Software
Houzz Logo Print
tonia_letzo

Michelia Alba

11 years ago

I bought my first Alba from a Florida nursery. I planted it in a clay pot with a mix of perlite, miracle grow potting soil and peat moss. I ordered it on the mail and live in central Florida I received it in one day. The plant looked great. I am keeping in partial shade and watering daily. One morning I woke to find webs and white particles on leaves and no spider mites however I did find two spiders one light green with a bright orange spot and one smaller white one and little baby green one. The underside of my leaves have brown like stains. Is that normal central Florida is zone 9a I believe.

Comments (5)

  • 11 years ago

    That certainly doesn't look normal. The underside of the leaves on mine look the same colour as the top. Only difference is the top side is a bit more glossy. Looks like you might have some sort of fungus or mould on your leaf.


    Tonia Letzo thanked tropicbreezent
  • 11 years ago

    This was on some of the leaves when I purchased it. What should I do? I think maybe I over watered it? Three leaves fell off today that were starting to yellow. The soil in the pot is still moist. I have been giving it more sun gradually. Here are some pics and some leaves look great but these all fell off these that

    fell off all had the dark on the back. The lady I bought it from said it is normal. I have one leaf that doesn't have it and is starting to have it at the very bottom.


  • 11 years ago

    Not really sure what can be done, I've never had this issue with them. It's not unusual for some of the older leaves to yellow and fall off with age. If most of the leaves are still looking healthy the plant could still basically be okay. But that brown colour on the leaf in your first photo doesn't look good. Any chance you can get it under a microscope or some other high magnification to see what exactly it is?

    Daily watering is probably unnecessary, unless you're getting very hot and dry weather. Peat moss tends to retain a lot of water and could be staying too wet. Mine I kept in a pot for a few months before planting it out. Now it's getting up higher than the house. All along it has been problem free. Does the lady you bought it from have more? It would be good to look at those and see if they're the same.


    Tonia Letzo thanked tropicbreezent
  • 11 years ago

    I bought it online from a plant vender. She said the color and leaves dropping is normal. I went with her suggestion to add a peat moss and perlite mix because the brand of soils she recommended were not in the store I visited. It is hot in Florida but I am more central and they were in south florida...Should I repot it minus the extra peat moss or will it shock it etc?

  • 11 years ago

    Repotting too often would badly affect the plant. It's best done when the plant is healthy and able to cope with the shock. I'd leave it for now but carefully watch the watering. Make sure it has good air circulation and good bright light. Being your summer the temperatures should be okay. But see if there's anywhere where you can get the brown on the underside of the leaves identified. It might just need a fungicidal treatment.


    Tonia Letzo thanked tropicbreezent
0