A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2007 please help! dragon palm and moses in bulrush plant

ty in advance for your help... the palm is from my grandma's funeral and i don't want to lose it the bulrush is from a friend.
they both were fine until a few months ago when i gave them a dose of insecticide because some itsy-bitsy flying bugs were hanging around this planter. since then the bulrush leaves started turning brown almost overnight, when removing them my fingers would feel sticky. this seems to be getting better as in the leaves don't turn brown so fast but they still do and they are multipling so fast that the plants do not look healthy. i'm very concerned this will effect my dragon palm as some leaves have recently have some almost see through markings on them and the soil as some mold growing on top... any suggestions?

well marginatas (Madagascar dragon tree or palm) like to be on the dry side... and the "itsy bitsy" bugs flying around, are fugus gnats probably feeding off the mold grwoing on the soil surface any applicatin of insecticide on the leaves wont get rid of them since they are residing on the soil... the best line of defense is lay off the water... if its wet enough for mold too grow, its too wet for Mareginatas and Bulrush... drier soil will eliminate the food source of the gnats and they will soon disappear... as for the insecticide you need to let me know what knid it is...

thank you aaron!
do i need to repot them? do i dare this time of year and with them sick?
i've had the dragon for 15+ years and the plants have been together for 4-5 yrs.
i don't know what i was thinking, it's like i forgot everything i knew about plants, but i just read the directions and this is way embarassing but i made a 1 oz to 1 gal solution and watered the plants instead of spraying the plants
the stuff is ortho's insect & disease control formula 3...now what?
your help is sure appreciated!

from the pictures it seems to be a very reasonable size... repotting isnt necessary like i said the mold and fungus gnats will disappear with decreased watering... everything should be fine... but what was the active ingredient in the poison? what type of soil do you have in the pot?? a very loose soil mix with lots of bark, regular potting soil, and peat, will be best for these plants... remember the larger the pot the more adequate drainage needed...

thank you again aaron! thanks for sharing your knowledge!

active ingredients:
acephate (O, S -dimethyl acetylphosphoramidothoate) by wt 4%
triforine (N, N' -[1,4-piperazinediylbis (2,2,2-trichloroenthylidene)] bis [formamidel]) by wt 3.25%
hexakis (2-methyl-2-phenylpropyl)-distannoxane by wt .75%


soil: it's been a few yrs but i don't recall lots of bark being in the soil... if anything i probably mixed regular potting soil with something to help hold the water as well as something (white and very small i think) to help it drain. i would not say the soil is loose - but if push, i can stick my finger down in the soil and it is moist but not soggy. the pot does have a drain pan and i usually only water it when it is dry and then it would take like 1/2 gallon and then i would see some in the drain pan. it appears that the drain pan in empty

way back when i first repotted the palm it had a huge curve in the trunk where it had been growing towards the light while tucked into lots of other plants. that curve is now down in the pot and has been for yrs. last time i changed the soil it had a large root ball; i tried not to disturb it.

i will not be watering it until it drys out at least 3 inches. some of the problem in getting it to dry is that it is very cold here (-20° this week) and there seems to be a cold draft at night throughout the house brrrrr!

your welcome