Almost all my plants (indoor and balcony) have this dust like substance accumulate on the leaves. I can also see very webbing across leaves. Eventually there's a white substance that collates on the leaves and finally the leaves start drying up and dropping. To cure this I spray neem oil diluted in water to clean the leaves. The plant starts growing healthyily again (if its not too late) but the dirt comes back in a week. I live in an east facing house so there's plenty of morning light for all plants. Help!
by gorgeous95
12 Comments
It looks like regular dust to me?
Frequently spray the plant with water. Hoping you’re giving them enough sunlight and watering according to plant’s requirements .
Wipe it off with damp soft cloth. It looks like normal dust to me.
i second the dust
Probably dust sticking to your neen oil residue. Not a fan of neem for that reason
My friend in plants…. Do you not dust your walls?? House??
Do you have airflow?? How is there so much DUST???
The webbing sounds like spidermites. While neem can indeed be used to treat these, you have to wipe the oil off the plants again. The oil is suffocating the plants and makes dust stick to the surfaces. So plants can’t photosynthesize and *breathe* properly.
Get them in the shower and spray them good, then wipe them dry with a soft towel.
I agree that it looks like dust. You might use a dish detergent solution if you really think you’ve got spider mites.
You’ve described a low light situation which might be the cause of leaves yellowing and dropping off.
Neen oil is sticky and bad for your plants for prolonged applications. They build up a sticky residue that blocks the stomata of plants and prevent them from breathing eventually killing off leaves.
Give them a shower in your bathroom or at the very least just wipe them down with water and a microfiber towel. If you have a dusty room try cleaning more often and keep your windows closed if possible if there’s a dust causing condition outside.
After you spray Neem, you need to keep the plant out of direct sun for about a week. Neem oil and direct sun cause leaf burn
Spider mites. Leave neem on for a day or two then wipe off. Repeat repeat repeat and destroy all the little webs. Then try food grade diatomaceous earth. Then back to neem. Or throw the plant out
Do you have any other pictures of this dust? Because the dust in these pictures just looks like regular, well, dust.
Are you able to share what location you live in? If you live in a busy city and have your windows open a lot this will increase the dust in your home. If you live near busy traffic this will increase the amount of dust and dirt in your home. The more people living in your home and the more people coming and going, the more dust. Children running around? Dust. If you wear shoes indoors… dust. If you have pets? Dust x 10. If you hang your clothes up to air dry, more dust than you think.
I live in Chicago near a four way intersection right in front of a bus stop and in a location where moving trucks and all sorts of other vans like to stop and idle right outside my window. I have two dogs. The. Dust. Is. Hell.
I get dust on my plants and it looks exactly like your picture, and the worst offender is my bathroom. (Also around my laundry but there are no plants around there.) Funnily enough I literally just finished cleaning my bathroom and it was so dusty. Like, wipe the walls down dusty. People forget to clean vertical surfaces but dust accumulates on walls and doors.
But one of the **worst offenders for dust is my toilet paper.** I actually just switched it out right now for bamboo toilet paper as I read it is much less dusty. I have a lot of bathroom plants and every few days they are covered in thick white dust to the point that I’m always inspecting them with a magnifying glass looking for spider mites.
*
All that to say, I would guess that you saw dust and decided to clean your plants with neem oil, which attracted far more dirt (particularly outside). Additionally if you’re spraying your plants with neem oil and putting them immediately back outside or in the light, that’s likely killing them because neem oil increases plant sensitivity to light.
My suggestions would be:
* Stop using neem oil.
* Any time you use any pesticides, oils or soaps on your leaves, avoid putting your plants in direct light (including grow lights) for at least 12 hours.
* Use a damp cloth or paper towel to wipe down your plant leaves.
* Check the air quality in your home and consider investing in an air purifier.
* Change your toilet paper for a less dusty version if this is an issue.
* To water your plants put them in the sink or bathtub (or take outside) and hose or shower them down with as strong a spray as they can handle. I do this every time I water and it helps with dust and pests.
* Eastern light isn’t a lot of light, and depending on which plants you have this might not be enough for them. If you have plants that need a lot of light consider investing in a grow light.