A Gardeners Forum Forums Members History Forum Life 2004 New here, new to plants, having problems!

(I cross-posted this in the pests section, sorry.)

Several days ago we bought a Money tree from Target, and when we bought it it had this white stuff on most of the leaves. This morning several of the leaves look damaged. I'm kinda new to caring for plants, especially 'foreign' plants, so I'm wondering what/why this is (both the white stuff and the leaves being destroyed) and what should I do about it? Is it something serious enough I should move it away from the other plants (contagious?)

I took some pictures:
Some of the white stuff
Some of the damaged leaves
More of the damaged leaves
An underside shot, showing a little bit of the white stuff around the edges
More white stuff
More white stuff and a bit of the damaged leaves
More damaged leaves
More of both
Where it resides

It's ontop of our entertainment stand next to our Bonsai Japanese Juniper, and on the other side are two vases of Lucky Bamboo. The thing in the middle is fake. They're there because our apartment faces north by north-west and doesn't get much sun. Usually between 4pm to 6pm the sun peeks around the building and gives some direct sunlight to the entertainment stand and the plants. This is the best place I could find indoors that gives the plants direct sunlight. The rest of the day the plants receive indirect sunlight from that window (I leave the blinds open 24/7 to make sure they get as much sun as possible.)

Any help or opinions are greatly appreciated. Also some help/resources on caring for our various new plants (we got the Bonsai from a street vendor a few days before we bought the Money tree and Bamboo.)

Thanks

I suck at houseplants , and no I don't kill them, They commit suicide! But.....the white spots on your leaves looks like either chemical(fertilizer spray) was splashed on it or it was dusty from being in the store and just plain water was splashed on it. I would take a soft cloth and dampen it and wipe each leaf. Isn't there something they use to make leaves of these kind of houseplants shiny ???? Somebody else will know. Is it toothpaste ?? Anyway, I would also keep it out of direct sunlight until you get the white stuff off??

I 2nd that notion...cleaning them with a damp cloth will probably remove that "white stuff". The damage looks like its just "careless damage"...stores like Target,Walmart,K-Mart,etc. aren't really careful about how the plants are treated.

I love your Bonsai tree

Hi from Kentucky!

Welcome to the forum!

Nice to meet you!

Cindy

Thanks for the info and the warm welcome.

Welcome to The Garden Helper Cochris

Happy Belated 21st Birthday Month!!!

My daughter just turned 21 yesterday. She's really a sweetheart. We did go look at her house she's buying this week.

Hi! I'm new to this forum as of this morning but so glad to find one more place to gab about plants! I'm a landscaper of over 20 years and love to share what I know and learn from other gardeners. The 'white stuff' on your houseplant leaves is simply calcium or lime deposits from the water used to water it. They can easily be removed by rubbing some mayonnaise on the leaves which is also used to give the leaves a nice shine. I've used this for years on all my houseplants just to remove dust. As far as damaged leaves, no matter what the damage is from, just pick off the damaged leaf at the base of the stem and usually another will grow. Leaves dying off is just a natural process of any plant's life. It grows new ones and old ones die off. To prevent the 'white stuff', water the plant at the soil surface and keep your tap water off the leaves. Hope this helps... Becki

Hi Becky It's really nice to meet you

Update! (x-posted again, sorry :p )
Hey, I'm back. I have a possible lead on my disappearing leaf problem... I caught a bug (of the flying variety) flying around the plant, but I don't know what it is... Here's some pics:


http://nilk.net/pics/bug1.jpg
http://nilk.net/pics/bug1.png (higher quality)

http://nilk.net/pics/bug2.jpg
http://nilk.net/pics/bug2.png (higher quality)
(same bug, different angle)

Could this be what's eating my leaves? How can I rid my plant/apartment of these?

Good news is though, the tree seems healthy enough to grow new leaves:
http://nilk.net/pics/plant.jpg
http://nilk.net/pics/plant.png (higher quality)
Aint it cute? :p

Anyway, any help with the possible bug problem would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

Fungus gnats... I had them before and they are a pain in the rear....to say it nicely.
Go to the top and there is a google area or use the forum search and type in fungus gnats....there are many threads related to this little creature.
plant needs to dry out some inbetween waterings....some people use diazinon (myself) and different watering schedules...others use sand etc. You will have to make up your mind which method you prefer. They usually don't harm the plant....just a nuisance.
I would use a damp cloth and clean off the leaves to get the mineral deposits/fertilizer off the leaves.
Looks like you have a great plant otherwise.
Catlover

Do you think this Sevin Dust stuff the other person kept telling me about would help? Should I only try one of the things mentioned?

I was thinking: reduce watering (right now I water on Monday and Thursday, so I was gonna start only watering on Monday, possibly skipping this next week entirely though and starting again next Monday (18th).)

And putting some Sevin Dust on it as well.

I've basically heard to try the following:

Reduce watering
Mosquito dunks
Sevin Dust
Sand
Gnat pesticide
Ladybugs
Spray soil with solution of 1 tbsp listerine in 1 gallon of water

I personally don't know what is in Sevin Dust....I used the very small granulated Diazanon. I scraped off the very top layer of soil replaced with some new soil and a small layer of sand...sprinkled some diazanon on top of that ...I water thoroughly and then let it go as long as possible. The top 1/3 of the soil should be pretty dry before rewatering. I don't know anything about your plant so not sure how much water it takes. I think just cutting down on water and letting the top dry out will help a lot. Remember these chemicals are poisonous to animals....you can also place a wide mouth bowl near the pot and place a water/soap mixture in it to trap those little guys...(if you have a cat make sure the top is covered with something like hardware cloth)..some people use those yellow sticky paper to trap them....or if there are a lot of gnats you can see just suck them up in a little hand vaccum cleaner. Those gnats are more of a pain than anything else.