Hello! I’m concerned my bird of paradise has a disease or infestation. Recently These white spots have appeared, but they look a little different from the pictures I’ve seen of mealy bugs. The stalk is also turning brown in spots. Any idea what they are or how to fix?

Hi there! I'm new to the forum and have a question about my 8 month old white bird of paradise that sits directly in front of a west-facing window. I water when the top two inches of soil are dry and use a moisture meter to verify. I also mist two to three times per week. Recently I discovered a spider mite infestation on several leaves. I removed them with a soapy water solution and followed up with two applications of horticultural oil across 7 days. No signs of them since! I also repotted the plant because there was a lot of mold growing on top of the soil and most of the advice I found suggested I repot with new soil. Now, about a week after repotting, I've discovered that one of the larger leaves has a patch of black discoloration that's been growing in size day by day. The same leaf in the area of black spots has turned slightly yellow. So far it's just contained to this one leaf. From what I've found it may be a fungal or bacterial infection, but there isn't much information directly about birds of paradise. I should note that there's also some yellow and brown streaks across several leaves that seem to have appeared at the same time as the spider mite problem. I've attached photos below to help visualize. I appreciate any advice on what could be going on here and any solutions that might mitigate it. Thanks in advance!

I've grow them for 6 years or more. It looks great nothing to worry about. Yes you can remove that old leaf. Yes new leaves will be more upright. Repotting can easily put into shock, especially indoors with out direct sun. If you watered well after repotting I would leave it for a few weeks until you see new growth. The more re potting the better as it grows. No plant likes to be pot bound. I see there are two plants in that pot.

The plant has too much water in the grow medium, and not enough air. I suggest you don't use the self watering capability of the container, top-water at appropriate intervals, and detach the reservoir and use it only as a collection saucer. Saturated media limits oxygen availability to roots which in turn limits roots' ability to function normally and move water to the plant's most distal parts. This results in dead areas on leaves at leaf margins and tips. The excess water in the soil is causing the oedema (a physiological disorder) in the Ficus and the malformed leaves as well. The lack of oxygen caused by over-watering limits the plant's ability to take up Calcium (Ca). It is essential that Ca is in adequately carried in the nutrient stream at all times if cells/ tissue are to form normally. The cracks/ tears on the BoP can occur when the leaf sticks to itself as it unfurls when humidity is too low (to please the plant); or, it can occur as a result of a Ca deficiency caused by too much water in the medium. Best course of action would be to stop relying on the container determining how much water the plants get and shouldering the responsibility yourself. You can maintain near perfect control over what are 'appropriate watering intervals' through the use of a 'tell' you can easily make yourself. First, separate the reservoir from the pot. You can discard it or perhaps use it as a collection saucer. A planting should not be allowed to sit in the effluent that exits its drain holes. Instead, a set-up like this will prevent the effluent from making its way back into the soil. This is sort of an outline to see how willing you are to make changes. If you think what I offered sounds helpful, we can start a dialog. Meanwhile, you can read up on what 'oedema' is and how using a 'tell' would help you gain control of your plants' water needs. Oedema Oedema (aka edema) is a physiological disorder that can affect all terrestrial plants. It occurs when the plant takes up more water than it can rid itself of via the process of transpiration. The word itself means 'swelling', which is usually the first symptom, and comes in the form of pale blisters or water-filled bumps on foliage. Under a variety of circumstances/cultural conditions, a plant's internal water pressure (turgidity) can become so high that some leaf cells rupture and leak their contents into inter-cellular spaces in leaf tissue, creating wet or weepy areas. Symptoms vary by plant, but as the malady progresses, areas of the leaf turn yellow, brown, brown with reddish overtones or even black, with older damage appearing as corky/ scaly/ ridged patches, or wart/gall-like bumpy growth. Symptoms are seen more frequently in plants that are fleshy, are usually more pronounced on the underside of leaves, and older/lower leaves are more likely to be affected than younger/upper leaves. Oedema is most common in houseplants during the winter/early spring months, is driven primarily by excessive water retention in the soil, and can be intensified via several additional cultural influences. Cool temperatures, high humidity levels, low light conditions, or partial defoliation can individually or collectively act to intensify the problem, as can anything else that slows transpiration. Nutritional deficiencies of Ca and Mg are also known contributors to the malady. Some things that can help you prevent oedema: * Increase light levels and temperature * Monitor water needs carefully – avoid over-watering. I'd heartily recommend a soil with drainage so sharp (fast) that when you to water to beyond the saturation point you needn't worry about prolonged periods of soil saturation wrecking root health/function. Your soil choice should be a key that unlocks the solutions to many potential problems. * Avoid misting or getting water on foliage. It slows transpiration and increases turgidity. * Water as soon as you get up in the AM. When stomata close in preparation for the dark cycle, turgidity builds. If you water early in the day, it gives the plant an opportunity to remove (for its own needs) some of the excess water in the soil. * Put a fan in the room or otherwise increase air flow/circulation. Avoid over-crowding your plants. Using a 'tell' Over-watering saps vitality and is one of the most common plant assassins, so learning to avoid it is worth the small effort. Plants make and store their own energy source – photosynthate - (sugar/glucose). Functioning roots need energy to drive their metabolic processes, and in order to get it, they use oxygen to burn (oxidize) their food. From this, we can see that terrestrial plants need plenty of air (oxygen) in the soil to drive root function. Many off-the-shelf soils hold too much water and not enough air to support the kind of root health most growers would like to see; and, a healthy root system is a prerequisite to a healthy plant. Watering in small sips leads to avoid over-watering leads to a residual build-up of dissolved solids (salts) in the soil from tapwater and fertilizer solutions, which limits a plant's ability to absorb water – so watering in sips simply moves us to the other horn of a dilemma. It creates another problem that requires resolution. Better, would be to simply adopt a soil that drains well enough to allow watering to beyond the saturation point, so we're flushing the soil of accumulating dissolved solids whenever we water; this, w/o the plant being forced to pay a tax in the form of reduced vitality, due to prolong periods of soil saturation. Sometimes, though, that's not a course we can immediately steer, which makes controlling how often we water a very important factor. In many cases, we can judge whether or not a planting needs watering by hefting the pot. This is especially true if the pot is made from light material, like plastic, but doesn't work (as) well when the pot is made from heavier material, like clay, or when the size/weight of the pot precludes grabbing it with one hand to judge its weight and gauge the need for water. Fingers stuck an inch or two into the soil work ok for shallow pots, but not for deep pots. Deep pots might have 3 or more inches of soil that feels totally dry, while the lower several inches of the soil is 100% saturated. Obviously, the lack of oxygen in the root zone situation can wreak havoc with root health and cause the loss of a very notable measure of your plant's potential. Inexpensive watering meters don't even measure moisture levels, they measure electrical conductivity. Clean the tip and insert it into a cup of distilled water and witness the fact it reads 'DRY'. One of the most reliable methods of checking a planting's need for water is using a 'tell'. You can use a bamboo skewer in a pinch, but a wooden dowel rod of about 5/16” (75-85mm) would work better. They usually come 48” (120cm) long and can usually be cut in half and serve as a pair. Sharpen all 4 ends in a pencil sharpener and slightly blunt the tip so it's about the diameter of the head on a straight pin. Push the wooden tell deep into the soil. Don't worry, it won't harm the root system. If the plant is quite root-bound, you might need to try several places until you find one where you can push it all the way to the pot's bottom. Leave it a few seconds, then withdraw it and inspect the tip for moisture. For most plantings, withhold water until the tell comes out dry or nearly so. If you see signs of wilting, adjust the interval between waterings so drought stress isn't a recurring issue. Al