please help identify these problems on my indoor houseplants(discolouration,disfigure I have a ficus, i have been fighting forever to save, I also have a schefflera that is losing its leaves daily. The ficus the tips of the leaves are turning a very light yellow and new growth is dying. The schefflera, ever since i bought it it has troubles. The big leaves turn black and fall, they look rotten but are not mushy or wet. The little leaves look all contorted and have little black spots that will not scrape off, they are in the leaf or are parts of the leaf that are dead. They are bumpy and not a normal leaf at all. When I transplant it and rinse the roots, this plant goes nuts growing healthy. Then after about 1-2 mnths it always falls back to this. Its a beautiful tree. I have fungus gnats i believe. These things fly around your head. When i check the soil, it has tiny wormy things, and what looks like mini centipedes. This is usually why i transplant it and rinse the roots. I put brand new soil. Good soil. Miracle Gro. The insects always return. Please help. PS, i have been using a houseplant pest killer schultz insect spray. Is this disease or issue contagious to other plants??
Fungus gnats means you are probably over-watering, as they like soggy soil. Let the soil get almost completely dry between waterings, and when repotting, don't squash it down hard. Open pic, click 'save as', chose a new filename, and when it offers you a choice of resolution, click on a lower resolution (say 4 or 5 on a 1-10 scale)
thanks for the response, i actually did squash the soil down hard to keep the plant from not being upright, what does anyone think about the discolour and contorting of the leaves?any ideas would be appreciated.Thanks in advance
you may have thrips, these are small black/brown insects that eat disfigure leaf tissue. thrips can be a big problem on scheffleras and are hard to get rid of, you should try spraying your plant with some insecticidal soap once a week for 3-4 weeks or untill you notice the problem has gone away. to help in the summer place you plant outside in a protected area and it should be fine.
Hi Foxpumpkins, Thrips can cause tomato spotted wilt virus, which could be what you are seeing in your schefflera. Your plant may have contracted this before you purchased it. Take a look here. http://www.ppath.cas.psu.edu/extension/plant_disease/tswv.html http://www.doacs.state.fl.us/pi/enpp/pathology/pathcirc/pp313.pdf There are other fungal problems as well. http://mrec.ifas.ufl.edu/Foliage/folnotes/scheffle.htm Here is a list of potential problems you can look at for your ficus. http://mrec.ifas.ufl.edu/Foliage/folnotes/ficus.htm Here's some orgainc ways to control thrips and fungal gnats. http://www.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=1606&goto=newpost http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/r280300811.html Both schefflera and ficus do best watered when the soil is partially dry. Newt
thanks newt, well I hope its not the tomato virus as the website says to destroy it, so far none of my other plants have these symptoms. I wonder though as when I repot the plant, all the symptoms dissappear. Only to come back in a month or two! Maybe I am a crazy plant waterer. I have not watered my plants in about a week and it appears I have triumphed over the gnat issue(finally) My sis has a ficus, and its roots at the base of the trunk are actually visible and her tree is gorgeous, she says she waters it every day and has had the tree for 10yrs. Maybe her thumb is green. Thanks for the links, they are great to keep handy, hopefully watering was the only problem for me. Time will tell..........................foxpumpkins
Foxpumpkins, you are so very welcome! I water my schefflera and ficus when they are dry. Sometimes my ficus will drop leaves, but they do that if you move them, in the fall, if they get a draft, if you look at them wrong, etc. They tend to be a bit fussy and prefer not to mess with them too much. Good luck, Newt
