Sugar/sand like stuff on leaves????

[gardengirl13]

Originally Posted by Leafmite

Granular Rose systemic I have always used Bayer. Either the two in one or the three in one will do. The third thing in the three-in-one is fungus. Roses often have fungus issues. If you have been fertilizing, flush the pot very well first as granular contains fertilizer. Then, water well and do not fertilize it again until the systemic wears off. The fertilizer of the new formula is strong and roots can be burned if you are not careful.

I did notice that some parts of NY restrict the sales but it can be bought on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0049PL9PC...d_i=B000BX1HJ4

---------- Post added at 10:22 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:07 AM ----------

I understand about the attachment to plants. I have a few plants that are nothing special but they are like old friends. Like you, I have spent hours cleaning off the leaves of some of my plants before finally giving up and using the granular rose systemic and just resolving not to make use of the edible leaves/fruit. I did buy Neem oil to try this autumn to see if I can prevent the usual winter problems.

When talking to another plant person about my scale issues, I was told to try coffee grounds on any new/clean plants as a preventative. So far, I haven't seen scale on my cinnamon, jasmine, or citrus, usually scale magnets. I am not sure if this is good fortune or if it does indeed work. We shall see.

If I can't find it locally I'll just get it from amazon. Thanks!

We got Phil (Phil the Ficus silly name with a tiny story behind it) from a nursery that is now closed, well has been for like 16 years I think! ha ha! he was without a pot, sitting on a shelf just there laying down. He was only about 8" tall from roots to top leaves. I saw an empty plastic pot and put him in it and bought a ceramic one with him and took him home hoping for the best. He was fine from day one. Maybe he had only just fallen out of his pot? Who knows. But he's moved with us about 4 times and got moved in the houses a few times in each place as he got bigger. Then he got moved every year for the christmas tree. Like I said he'd only pout for a couple weeks losing maybe 15-25 leaves, that was it. Even in fall he'd shed maybe 5 leaves. Then immediately grow like 10 more.

How do plants get scale like that? He isn't near any other plants. Well there is the hanging nepenthes, but I checked him over 20 times since this happened and it's fine. I did have a desert rose for a few months and noticed she had a bit of honeydew on her, so since she has been slightly problematic since I got her I just tossed her. but they were never watered from the same container. I do have some cactus and succulents that got watered with the desert rose and were sitting next to and touching the pot but so far none are showing any scale. How can a plant go 16+ years without any disease or insect problems then suddenly get this? The people we bought the house from did not keep any plants. Outside even was just lawn. We do have a hay field to one side, woods on two others and across the road. But I have not seen any signs of scale outside either. I do hear there are bugs that eat scale. So who knows?

But yeah I'm so sad. I will be hosing it off today trimming out some branches then cleaning everything all over again. Then spraying, then try to get the systemic stuff too. sigh. I hope Phil appreciates all this work! ha ha!!

---------- Post added at 10:56 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:53 AM ----------

Do the coffee grounds help old plants too? When I get him all situated should I dig in some in addition to the systemic insecticide? It's been a bit since I've bought a new houseplant that's not an orchid or carnivorous plant and play on saturating anything I get with dishsoap and water.

[Ray]

Originally Posted by gardengirl13

No no no, sorry if I wrote that wrong. The fert or corrosion dust stuff is coming from the humidity trays above the plant and falling down onto the plants. I have it figured out that the trays themselves are just corrosive with the water and gravel I have in them and they get a build-up of what I originally thought might have been from fert, but I think it's just the aluminum reacting to the rocks and water. It builds up like hard water and flakes and chunks off. I do get a bit of buildup of fert on the outside of my terracotta pots, I do weakly weekly and then once a month flush with plain water. But it might be the hard water building up too since my terracotta pots I water with water only and only fert maybe once a month or less get that buildup too. And it's rain water that doesn't really measure high on hard water. So I'm not sure.

Aluminum can be toxic to plants, so I'd find a way to avoid letting the "crud" drop on them.

[gardengirl13]

Originally Posted by Ray

Aluminum can be toxic to plants, so I'd find a way to avoid letting the "crud" drop on them.

Thanks!

I've been trying to figure out something other then the baking trays. The closest I can find are shallow litter pans, but they're still not quite right. I'm almost wondering if I even need them. Some people say that humidity trays really don't add that much moisture to the air and that just having all the plants together add just as much or more as the trays do. We do have AC and heat which dry the air, but the gauge by the orchids reads about 40% most days, so it's not horrible. But I assume a colder winter then last year might make it drier, but I do mist the soil every couple days when it's dry. Think that'll be enough and I can ditch the trays?


ETA: it's not a whole lot of crud on them, they get a few sand size spots that I brush off or washes off when I do a light misting of the leaves. Will they be able to handle a little bit like that, or is even that much bad for them?

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[Leafmite]

You can use the coffee grounds with any of your plants. It does tend to compact so you will need to mix in a little sand or perlite now and then to keep the soil loose.

[Ray]

Gardengirl, I am one of those - probably the most outspoken about it (butch that applies to a lot of things...) that views "humidity trays" to be a colossal waste of time and effort.

Read this:
Evaporation - First Rays LLC

[estación seca]

I've done the experiment. I measured the relative humidity near plants, put a water tray under those plants, came back in a day and measured the relative humidity again. There was no change.

You can also measure how much water disappears from the water tray over the course of a day, and calculate how much that should raise the relative humidity for the pertinent volume of air. It is next to zero.

If you want to raise the relative humidity around plants, you need to have something that actively puts water into the atmosphere. This includes lots of water-hungry, leafy plants; animals; and the various kinds of humidifier machines. Or, you need to enclose the plants in a space with minimal air exchange.