SHOP PRODUCTS
Houzz Logo Print
aptplanter

Help a newbie - diagnosing cause of brown spots

aptplanter
14 years ago

Hi there,

Hope you can help me out - I'm completely new to the world of houseplants. I very much enjoy the atmosphere and calm the greenery brings to my apt but am a novice at caring for them.

I have an aglaonema that I've had for about 3-4 months now. The plant has been growing well, it now has some 'flower' buds popping up with new leaves (while searching for answers to the brown spot question, I read it's best to pinch the flowers off - thoughts?).

I've suddenly noticed 2 problems. First, there are tiny sticky droplets - faily isolated to the new flower leaf growth. They are on the underside of the leaves as they are wrapped around the flower bud and that is the part that shows. The more mature leaves have brown spots on the bottom - I've attached a picture.

I searched on this but cannot seem to determine if it's scale, aphids or mealy bugs, all of which produce the 'honeydew' or if it's nothing. while I do see some white spots on the top of the leaves - usually in the middle vein or where the leaf meets the stem, I wouldn't describe them as cottony and they seem to be on leaves without brown spots, although there is occasionally a few honeydew drops on the underside of these leaves. There doesn't seem to be anything on the leaves with the whitespots or most of the honeydew.

Can anyone help me figure out which it is, and recommend the appropriate treatment? (I live in an apt in NYC and this is an indoor plant)

The other issue with the same plant is that some of the leaves have started to curl downwards at the tips - some with a severe bend. While I was searching for info on the other problem, I came across this one mentioned, but I can't seem to find the page on the web again.

Thank you!

Image link:

Comment (1)