We've been very successful looking after our plants over the last year or so, but during the last week four or five of them (in different, separate rooms) have starting exhibiting similar symptoms. Some leafs yellow and start wilting, then more leaves, and then the whole plant just starts looking terribly sad.
First we thought it could be thrips or spider mites since we've had those issues before, but I inspected them closely with a magnifying glass and saw no thrips/spider mites/larvae at all (with the exception of one possible spider mite on one plant, but it could also have been a small insect). I gave them the alcohol + washing up liquid treatment and kept them under observation – still no sign of bugs when looking through a magnifying glass, but the plants keep getting sicker.
Some of the plants (both the sick ones and some others that don't have any symptoms yet) have some tiny white stains on them which can be removed by hand. First I thought they were spider mite webs but I am not certain. And today when I looked on the window sill behind another plant (that has no symptoms so far), I saw a weird white pattern on the window sill itself (that's on the fourth picture). Could that be some kind of fungus? Could this be a fungus infection after all, and how would I go about sorting it out? Or is it some kind of bug after all?
by Erreala66
4 Comments
Could you share your watering routine & lighting situation?
Very likely NOT a fungus. Those white marks look like hard water stains. When plants yellow leaves like this it is almost always under or overwatering. 95% of the time it is overwatered. Because you have had these for a year, it is time to pull the plants out and check the roots. Are they rotting? Are they root bound?
The adansonii damage looks more like overwatering than thrips to me. But with thrips you always have to check the underside of the leaves for any tiny tiny black spots, they are hard to see.
How often do you water and how do you check when it’s time to water?
That is overwatering.