Plant Problems

Question

I have a tropical foliage tree that I got from Walmart and it’s doing great. I can clearly see the new growth that looks healthy. My only problem is that I’ve noticed that the tips are starting to die and I’m seeing some odd scarring. My cats use to eat at the leaves but I’ve since moved it to higher ground so they can no longer eat the leaves. I’ve also noticed that when I trimmed one of the leaves with the scarring and washed it, there were very faint white odd shaped spots. Also, at the base of the leaves where they meet, the tree stock there is some sort of blue build up. I don’t know the name of the plant but I can provide a picture to help you figure out what the problem could be. I love my plants and I get very concerned when something could be harming them and I would really like help before I use insecticide on all my plants for good measure. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

The brown tips are most likely caused by over or under watering. Water the plants when the soil is dry to the touch on top. It sounds like the plants may also have a pest problem, maybe mealybugs. Regardless, the pests can be treated with a pesticide – we recommend neem oil (https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/plant-problems/pests/pesticides/neem-oil-uses.htm ). You can even try just washing the plants off in the shower, focusing water at the pests (the spots you see). Sometimes this is enough to knock the bugs off and get rid of them.