A friend suggested i try here for help even though it is a garden
group.....

I have a ponytail palm that i have had for about a year. I have
recently married and moved from GA to TN...and i guess my plant is
telling me that he doesn't like it here! He has some
kind of white mold fuzzy stuff....forgive my description, but that's
what it looks like. It is on the leaves and down where the leaves come
from the plant. Do you have any suggestions to help me help my plant?
I love this plant and hate to lose it....i did try a local gardening
center...but to no avail. The clerk didn't seem to have any
suggestions that....she was 'filling in'.

thanks for any advice!

isabel

Sorry Tennessee!!!

An advanced case of fungal rot. There is nothing you can do at this point.

If the trunk is soft and mushy, the plant is gone.

Yeah, those garden center clerks are a real font of folksy wisdom!!!


"isabel" wrote in message
oups.com...
A friend suggested i try here for help even though it is a garden
group.....

I have a ponytail palm that i have had for about a year. I have
recently married and moved from GA to TN...and i guess my plant is
telling me that he doesn't like it here! He has some
kind of white mold fuzzy stuff....forgive my description, but that's
what it looks like. It is on the leaves and down where the leaves come
from the plant. Do you have any suggestions to help me help my plant?
I love this plant and hate to lose it....i did try a local gardening
center...but to no avail. The clerk didn't seem to have any
suggestions that....she was 'filling in'.

thanks for any advice!

isabel

Take a probe (toothpick) and poke around the fuzzy stuff, if what is
inside is squishy and tan or orangish in color you have an infestation
of mealy bugs which feed on the plant by piercing it and sucking out
the juices. The white fuzzy part is how they protect themselves from
predators.
You can knock them down a bit by giving the plant a good warm shower
but will most likely need to resort to pesticides.

isabel wrote:
A friend suggested i try here for help even though it is a garden
group.....

I have a ponytail palm that i have had for about a year. I have
recently married and moved from GA to TN...and i guess my plant is
telling me that he doesn't like it here! He has some
kind of white mold fuzzy stuff....forgive my description, but that's
what it looks like. It is on the leaves and down where the leaves come
from the plant. Do you have any suggestions to help me help my plant?
I love this plant and hate to lose it....i did try a local gardening
center...but to no avail. The clerk didn't seem to have any
suggestions that....she was 'filling in'.

thanks for any advice!

isabel

Nope...it's just fuzzy stuff. I made friends with a neighbor who has a
beautiful garden (even during the winter!) and she suggested maybe
spraying with a soap and water solution.

I am a bit concerned about my other house plants....i have the ponytail
palm in a room alone now as i am worried about my other plants. Should
i be worried?

isabel

Pesticides won't work because the plant is dormant this time of the year. In
any case, what would have been needed is a fungicide not a pesticide.

If the fungal infection is far enough along that it is producing fruiting
bodies, the plant is already too far gone to save.


wrote in message
oups.com...
Take a probe (toothpick) and poke around the fuzzy stuff, if what is
inside is squishy and tan or orangish in color you have an infestation
of mealy bugs which feed on the plant by piercing it and sucking out
the juices. The white fuzzy part is how they protect themselves from
predators.
You can knock them down a bit by giving the plant a good warm shower
but will most likely need to resort to pesticides.

isabel wrote:
A friend suggested i try here for help even though it is a garden
group.....

I have a ponytail palm that i have had for about a year. I have
recently married and moved from GA to TN...and i guess my plant is
telling me that he doesn't like it here! He has some
kind of white mold fuzzy stuff....forgive my description, but that's
what it looks like. It is on the leaves and down where the leaves come
from the plant. Do you have any suggestions to help me help my plant?
I love this plant and hate to lose it....i did try a local gardening
center...but to no avail. The clerk didn't seem to have any
suggestions that....she was 'filling in'.

thanks for any advice!

isabel

There is no such thing as "just fuzzy stuff".

If its fungal fruiting bodies, the plant has become thoroughly infested with
fungal hyphae and it is too late to save it.

You never said if the trunk of the plant is firm or soft and squishy.

Spraying it with soap and water won't do anything. Its a fungal infection
not a bug problem.

Worry if you want to. It won't change anything.

What you need is improved air circulation around your plants.


"isabel" wrote in message
oups.com...
Nope...it's just fuzzy stuff. I made friends with a neighbor who has a
beautiful garden (even during the winter!) and she suggested maybe
spraying with a soap and water solution.

I am a bit concerned about my other house plants....i have the ponytail
palm in a room alone now as i am worried about my other plants. Should
i be worried?

isabel

Thanks so much for all of the input....as a new gardener and houseplant
person, i still have lots to learn!

isabel

g'day isabel,

not sure if i'm to late but just stick the plant into full sun and let
the potting medium dry out, they don't like over watering and preffer
full sun.

len


snipped
With peace and brightest of blessings,

len

--
"Be Content With What You Have And
May You Find Serenity and Tranquillity In
A World That You May Not Understand."

http://www.users.bigpond.com/gardenlen1