I’ve had this tropical bird now for over 4 years and he’s grown a lot. We have replanted him once now and I think we have to replant him again. I don’t think he is as healthy as he should be. I do water him once to twice a week until I see drainage.
I do use this plant food as directed(1/4 teaspoon per watering can)
He gets plenty of sunlight and is directly next to the window.
by SaintBert47
11 Comments
Looks like a pest of some sort. I can’t tell if it’s thrips or scale
Looks like pests ( probably thrips )
i was not prepared for the last few pics, holy shit. i think you have thrips
Looks like scale, move your other plants away asap! I would treat all anyways
Aww man! This really sucks. You BoP was enormous and beautiful and then the s.o.b. bugs mess everything up. It’s going to be a battle to get the bugs gone and nurse it back to health.
I feel like he has also outgrown the pot, should we replant him before or after treating for scale/thrips?
Go look at the leaves close-up and look for tiny black specks on the underside. If see specks look even closer to see if the top layer of tissue has been scraped off or small clusters of small spots on the leaves. It’s easier to see if the leaf is held up to sunlight or a flashlight. If you see thrips crawling, beware they will jump away.
!scale
Scale. Use bonide systemic granules in the soil.
You need to carefully examine the leaves to determine if this is scale or thrips. I don’t have experience with either and perhaps they are treated the same way. But I’ve used captain jacks dead bug on spider mites with success.
Is your watering can a gallon size? Because super thrive is 1/4 tsp per GALLON. That stuff is super concentrated. If you are putting 1/4 tsp in a smaller can it’s too much and will definitely burn the leaves.
Major scale infestation. I’d suggest bonide granules in the soil and keep any children/pets away from it. You also need to wipe away the scale using a paper towel dampened with insecticidal soap weekly. The first cleanup is gonna be a major mess – make sure you wear disposable gloves cus they’re sticky and will get all over your hands as you wipe them away. They’re probably super clumped up between the petiole bases so you’ll possibly need to try wiping down there but don’t separate them too much. It’s save-able but you have to be diligent
And do it away from the couch. It’ll get covered in them as you remove.