sticky crystal-like stuff on stems of chinese evergreen

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cruz4him Toronto, ON(Zone 6a) Nov 21, 2007

Hi guys! I just got a chinese evergreen cutting from a friend. It's from a mature plant and he'd had it rooting in water for I don't know how long. He wasn't too good with changing the water regularly, either. Actually, he didn't really GIVE it to me -- I sort of just grabbed it and brought it home without asking because I was so tired of it being neglected. :-) I rescued a nice peace lily from him, too, and I'm trying to revive his long-suffering warnecki.

ANYWAY, back to the original question. I found some crystalline residue on the stems of the evergreen, just below the leaves. It's very sticky and I thought it might be sap but I've never seen sap in that form before. I wish I could post a picture but I still can't find my camera. Can anyone tell me what it might be?

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stogeo Hermitage, TN Nov 21, 2007

Good for you for rescuing the plants!

The crystals you're seeing on the chinese evergreen are nothing to worry about... they are, basically sugar crystals. I have been told the plant produces this as a sort of waste product. Sometimes it can mean the plant has been overwatered, so the plant tries to get rid of the extra water in the form of these sugar crystals.
I'm sure someone else, anyone else, can explain this MUCH better than my poor attempt.
Bottom line is, they aren't bad, and it's not something to worry about.

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cruz4him Toronto, ON(Zone 6a) Nov 22, 2007

Thanks for the response! It makes a lot of sense about it being a waste product. What puzzles me is why I can't google anything about it!

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stogeo Hermitage, TN Nov 22, 2007

I could be wrong, but I think a lot of, if not most tropicals produce something similar to this. For some reason, it seems to show up more in the chinese evergreens.
I'm not sure where you would need to go to find more detailed info... a horticultural text book? not sure.
perhaps it would show up on google too if I knew the proper name for this, instead of sugar crystals. :)

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ecrane3 Dublin, CA(Zone 9a) Nov 22, 2007

When plants ooze liquid droplets out of their leaves that's called guttation. I'm guessing this is the same thing, then the crystals are what's left behind after the liquid dries up.

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stogeo Hermitage, TN Nov 22, 2007

Thank you! that works for me!

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cruz4him Toronto, ON(Zone 6a) Nov 22, 2007

I'll try washing the plant. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to do that or not but after reading a bit more about guttation (which may or may not be the case here, by the way), I figure it won't hurt.

Ecrane3, I was kind of betting in my head who I'd hear from first, you or plantladylin! LOL!!

Thanks for the help! I'll let you know if I'm still seeing stuff after washing the plant.

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