This is my first Alocasia, and most variegated plant I have, had her for around 8 months now & this is the whitest leaf I’ve gotten since one of the starting leaves. Every other leaf is doing great, why the transparent spots? I use slow release fertilizer pellets from the store I got her at, but I don’t fertilize with every watering. Is that it? She’s also outside on my screened in patio, in south Florida, where it’s been raining a ton. Can it be too humid? Is it from water getting on the leaf? It doesn’t look like a water spot to me but I have no idea what causes spots like this! Super bummed that it ruined my best leaf 🥹 any specific care tips for highly variegated leaves & fertilizer recommendations welcomed! I’d like to prevent this from happening again!
by Eevanaa
1 Comment
There’s no real way to prevent this from happening, it’s just a natural thing that happens sometimes —even with the very best care. I have two variegated Frydeks and although they are very healthy they still occasionally get a discolored patch. White leaves in variegated plants don’t provide the plant with any chlorophyll, so essentially they are just bred for aesthetics.
You can try to add liquid silica (I use Bloom City, but I might switch to Rhino Skin when I’m done with this bottle) as it’s a plant cell strengthener. The issue with white leaves is they have a hard time transporting water to those areas which will occasionally create the spots. Silica helps to strengthen the overall plant. It won’t do anything for the existing leaves but with subsequent waterings with silica new leaves will be stronger and possibly more resilient to discoloration. Make sure you add silica to the water as the first ingredient if you are combining with any other fertilizers to prevent nutrient lock out.