On 2009-05-24 16:10:04 +0100, "Les Hemmings" said:


Hi folks...

Have a cutting (now a couple of years old) from the Musa basjoo in the
garden growing indoors on a sunny windowsill.

It is playing host to a pest I've not come across before. It makes the
leaves brown / yellow at the edges and droop, eventually to die.

If you look closely there is a very fine web a little like spider's web
under the leaves, especially in the ribs, and around new shoots that is
inhabited with very, very small white crawly things.

Have tried daily misting with water to no avail...

Any ideas chaps?

Les

I asked my husband about this and he agrees that it's most probably red
spider mite. Treat it for that, though once they get a hold, they're
hard to get rid of. There is a natural predator called Phytoseuiulus
persimilis that seeks and destroys red spider mite and then dies off
itself. Do a Google on natural predators. It may also be that the
leaves are browning because the house atmosphere isn't humid enough for
them.
--
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
Exotic plants, shrubs & perennials
South Devon