I heard back from the seller, who told me the strange spotting was harmless. I told her I found scale and asked if the plant had been treated. I'm waiting for her response. I'm so glad I also consulted everyone here, or I would've trusted her and left the plant alone! Jane, thanks for all the advice. I actually found an old post of yours about a soap, oil, and alcohol spray. I'll be trying that, or maybe a dip in the same solution, tonight. A dip sounds more effective to me than the spray, and my plants are small. I want to dip both the orchid and the Hoya cv. Mathilde that was shipped with it, then spray every 2 weeks, like you said, going forward. Does that sound like a good plan? There's a third plant that was next to these 2 for a day. (Not much plant space left in the room.) It's a Primulina tamiana, which has fuzzy leaves. On second thought, the hoya has hairy stems. How should I treat these plants? I've read oil and alcohol sprays aren't good for fuzzy leaves, but no one recommends an alternative. How easily/quickly does scale spread to other plants? Arthurm, I'm not sure what you mean by pristine wilderness stuff...? I thought the plant looked pretty good at first too, especially with the new growth and spikes. I usually convert my plants to semihydro, so don't have overwatering issues. Speaking of media, will repotting help with the pest situation? Or will the additional stress be too harmful? I actually have some hydroton ready to go. The other plants can wait. Cynthia

Hi Andrew No one is will never be to sure about what is wrong with your tree. You will be the best jude of that based on your own cultural habits, but you will get a lot of diagnosis and helpful suggestions. What is sure is that is your pH is off base in your mix, you will see symptoms of what you are looking at now. All bagged mixes come pre-made with added lime for a purpose. Your ph might be so off base, that your tree is not taking up important nutrients that are locked up. You are also denying your tree of much needed Ma and Ca which makes a world of difference in coloring. I would add lime as soon as possible or repot into a mix with lime if it were my plant. I would also look for a fertilizer that provides Ma and Ca such as Foliage Pro. Next, I would make sure the roots look ok to count out root rot. Is it taking a while to dry out, even in summer? I use 4 parts bark and one part peat in my mixes along with one part perlite which is very porous and dries out very nicely. 4 parts peat would be too wet too long for my plants. The reason I am going this route is because you said it was yellowing before you brought it indoors. That kind of yellowing is always related to nutrients uptake issues or bad roots. Where do you live to give us a better feel about your mixes and trees? Mike

Yep keeping them in flats will cause that. It may be that they were root bound--I hope you loosened the roots a bit. It may be that they weren't getting thoroughly wet or were getting too wet or it may be lack of fertilizer. If they are still that way after a while and fail to grow, It's because they were root bound and the only cure is to dig them out and loosen the roots.

I was thinking the same thing. I actually think they look pretty good. Just because they can be grown in water for a while does not mean they cannot get over saturated when growing in medium. They actually grow different kinds of roots between the two types of culture. Those in the medium need aeration and can definitely drown. Alliums almost all are notorious for needing excellent drainage.