We have an indoor Bird of Paradise plant about 5 feet tall. We got it only
couple of months ago. Just couple of days ago i've noticed a small
segmented worm under the plant. The worm is about half an inch long of light
brown color. I looked closely in the soil and noticed tens of much smaller
worms like this one. Whitish to brownish color, segmented but no legs that
i could see. The plant also has one suspicious black hole on one of the
branches. Plus some leafs have no less suspicious holes through them. Not
to many though. Only 3 or 4 about half an inch to quarter of an inch in
diameter. These holes possibly came with the plant. I'm no gardening
expert, but i think that something could be living inside the stems that is
damaging the plant. And those worms could come from the larvae as we had a
problem with tiny flies in the fall. Can anybody recommend what to do with
these worms or holes in the leaves?

Return it to where you bought it and ask for your money back.


Paul wrote in message
...
We have an indoor Bird of Paradise plant about 5 feet tall. We got it
only
couple of months ago. Just couple of days ago i've noticed a small
segmented worm under the plant. The worm is about half an inch long of
light
brown color. I looked closely in the soil and noticed tens of much
smaller
worms like this one. Whitish to brownish color, segmented but no legs
that
i could see. The plant also has one suspicious black hole on one of the
branches. Plus some leafs have no less suspicious holes through them.
Not
to many though. Only 3 or 4 about half an inch to quarter of an inch in
diameter. These holes possibly came with the plant. I'm no gardening
expert, but i think that something could be living inside the stems that
is
damaging the plant. And those worms could come from the larvae as we had
a
problem with tiny flies in the fall. Can anybody recommend what to do
with
these worms or holes in the leaves?

If you have a large bucket you can mix up some diazinon or orthene in, you
can then soak the pot in it to kill off any of the centipedes or millipedes
(or any other "worm"), any fungus gnats and their larvae, and most other
unseen problems. When drained, I'd sprinkle some snail bait on the soil
surface in case there's some of them that survived your treatment and are
causing your leaf problems at night when you don't see them. Otherwise
Strelitzia is a marvelously wonderful plant, easy to grow and care for
(don't overwater, use a well-drained mix), and will reward you with flowers
yearly after reaching flowering size.
Gary

"Paul" wrote in message
...
We have an indoor Bird of Paradise plant about 5 feet tall. We got it
only
couple of months ago. Just couple of days ago i've noticed a small
segmented worm under the plant. The worm is about half an inch long of
light
brown color. I looked closely in the soil and noticed tens of much
smaller
worms like this one. Whitish to brownish color, segmented but no legs
that
i could see. The plant also has one suspicious black hole on one of the
branches. Plus some leafs have no less suspicious holes through them.
Not
to many though. Only 3 or 4 about half an inch to quarter of an inch in
diameter. These holes possibly came with the plant. I'm no gardening
expert, but i think that something could be living inside the stems that
is
damaging the plant. And those worms could come from the larvae as we had
a
problem with tiny flies in the fall. Can anybody recommend what to do
with
these worms or holes in the leaves?