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#1
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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 |
#2
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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? |
#3
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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? |
#4
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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 |
#5
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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 |
#6
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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 |
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