Hi,

I'm hoping someone here can help me diagnose a problem I'm having with
an indoor palm.

The plant appears to be generally healthy, but upon close inspection
of the leaves, you can see many tiny (1/16") brown spots. The spots
are actually some sort of waxy/scale deposit which can be rubbed off.
Also, the floor area around the plant is continually sticky from some
form of secretion that is falling from the plant.

What is the problem and how do I fix it?

Please respond here or by email to


Thank you,

Andrea

g'day andrea,

sounds like scale insect, this can be treated by a product we call
white oil it is a petroleum based product, i think over your way it is
called dormant oil (could be wrong). if there isn't many of them and
they aren't right down into the base of the frond stems you can just
scrape them off with your finger nail etc.,.

if using the petrolium product i always use it at 1/4 recommended
strength, and give all the fronds and the top of the palm a good
spraying, the oil could cause some spotting of the fronds but new
fronds will grow and the palm will look good again.

do this treatment outside the house so the palm will need somewhere
out of the affects of the weather while the treatment works. you will
most likely find you have ants in the pot that is the most likely
cause of the infestation, so you will need to get rid of the ants, i
usually do this by soaking the pot in water for a day or 2 no longer.
place the potted plant into a recepticle ie.,. laundry tub with the
plug in fill with water until wat reaches the top of the pot, keep
topping up the water until the potting medium is saturated and the
water level stays up. after this let the pot drain.

len

snipped
--
happy gardening
'it works for me it could work for you,'

"in the end ya' gotta do what ya' gotta do" but consider others and the environment
http://home.dnet.aunz.com/gardnlen/

Thanks for the input. I'll give it a shot.

Andrea


On Tue, 16 Dec 2003 03:52:25 +1000, len gardener
wrote:

g'day andrea,

sounds like scale insect, this can be treated by a product we call
white oil it is a petroleum based product, i think over your way it is
called dormant oil (could be wrong). if there isn't many of them and
they aren't right down into the base of the frond stems you can just
scrape them off with your finger nail etc.,.

if using the petrolium product i always use it at 1/4 recommended
strength, and give all the fronds and the top of the palm a good
spraying, the oil could cause some spotting of the fronds but new
fronds will grow and the palm will look good again.

do this treatment outside the house so the palm will need somewhere
out of the affects of the weather while the treatment works. you will
most likely find you have ants in the pot that is the most likely
cause of the infestation, so you will need to get rid of the ants, i
usually do this by soaking the pot in water for a day or 2 no longer.
place the potted plant into a recepticle ie.,. laundry tub with the
plug in fill with water until wat reaches the top of the pot, keep
topping up the water until the potting medium is saturated and the
water level stays up. after this let the pot drain.

len

snipped

Thanks for the input. I'll give it a shot.

Andrea


On Tue, 16 Dec 2003 03:52:25 +1000, len gardener
wrote:

g'day andrea,

sounds like scale insect, this can be treated by a product we call
white oil it is a petroleum based product, i think over your way it is
called dormant oil (could be wrong). if there isn't many of them and
they aren't right down into the base of the frond stems you can just
scrape them off with your finger nail etc.,.

if using the petrolium product i always use it at 1/4 recommended
strength, and give all the fronds and the top of the palm a good
spraying, the oil could cause some spotting of the fronds but new
fronds will grow and the palm will look good again.

do this treatment outside the house so the palm will need somewhere
out of the affects of the weather while the treatment works. you will
most likely find you have ants in the pot that is the most likely
cause of the infestation, so you will need to get rid of the ants, i
usually do this by soaking the pot in water for a day or 2 no longer.
place the potted plant into a recepticle ie.,. laundry tub with the
plug in fill with water until wat reaches the top of the pot, keep
topping up the water until the potting medium is saturated and the
water level stays up. after this let the pot drain.

len

snipped