Lady Penguin-Sounds like spider mites!!
Step 1: put the plant in quarantine area where it will stay for the next week or so. Step 2: do the same with all plants that have been in contact with the infested specimen, even if they don't show sign of spider mites yet Step 3: Place all your quarantine plants far apart from each other for some will respond to the treatment better then others and you do not want to keep re-infesting saved plants Step 4: take your plant out of it's pot and rinse root ball carefully to get as much of the dirt out as possible Step 5: wash the plant itself in running water to get rid of the webs and some of the mites Step 6: cover both your hands with dishsoap and cover the entire plant with dishsoap (top and bottom of leaves and stems) Step 7: let rest for a couple of minutes with the soap while you wash the pot carefully removing all traces of dirt (clay pots should soak 24 hours in water before re-use or just soak in boiling water for awhile) Step 8: romove all traces of soap from plant and repot in new soil Step 9: keep soil moist as spider mites love dry soil and observe your plant during the next week Step 10: if red spider mited still existe: repeat soap treatment but without removing the plant from it's pot----IF red spider mites seem gone: redo treatment anyways, just to be on safe side. Step 11: keep plant another week in quarantine and under observation, if alll seems good after second treatment return it to it's normal spot and treat as usual----if plant still has mites you can repeat the treatment up to 4 times at one week interval. *NOTE: this worked after the first treatment for me but I did a second just in case My plants were pretty far gone....I thought I would lose them all but I didn't This treatment advice was given to me by a professional florist whom I admire very much. He wanted me to bring my plants in for him to do the treatment for free! Nice guy. I did it myself though. I know the treatment can be long to do especially if the plant is big and has a lot of leaves but if you've had this plant for a long time, you don't want to lose it to those annoying little mites. I wish you all the luck. Be patient and as I said before in my last spider mite advice post, your plants will get a good bath and will benefit from it. Mine did! The yellow and wilted leaves are pretty much lost but just cut 'em off and new growths will appear soon enough.
Lady Penguin wrote:
Got a curly ivy plant ("Small Leaf Green Curly Locks") that isn't doing well. Despite everything I have done for it, it's still
getting brown spots on the leaves, then the leaves start dying...sometimes the brown starts on the edge of the leaf and then the
leaves turn dry and fall off. I had the same problem with the needlepoint ivy a few weeks back, suspected spider mites, and
sprayed the plant each day for a couple of weeks, and put it in a different location, and for the most part, the needlepoint ivy
isn't doing it anymore. I really like this little curly ivy plant, and would hate to lose it. Anyone really good with ivy
here? Could it be the soil isn't in the proper balance? I'm in Michigan...and the ivy's in the east window, to get some of the
morning sun (the tag that came with the plant calls for diffused light and frequent watering). I'd sure appreciate anyone's
suggestions.Kelly Sutton
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