What is this sticky stuff on my Bird of Paradis???

[dixiechick]

Please help...

I have 3 potted white Birds of Paradis that are kept indoors year round. Several months ago, I noticed my hardwood floor covered in something sticky. I thought the kids spilled a soda and left it there...so I wiped it up with a Clorox wipe.

A few weeks after that, the same thing....then I noticed the leaves had a clear sticky something in spots all over it. They also had these little brown, raised circles on the leaf...kinda like a small lady bug, but attached...I could remove them with my nail.

Last weekend, I took that plant outside and wiped it down with Clorox wipes (I know...running the risk of killing the plant...but quickly rinsed it all off with the hose).

Now, it's back. And I am now noticing it in the plant downstairs. Nothing new has been exposed to these plants...and they are all separate from each other.


What it is? and more importantly, how do I treat it??

 

[patandchickens]

Scale. Your plant has scale. The sticky stuff is their 'honeydew' droppings.

Best I know of is to manually remove EVERY LAST DARN ONE NO MATTER HOW TINY from EVERY VISIBLE PART OF THE PLANT and scrape the soil back a bit so you can get 'em off the upper part of the root mass too.

Do this at least once a week, preferably more often, for the rest of the season. (You will not be getting all of them. Ever. The goal is to keep knocking the population down as much as possible)

Then put the plants outside for the summer once the season permits, preferably near somewhere with lotsa anthills. Ants don't do as well getting rid of scale as getting rid of mealybugs, but they do *help*.

(e.t.a - insecticidal soap sprays e.g. safer soap help *somewhat* against scale, but IME not hugely, and some plants are sensitive to them, I have no idea about strelitzia in particular.)

Anything else you can do to get the plants happier will also help -- do they need repotting, better drainage, more/less watering, a small bit of fertilizer, better light, more humid air, etc? The more stressed the plant, the more susceptible it is to galloping infestations of scale, mealybug or spidermite.

GOod luck,

Pat

 

[dixiechick]

oh, good grief! Thanks so much...I'll get right on it!!