Dying Leaves and White growths

16 years ago

My an Ex and I split about 10 months ago, and we had several plants. I wound up with an Aloe plant, and the strongest African Violet with the biggest blooms. It was also our first plant. Well Its dying. I have had it facing the right direction all summer, and always watered it from the bottom. However, the bottom leaves were slowing shriveling and dying. I would generally pinch them off from the original point of decay, but it never stopped.

I repotted it over the summer, and the death of the bottom leaves slowed down but never stoped. The only thing repotting did was allow some more leafs to growth from the top.

I moved about a month ago, and do not have access to the right window, but I keep it in indirect light. However, it has developed little white growths on it. I pick them off, but they just grow exponentially. I'm worried I don't want this to die. I have attached pictures, and I hope someone has some advice for me.

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white growth on leaf.

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growth on trunk, sorry about blur. Also, a lot of bottom leaves have died, it wasn't always this far out of the soil.

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Leaves that have died since late last week. *Note I do not water from the top, I water from the bottom of the pot.

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Comments (7)

fred_hill
16 years ago
Hi,
You have a bad case of foliar mealy bugs. Take an artists brush or Qtip and dip it into alcohol and touch each little blob. They will turn brown in some cases and disappear evenutally. Just make sure you keep on top of them and check daily for more of them. If you can't control them eventually you will have to toss out the plant. I would also try taking a leaf form the plant and potting it up but again you have to keep an eye on them.
Fred in NJ
chinacat
Original Author
16 years ago
would that effect the dying leaves? They have been a problem much longer than the foliar mealy bugs. Also, I dont know its importance, but the temp. and humidty is about 68-85F and 45-55% humidity.
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chinacat
Original Author
16 years ago
Also, I'm rather poor at the moment and have no rubbing alcohol. The only thing close I have is about a liter of vodka, could I use some of that?
violetta1976
16 years ago
chinacat, rubbing alcohol costs about 75 cents. it's worth it to have around for first aid purposes anyway, and a bottle will last you about a decade.

bottom leaves die on AVs. It just happens. I think I read somewhere that AV leaves have a life span of about a year until they shrivel up and die like yours have. Generally one should repot their AVs every 6 months or so to bury the exposed trunk. If you scrape the trunk lightly with a knife it will grow new roots much more easily.

Here is a link that might be useful: getting rid of a long neck
irina_co
16 years ago
Vodka works too - add 2-3 parts of water per 1 part of vodka - and spray the plant - nooks and crannies. Alcohol destroys the wax coating of the mealy bugs. Repeat the spraying 3 times week apart - and keep an eye on your plant in case they reappear from eggs. Keep it in a shade after spraying. Remove the dead leaves now.

Good luck

Irina
plumptomata
16 years ago
I just returned from the Ann Arbor Violet show and I asked about the same problem and one thing they recommended was to make sure there was plenty of air. I noticed when I moved the plants to another local with lots of air the problem stopped. I tried the alcohal and had no luck with it. So you might try putting a fan in room. However, don't let it get directly on the plants or get too cold. Anyway, that's the info I recieved. Hope it helps.
jean001
16 years ago
I suspect soil mealybugs rather than the foliar sort. When populations are large, some of the critters move upstairs to the stems and leaves.

When you repotted the AV, did you see any white powdery spots on the potting mix? Or did you see any powdery residue on the interior of the pot?

If the answer is yes to one or both of those questions, the AV has soil mealybugs.

If the answer is no, I suggest you slide the rootball out of the pot so that you can take another look.