Hi Ficus if your plants are in the sun, the soap probably dried the leaves out and then the sun baked them. From what I read around the forum you need to rinse the soap off before putting them back into full sun.

Tracy

That's a possibility, though I've sprayed lots of plants with soap, and never had any problem. But thanks for the input.

The same is true for AV leaves. Not a real mystery, though is perplexing the first time. Good news is, leaves WILL grow back … much faster than on an AV.

Well, that's all quite interesting. I don't think I've ever had occasion to spray an adenium before. However, does anyone have any idea what the caterpillars were, and any treatment, other than simply picking them off by hand.

I'm sorry to say I can't really help you much there. Picking them off by hand is an excellent place to start. If you don't see any more, chances are it did the job. If you find them hard to eradicate, I have successfully used Bayer 3 in 1 on my Adeniums without any ill effects, provided they are rinsed before going back into the sun. Good luck!

Thanks Dain

perhaps an oleander caterpillar?

oleander caterpillar info

This thread is very interesting to me. to get rid of spider mite et al I usually use surgical spirit diluted and I brush it all over the plant including leaves and the foliage has remained lovely. This year however I have used an insecticidal spray and the foliage has been terrible with leaves turning crispy at their points, yellowing and dropping off. We have had a really bad summer this year and I assumed it was the weather but now I wonder if it's the insecticide, although Gill who is also in UK has been spraying hers and I think she only has two of her plants with this problem

Bragu, thanks for the suggestion. I've never heard of oleander caterpillars infesting anything but oleander, anyway that's not what they were, I'm familiar with O cats. This brings up another thought, though - how do adenium react to being sprayed with a BT substance.