Ficus with blanket white waxy film/deposit on leaf

cmklibert · #1 July 26th, 2006, 08:58 PM

I am referring to the outer half of the leaf. I have read some descriptions of scale problems with ficus, and perhaps i have misunderstood them, but that doesn't seem to fit my case. It looks as if almost half the leaf is completely covered with a white film, that rubs off and feels sort of waxy. Could this be a salt problem, or is it a fungus or insect?
Is there something else that could cause this? Thanks for the help.

cmklibert · #2 July 27th, 2006, 10:35 AM

Could it be thrip damage that i am seeing?

**chowntown** · #3 July 27th, 2006, 10:23 PM

Hi cmkilbert,

Did you recently buy your ficus? I work at a garden centre and often our tropicals have a filmy white coat on them which is the remains of the fertilizers which the growers use on them. It rubs off and kinda has a waxy feel to it. Best to post picture so we can get a positive identification.

-Eric

mari · #4 August 27th, 2006, 06:53 PM

sorry to hear about you ficus....I have one that's 15 years old and about 8 ft. tall....over the past 2 months it's been losing many leaves every day...the bottom of the trunk looks like it's wet( but it's not)......that's the only difference I can see from when it was a very healthy plant......it's been in the same spot for over 10 years....any suggestions?

**Rima** · #5 August 28th, 2006, 12:53 PM

When's the last time you got it out of the pot to check for root-boundness, and changed the soil to something fresher?