JADE PLANTS...off topic, but help needed...

[rehric00]

Hey guys, I know this is ORCHID board, but chnaces are, most of you have other plants too...

Anywho... I have a very large jade plant with a white powdery substance on it.. I spoke to a guy who owns/runs a plant shop in Chicago who sells jade plants.. He told me to use 70% rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle to treat it. He said spray the leaves and stems everyday for about 14 days then every other day for a while. He said it is better for the plants than insecticides and what not.

My question is.....
Will this harm the plant? I have heard it does not, then I have heard that it does...

Any advice????

[Anisa]

One of my jade plants has sort of powdery flakes on its leaves that rubs off but I know that there is nothing wrong with this plant; it is healthy and grow like a weed. I am not sure if that is the same thing you are talking about. It is hard to tell without a picture.

[rehric00]

Well tonight, we put the pot in the bathtub and sprayed all the leaves off. It looked like someone sprinkled white dust on them. Almost like a mold. Some of the leaves that were heavily covered in the powder turned black or had dark brown spots on them. I would like to try to use alcohol spray on them, but I do not know if that would harm the plant or not

[RosieC]

I've never had that on mine. Folks use similar things on orchids though to treat pests so I think if it's fine on an orchid it should be fine on a Jade.

I would try an alcohol spray on part of the plant first and if it's not reacted badly to that in a few days use it all over.

Make sure you get rubbing alcohol/isopropohol alcohol. Different alcohols have different size of molecules and smaller ones can affect the plants badly, but rubbing/isopropohol is generally fine.

[Paul Mc]

I had this on a really old one that was several feet tall. It ultimately killed it, but it took a long time to do so. I just thought it was normal because it had been there for such a long time. Oops...

I agree with Rosie, test it first if you are concerned about it. I would only caution against getting the alcohol mixture into the soil. You might want to wrap the base with some sort of fabric to prevent it getting into the soil.

[RosieC]

Oh, and I forgot to say that I have moved this to the 'Off Topic' area

[rehric00]

Thanks guys. And thanks for moving it. I did not realize there was an "off topic" forum I will try the alc on a small part for now and see what happens. I would have to loose the plant bc it was my Grandma's and she has since passed. It is soooo big it would be a shame to kill it!

[dendro photo]

If it looks like a mold it could be just that i had one die from a mold problem I would clean it best as possible and if the leaves are even a tiny bit mushy hold back on water for a bit remember it is a succulent and likes to be forgotten from time to time. Hope this helps