusive insect action, or sap in the act of oozing. Do the simplest thing first and await developments. In the meantime, maybe you could search the forum archives for previous postings---maybe someone else has had this mysterious substance! I know that there are a number of forum members who are banana and palm growers. Keep us posted!
