Please let me know if there is a different subreddit that I should post this to.
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These are tropical plants that I keep in one of my grow bins. (Triolena obliqua, and another species of Melastomaceae that is supposed to be Tococa guianensis but probably ID’d wrong). I discovered this weird tiny black stuff on them, stunted growth, leaf drop (but not a lot of leaf drop as of yesterday). The black stuff looks like small particles of soil (but I know for a fact it’s not soil)? The black stuff does not seem to be moving? I have not found any insects moving in said grow bin either. I could not find any webbing/nets.
Since I took them out for inspection and transferred them to quarantine they have been doing significantly worse, due to stress and whatever disease (?) it is that has befallen them. First pic is one of the plants today, second is the same plant yesterday. The other pics are all from yesterday. Black stuff can be seen in pic 3 and the following.
Watering: I keep the substrate evenly moist, but not wet. Drainage via the holes in the pots/air pockets. Humidity high.
Light is probably a bit too much atm, but not the cause of the problem.
Any guesses or knowledge what might happening will be appreciated. If you can exclude certain pests, diseases, whatever, this will be helpful too, as my experience with plant diseases is very limited. Thanks in advance!
by AdOtherwise4089
1 Comment
hard to see from these pics as none get close enough to actually identify thrips by eye, but between the type of damage the plant is experiencing and the black specks that are not moving (which would be the excrement of thrips and dead thrips), I would say this plant has a very bad thrips infestation and to isolate it from other plants immediately. others will have better advice than me on how to treat thrips infestations……. I’ve always gone the way of extracting the plant from my home because I have too many other plants to risk a spread