Houseplant Ivy: like black soot falling from leaves
 

We have had this ivy in the kitchen window for years (5/6) and pruned it
every now and again, as well as watering and feeding as required.

Now this year, a couple of months ago, we noticed something like very
small black flies or soot? on most of the leaves, and a build up of
black whatever it was on all the joints. I had a ago at spraying it with
some suitable? bug killer but it didn't help. So a friend advises us to
cut the ivy right back to get rid of all the black soot deposits.
After doing this, we washed out the pot it was stood in and let it grow
again. Now it is going the same way as before, in that it is covered in
this black stuff, like flies or something.

Any idea as to what it is and what if any is the cure?

Thanks

Houseplant Ivy: like black soot falling from leaves
 

On 12 Jun, 20:08, Bob H wrote:
We have had this ivy in the kitchen window for years (5/6) and pruned it
every now and again, as well as watering and feeding as required.
Now this year, a couple of months ago, we noticed something like very
small black flies or soot? on most of the leaves, and a build up of
black whatever it was on all the joints. I had a ago at spraying it with
some suitable? bug killer but it didn't help. So a friend advises us to
cut the ivy right back to get rid of all the black soot deposits.
After doing this, we washed out the pot it was stood in and let it grow
again. Now it is going the same way as before, in that it is covered in
this black stuff, like flies or something.
Any idea as to what it is and what if any is the cure?

Well, I got black soot from scale insect on our maple, but aphids also
produces black soot once they've sucked sap from the leaves. Can't you
see any insects around it at all? Could they be hidden in the soil or
perhaps on a nearby plant?

Houseplant Ivy: like black soot falling from leaves
 

La Puce wrote:
On 12 Jun, 20:08, Bob H wrote:
We have had this ivy in the kitchen window for years (5/6) and pruned it
every now and again, as well as watering and feeding as required.
Now this year, a couple of months ago, we noticed something like very
small black flies or soot? on most of the leaves, and a build up of
black whatever it was on all the joints. I had a ago at spraying it with
some suitable? bug killer but it didn't help. So a friend advises us to
cut the ivy right back to get rid of all the black soot deposits.
After doing this, we washed out the pot it was stood in and let it grow
again. Now it is going the same way as before, in that it is covered in
this black stuff, like flies or something.
Any idea as to what it is and what if any is the cure?

Well, I got black soot from scale insect on our maple, but aphids also
produces black soot once they've sucked sap from the leaves. Can't you
see any insects around it at all? Could they be hidden in the soil or
perhaps on a nearby plant?


We don't have any nearby plants in the house, and I couldn't see
anything moving around on the leaves or the ontop of the soil.
The black soot is only on the underside of the leaves now I have taken
more notice!

Any ideas as to what a cure might be?

Houseplant Ivy: like black soot falling from leaves
 

Bob H writes

We don't have any nearby plants in the house, and I couldn't see
anything moving around on the leaves or the ontop of the soil.
The black soot is only on the underside of the leaves now I have taken
more notice!

Any ideas as to what a cure might be?

If you can't see any insects (they'd be staying still and chomping, not
moving), look on the underneath of the leaves for round brown scales,
especially along the stems and leaf veins, which can be removed with a
fingernail. If you find these, it's scale insect, and you need to deal
with these to avoid a recurrence of the black stuff.

The black stuff can then just be wiped off.
--
Kay

Houseplant Ivy: like black soot falling from leaves
 

K wrote:
Bob H writes

We don't have any nearby plants in the house, and I couldn't see
anything moving around on the leaves or the ontop of the soil.
The black soot is only on the underside of the leaves now I have taken
more notice!

Any ideas as to what a cure might be?

If you can't see any insects (they'd be staying still and chomping, not
moving), look on the underneath of the leaves for round brown scales,
especially along the stems and leaf veins, which can be removed with a
fingernail. If you find these, it's scale insect, and you need to deal
with these to avoid a recurrence of the black stuff.

The black stuff can then just be wiped off.

On the underneath of the leaves the sooty stuff is nearly brown which
does wipe off easily.
As I said initially, the plant suffered this exact thing a short while
ago and we had to drastically prune it to get rid of all the scale? and
whatever else it was on the leaves and shoots. Now it come back again.

So if I prune it right back again, how can I be sure the same thing
won't happen again? What can be done to stop it happening?

Thanks

Houseplant Ivy: like black soot falling from leaves
 

Bob H writes
K wrote:

On the underneath of the leaves the sooty stuff is nearly brown which
does wipe off easily.
As I said initially, the plant suffered this exact thing a short while
ago and we had to drastically prune it to get rid of all the scale? and
whatever else it was on the leaves and shoots. Now it come back again.

So if I prune it right back again, how can I be sure the same thing
won't happen again? What can be done to stop it happening?

What can be done is to find out what is causing it and then treat the
cause. It does sound like scale insect, but there's no point in treating
it for scale insect unless it actually has scale insect, so the best
next step is to have another good look under the leaves as I described.
If you were looking for moving insects, you wouldn't have noticed brown
scales looking much like bits of bark.
--
Kay