Sugar/sand like stuff on leaves???? - Orchid Board

gardengirl13 · #1 07-25-2016, 03:57 PM

OK, I'll be posting a photo in a bit. But for now, I'm watering everyone today and came across something on a phal I've never seen and can't seem to figure out what the heck it is. It looks like sugar sprinkled on the leaves, or maybe sand. I first thought it might be fert build-up sprinkling down from the shelf above, but it's kind of not the same, but it is more "gathered" like it all might have collected there. Please tell me it's just fert stuff getting bumped/scraped off and pooling together. I just am in the process of losing my beloved ficus plant that I bought as a baby only 8" high back in 1999. It has a scale infestation (luckily no other plant has any signs) I've tried hand cleaning every leaf and stem and sprayed with hort oil and nothing is working. It's outside now and most likely will be tossed. I heard some outside bugs can help with scale but I don't think that will work either. He's never been outside so we'll see what happens, but I can't chance it spreading even though there are no other plants near him that it can spread too. I'm heartbroken about it and can't stand the idea of losing an orchid during this.

rbarata · #2 07-25-2016, 05:51 PM

A photo would be helpful.

estación seca · #3 07-25-2016, 07:13 PM

Look up, over the Phal. Any evidence of boring activity? What you're describing could be termite poop or carpenter bee leavings.

As for your ficus... I think you can save it. They are amazingly tough plants. You can take advantage of the fact they tolerate severe pruning and don't mind repotting at all. Cut the plant almost all the way to the ground, leaving only a few nodes above the soil. Throw away the top, along with most of the scale.

Now soak the plant in its pot in a container of water with a little liquid dishwashing soap added (sink dish soap, not dishwasher dish soap.) Use about a teaspoon per gallon / 5ml per 3.78 liters. Be sure the plant and pot and soil are completely submerged. Let it soak for 4-6 hours, or overnight. This will drown the scale and their eggs. The soap breaks the surface tension of the water and makes it penetrate tiny crevices better.

Now remove the plant from the pot and wash off all the old soil. Throw it away, too. Bare-rooting will not harm the plant. Repot it into a new pot with new potting soil. I would strongly recommend adding to the soil a granular lawn product containing the pesticide imidacloprid. This stuff is sold with the aim of killing lawn grubs. A ficus is not going to bloom for you, and even if it did, there are no ficus pollinators in upstate NY, so you are not going to harm pollinators by treating a ficus with imidacloprid

Leafmite · #4 07-25-2016, 08:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gardengirl13

I just am in the process of losing my beloved ficus plant that I bought as a baby only 8" high back in 1999. It has a scale infestation (luckily no other plant has any signs).

For your ficus, buy granular Bayer Rose systemic and treat it with that. It takes about a month to work and you need to water well but then it lasts for eight weeks. The scale will be long gone by the time you bring the fiscus indoors for the winter. When one of my plants have had a really bad infestation, I usually treat the plant with the granular stuff, then mark my calendar for eight weeks in the future. I then give it a second treatment to make certain that it doesn't get infected again while it is still recovering.

gardengirl13 · #5 07-26-2016, 08:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by estación seca

Look up, over the Phal. Any evidence of boring activity? What you're describing could be termite poop or carpenter bee leavings.

I think it's just the fert/tray dust dust settling in more of a confined area. I touched it and it's hard and dry and crumbly like the other tray dust spots on the other plants. (my trays under the plants on each shelf have been corroding again (I wrote a post about this a few months ago) they get a dust on them. With this heat and then the dryness of the ac I've been misting a bit more then I normally do, so I'm wondering if this one plant had a pile of the dust on the two leaves I saw this on, then when I misted it could have brought down a bit of the dust and made a pile in the crease.

Quote:

Originally Posted by estación seca

As for your ficus... I think you can save it. They are amazingly tough plants. You can take advantage of the fact they tolerate severe pruning and don't mind repotting at all. Cut the plant almost all the way to the ground, leaving only a few nodes above the soil. Throw away the top, along with most of the scale.

Now soak the plant in its pot in a container of water with a little liquid dishwashing soap added (sink dish soap, not dishwasher dish soap.) Use about a teaspoon per gallon / 5ml per 3.78 liters. Be sure the plant and pot and soil are completely submerged. Let it soak for 4-6 hours, or overnight. This will drown the scale and their eggs. The soap breaks the surface tension of the water and makes it penetrate tiny crevices better.

Now remove the plant from the pot and wash off all the old soil. Throw it away, too. Bare-rooting will not harm the plant. Repot it into a new pot with new potting soil. I would strongly recommend adding to the soil a granular lawn product containing the pesticide imidacloprid. This stuff is sold with the aim of killing lawn grubs. A ficus is not going to bloom for you, and even if it did, there are no ficus pollinators in upstate NY, so you are not going to harm pollinators by treating a ficus with imidacloprid

First I looked for imidacloprid locally and I think it's banned in NYS. I can't find it anywhere. I did find a systemic that I was going to use. I was going to apply it a week after I cleaned the entire plant, but then I saw a lot more honeydew spots. Like a lot more. So I thought I'll never win this battle. I guess I'll buy it and try again.

As for the cutting it back, it's 5' tall. And I don't have anything big enough to hold the pot it's in and keep it under water. I always wash most of the soil off with every repotting I do. It had been a couple years since my last repot and he was looking horrible, this was before I realized it was scale. We had moved a few months before and he HATES to be moved and pitched a fit. He never got over it. Normally when we moved him in the past he'd pitch his normal fit (of maybe 20 leaves) and within a month be back to growing lost of new leaves. He has never been this bad before. I tried to baby him and see what I could do, but he just kept dropping leaves like crazy. Then I noticed the honeydew. I was not familiar with scale, I heard of it but never looked into it since I've never had it. I thought it was the pitcher plant above him dripping on him, he's been drooling like crazy from leaves, stems and pitchers. I asked a few people on a carnivorous forum and someone said that the dripping shouldn't cause problems and to check for scale. Holy crap the poor thing was covered! I don't know how the heck I could have missed it!? I guess I might have seen a few and just thought them the flaky stuff that comes off the stems.

We've had this plant for 17+ years now. I really would prefer to save him as we've loved him so long now. Yes I'm this sad over a plant.

---------- Post added at 08:58 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:53 AM ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leafmite

For your ficus, buy granular Bayer Rose systemic and treat it with that. It takes about a month to work and you need to water well but then it lasts for eight weeks. The scale will be long gone by the time you bring the fiscus indoors for the winter. When one of my plants have had a really bad infestation, I usually treat the plant with the granular stuff, then mark my calendar for eight weeks in the future. I then give it a second treatment to make certain that it doesn't get infected again while it is still recovering.

I'm not sure if it was bayer but I did see a couple rose granular stuff. When I go to look for a systemic I'll look into this one too. Most of the stuff around here doesn't list scale on the labels. Sprays do help, but I'm not sure if they will be effective enough, as the thorough cleaning and hort oil really didn't do that much.

I've never brought plants outside before. I don't want to deal with the bugs they bring in. So if these work at all I don't plan on keeping him outside for much longer. I don't want him to get any more bugs then he has. At least scale will mostly stay on the one plant since he's not close enough to anything else to transfer them. Good thing it wasn't on any other plants. I will be keeping an eye on everything now.

Man that cleaning I did of every stem and leaf took me 8 hours. 8 hours!!!! this is how much I love this damn plant! I did buy neem for him too. I guess I'll clean him good again and then spray with the neem and see what happens.

Thanks everyone.

Ray · #6 07-26-2016, 08:59 AM

If you're getting fertilizer deposits on your plants' leaves, you're overfeeding!

Leafmite · #7 07-26-2016, 10:22 AM

Granular Rose systemic I have always used Bayer. Either the two in one or the three in one will do. The third thing in the three-in-one is fungus. Roses often have fungus issues. If you have been fertilizing, flush the pot very well first as granular contains fertilizer. Then, water well and do not fertilize it again until the systemic wears off. The fertilizer of the new formula is strong and roots can be burned if you are not careful.

I did notice that some parts of NY restrict the sales but it can be bought on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0049PL9PC...d_i=B000BX1HJ4

---------- Post added at 10:22 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:07 AM ----------

I understand about the attachment to plants. I have a few plants that are nothing special but they are like old friends. Like you, I have spent hours cleaning off the leaves of some of my plants before finally giving up and using the granular rose systemic and just resolving not to make use of the edible leaves/fruit. I did buy Neem oil to try this autumn to see if I can prevent the usual winter problems.

When talking to another plant person about my scale issues, I was told to try coffee grounds on any new/clean plants as a preventative. So far, I haven't seen scale on my cinnamon, jasmine, or citrus, usually scale magnets. I am not sure if this is good fortune or if it does indeed work. We shall see.

gardengirl13 · #8 07-26-2016, 10:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ray

If you're getting fertilizer deposits on your plants' leaves, you're overfeeding!

No no no, sorry if I wrote that wrong. The fert or corrosion dust stuff is coming from the humidity trays above the plant and falling down onto the plants. I have it figured out that the trays themselves are just corrosive with the water and gravel I have in them and they get a build-up of what I originally thought might have been from fert, but I think it's just the aluminum reacting to the rocks and water. It builds up like hard water and flakes and chunks off. I do get a bit of buildup of fert on the outside of my terracotta pots, I do weakly weekly and then once a month flush with plain water. But it might be the hard water building up too since my terracotta pots I water with water only and only fert maybe once a month or less get that buildup too. And it's rain water that doesn't really measure high on hard water. So I'm not sure.

estación seca · #9 07-26-2016, 10:41 AM

Coffee grounds also kill mealybugs. They're better incorporated into the soil. If used as mulch they will mold.

Leafmite · #10 07-26-2016, 10:50 AM

The mold is temporary and harmless. I do mix in a little sand, though, now and then, to help keep it from compacting.

The coffee grounds seem to be working these past two years. The only issue I had was my Manikara zapota but I hadn't used coffee grounds for it. It is a pity that the grounds would just flow through the lava rock of my orchids. Some of my Phals have had issues with the mealybugs.