HELP: My Money Tree Has A Pest

Lugano, Switzerland

Hi everyone.
I am new here and am looking for advice on my money tree.
I bought it about 6 months ago and it has been doing great. Has added about 2feet of growth and is very full.
However, I think I have been doing a silly mistake. When she needs watering I put her put outside on my balcony and water her and let her drain for about 1hr before putting her back indoors.
I think last time I watered her, about 2weeks ago, she caught some sort of pest.
TOday I noticed that lots of her leaves have little holes in it - like if something have been snacking on them (I will try and post a picture later). A lot of the holes aren't totally eaten though, a thin layer remains. It sort of reminds me of those caterpillar pests on rose bushes.
So I looked over all the leaves and wiped them off - I didn't find anything. Where would they hide???

She still looks very healthy and all the leaves are dark green. I want to avoid using chemicals if I can.
THanks for the advice!

Lugano, Switzerland

this is an example of the holes

Thumbnail by CaptainF
Ayrshire Scotland, United Kingdom

Look behind the leaves to see if you can spot anything moving, it does still look healthy as you say so by that good sign, a healthy plant can normally stand an odd nibble out of the leaves.
Try use a magnifying glass and go to good light, turn the plant leaf over and inspect each leaf undersides. The damage does look like some bug that sucks the sap from the foliage and the most common one springs to mind is the ear-wig, these are brown insects about half inch long and you see 2 pincher's at the rear-end. if it was slugs / snails etc, the edges of the leaf would be affected and same with caterpillars so, detective work needed unless someone else can come in and name the culprit.
The last idea is, IF you have sprayed the foliage and then sat the plant in strong sun, this causes the water spots to act like a magnifying glass and the water marks burn the foliage. Good luck, get back if you find anything. WeeNel.

Bay City, MI(Zone 6a)

If the damage is occurring only in the oldest leaves, it may be a part of natural senescence (aging) as the plant reabsorbs nutrients and bio-compounds from foliage it will soon shed. Earwigs have chewing mouth parts and usually skeletonize leaves or leave well-defined holes as evidence of their presence, so I would place them low on the list of possibles. I wouldn't even be too quick to levy blame on an insect pest. It's possible that a nutritional deficiency or toxicity might be to blame.

The old horticultural myth that water drops might act as a magnifying glass and burn the foliage is still circulated widely, even though it's been thoroughly debunked. It might be possible that if fertigation solution dried on the leaves the dissolved solids (salts) contained therein MIGHT be concentrated enough to pull moisture from cells and cause some localized necrotic spots due to plasmolysis, but it wouldn't have been from the water spots per se.

The damage you show isn't serious enough to be overly concerned about, but it bears watching. Mechanical injury is another distinct possibility.

Al

Post a Reply to this Thread

Please or sign up to post.
BACK TO TOP