TLDR: Wtf is all this damage? I can’t find any pests and all these plants have been doing great. Then BOOM issues out of seemingly nowhere.
Is this fungus?! wtf is happening?! I feel like I’m taking crazy pills!!
Alright I have over 90 plants, most of them tropical, and recently a bunch of them took a turn for the worse. I am stumped.
Here’s the story: I had some 60 plants and moved October last year into a bigger place. I’m located in the PNW. It’s humid here, but my house is pretty cold. All my plants made the move and shock, but some struggled a little over winter. Like my PPP lost about four leaves and all the plants went basically dormant.
Once spring hit plants started growing, I started setting up new plant areas and organizing my new place and plant babies. I also got a bunch of new ones because yay! More space! I also propped a bunch of the other ones that had gotten leggy.
During this process I got a Thai constellation that ended up with root rot. Then, I think I cross contaminated a couple of my plants (like my white wizard and an n’joy) with root rot. (Sobbing.) The n’joy is basically dead, the TC is growing a new leaf, and the WW seems like I was able to save it.
But now ‼️ a bunch of plants are having issues and spots. Some are newer ones, others I’ve had for some time with no issue.
Pic 1: a stem of my Epipremnum pinnatum albo that looks like it got eaten and one of its leaves with a chunk taken out of a leaf. Then two of the leaves in pic 2&3.
Photos 4&5 are my ring of fire, which has a cut leaf from the store. It was looking great and then developed these pinhead spots all over some of the leaves. I just sprayed it with neem oil.
Then my global green with a random cut in the leaf and some other damage… this hasn’t been handled and no I don’t have a cat.
My Cebu blue is curling and getting brown spots. My ficus Benjamina has crispy ends. My pearls and jade has a bunch of yellowing leaves and crispy edges.
My rhaphidaphora has multiple yellowing leaves with spots on them. (If any of the plants just happen to be shedding old leaves, this is the one. But I’m suspicious.)
Guarantee these have not gotten overwatered. I’ve been on top of that since the root rotted Thai constellation situation.
Re: pests
I got a mythic micky mouse xanthosoma a while back for a steal recently that was worse for wear. After a couple weeks I discovered it had spider mites. It was quarantined, treated, and has been given a clean bill of health and has grown two new leaves with one on the way. I have inspected all my other plants with a magnifying glass and have not found any pests.
All pots have drainage. More care details (fertilizer, light, watering) in comments.
by motolady
7 Comments
More details:
* house temp hasn’t dropped below 67° and stays around 72° during the day
* Issues began before air conditioning was turned on for the summer months
* I use spring water not tap water
* Only water when they’re DRY
* Lighting: all these get ample light. I have Sansi bulbs & Barrina t5 lights. All these measure between 6000-8900 lux.
* None of these are in direct sun (the pearls and jade was in direct sun for approx 1-2hr per day but I moved it weeks ago when I saw a crispy edge)
* Soil mix: fox farms ocean forest + perlite + orchid bark
* Fertilizer: super thrive vitamin solution (.5-0-0), superthrive pro-tekt silicon solution (0-0-3), south side leafy plant food (14-4-9)
Here’s an example of where some of these plants live (they’re all over my house):
https://preview.redd.it/4lymxeq8jc7f1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a452f012347b7418f5da7969f059b82a062619bf
Damn!!! I hope you get some good answers!!
I would definitely check for thrips.
Thrips
im sorry im no help but- what is the plant in #7? its so pretty
That looks completely normal to me. Plants need to shed some old leaves. You just gotta remove them. I think you underwater a bit. You have good lighting so you can water when it’s not completely dry still and maybe they won’t feel the need to shed a leaf cus they are thirsty. Otherwise look out for spidermites on that ficus and keep your plants clean with black soap and shower.
Thrips, spider mites