White spots on money tree/pachira aquatica

[FloralEms]

Hi all,

I purchased a money tree from Homebase about 4 weeks ago. It has been in the same place at home, not in direct sunlight and at a pretty constant temperature. I've watered her once a week by sitting her in water for 2 hours then lifting her out. Last week for the first time I added in a couple of drops of Baby Bio Houseplant Food. She's had glossy and upright leaves with a good amount of new growth.

For the past few days she's looked a bit droopy and I noticed some faint white spots on most of the leaves. After a little google I went with 1tsp of bicarb in a litre of water and wiped the leaves with this. If anything - now the white spots are more obvious.
I also took my microscope to the soil and roots - only found a couple of tiny critters - no infestation found. No bugs at all on the leaves.

Any thoughts/suggestions are most welcome.
Thank you

 

[FloralEms]

Hmmm.... have continued to google and the only similar looking spots I can find are just water marks, which if this is the case would be very good news!

 

[Tetters]

Hello @FloralEms, welcome to the forums

I think your plant has the start of powdery mildew, and have found an RHS link for you to look at.

Powdery mildews / RHS

Powdery mildews are a group of related fungi which attack a wide range of plants, causing a white, dusty coating on leaves, stems and flowers.

www.rhs.org.uk

 

[FloralEms]

Hello @FloralEms, welcome to the forums

I think your plant has the start of powdery mildew, and have found an RHS link for you to look at.

Powdery mildews / RHS

Powdery mildews are a group of related fungi which attack a wide range of plants, causing a white, dusty coating on leaves, stems and flowers.

www.rhs.org.uk

Hello Tetters, thank you for your reply!
I had wondered this too but am not entirely convinced, think I may treat it as though it does have powdery mildew and hope for the best....

 

[Tetters]

That would be much better than leaving it until it gets bad - not a good way to be convinced

 

[FloralEms]

That would be much better than leaving it until it gets bad - not a good way to be convinced

Haha for sure, fingers crossed!