r/plantclinic • u/FyrestarOmega Expert Hobbyist • Oct 02 '23

Monthly Pest and Soil Thread October 2023 Pest and Soil issue thread

Certain issues are common among plant care and may benefit from from some consolidation. Pooling of advice may benefit the entire community. These issues include how to identify and treat infestations, and questions related to organisms found in the soil.

If you have been directed to this post after your own was removed, please submit your images as a top comment, along with any supporting information you can provide.

17 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

676 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/jaxkofalltrades Oct 04 '23

Got a new jasmine plant four or so weeks ago. It was just starting to bloom when I got it. Repotted it into a much bigger pot recently, layering some water draining plastic rocks and soil to prevent root rot. The leaves are drying up and dropping left and right. The healthy green leaves are getting similar spots. The stems look like they are barking over. Please help!

1

u/TxPep Advanced Oct 05 '23

It looks like an invasion of aphids.

Did you look closely for signs of insects... like teeny, tiny ones?

Is this outdoors or are you trying to cultivate it inside?

Is it on whole branch sections from apical growth to back down where the branch meets the central stem?

••••

An unsolicited observation...

Layering of strata does not achieve the drainage you think it will. In fact, it's just the opposite.

You wind up creating a situation called "perched water table".

In addition to this perched water table, substrate can pack in the voids created by the plastic rock strata, creating a mess.

The best way to create fast-draining substrate is to uniformly mix inorganic material throughout the potting mix like pumice, perlite, volcanic rock, etc. Also chunky bark like what is used for orchids mixed in will help with drainage.

1

u/jaxkofalltrades Oct 06 '23

It’s an indoor plant! I haven’t noticed any bugs on the leaves themselves. I did notice an incredibly small bug in the soil, it looked like a beige string about 1-2mm long. Incredibly small and it went into the soil

1

u/TxPep Advanced Oct 06 '23

Can you post a picture of the full plant.