Burtt Davyi Ficus is leaking

vega2306

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My ficus is leaking a clear substance (latex?) And I don't know why. I water the plant roughly once a week. It is growing leaves and seems happy other than it is leaking. Any advice?
 

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Redwood Ryan

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Hi,



Your tree seems just about dead. The "leaking" you are referring to is the latex that they bleed to seal their wounds. How much light does this tree get?
 

edprocoat

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Vega, the latex that bleeds from a Ficus is white. It only comes from an injured place, removed leaf, cut branch etc. I see viable leaves and quite a few green buds forming that means new leaf growth. The clear in your pictures looks like it has just been watered ? If not water droplets I have no idea and I have kept Ficus for 30+ years. It looks healthy, either its been defoliated or it suffered some stress like an environment change, either way it looks like its coming back.

ed
 

Paradox

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I have the same looking substance on my willow leaf ficus. It is clear and the tree has not been pruned so it isnt latex. It isnt water and it is kind of sticky.

The tree isnt dead either. I just got it in mid-September and wired the trunk. I had to remove the wire a couple of weeks ago because the thing had already grown to the point that it was cutting into the bark.

I would like to know what it is too. My two tiger bark ficus dont have and never have had anything like this.
 

KennedyMarx

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You shouldn't water on a schedule. When the soil is starting to dry then water. I'd say that's what the problems are with this tree. It's probably saveable at this point. In a year or so of good recovery I would cut down below that swirling knob of branches at the top and develop new branches and a canopy.
 

tmmason10

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I might be off but could sticky clear substances be a sign of bugs such as aphids? The trees looks extremely dried up and not healthy at all.
 

Paradox

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With all the people that grow ficus, I am surprised no one knew what this was for sure.

I also began to suspect something along the lines of what Tmmason suggested. I did some research and took a very very close look at my ficus.

It has very tiny white shelled scale, very hard to see them. My research/reading indicates that the clear sticky substance or "honeydew" is caused by them.

You probably have the same problem and need to treat it. There was enough of them that I dont trust being able to scrape them off like Ive been doing with the large black scale that I see on my tiger bark ficus and that dont produce the honeydew.

I am going to try neem oil once a week for 3-4 weeks on all of my tropicals (they are all together) and if that doesnt work, go with something stronger.
 

LanceMac10

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Scale, and in a bad way. A lot of those brown bumps are scale insects, not leaf nodes. Ya' gotta get on that. Scrape 'em off with your fingernail, you'll see the little bastards. Neem oil would probably work, but it seems like your not observing the plant closely or not enough. So manual removal is your punishment!!! Good-luck and update if possible.
 

Paradox

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I think, in my case at least, these things took off when I moved the trees inside for the winter where there are no predators to eat the scale and the 75-80 deg temp under their grow lights caused the little buggers st start reproducing.

After further research this morning, Im going to either mix some alchol and simple green soap with the neem oil or simply alternate treatments of oil with alcohol/soap/water mixture.
 

Paradox

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Treated with this mixture:

1 Gallon of water
2 tbs Bonide four seasons horticultural oil (Mineral oil based) - all I could find, Neem oil was sold out at the 2 places I looked today and I ran out when I put my pines and junis to bed.
2 tbs simple green soap
1 cup 91% rubbing alchohol.

Put into a spray bottle and doused the plant with it. Covered the soil with a plastic bag.

Will see how it goes and report back
 
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Paradox

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I guess the OP is gone but I'll update anyway.

Modified the mix a little after more research

1 Gallon of water
2 tbs Bonide four seasons horticultural oil (Mineral oil based) - all I could find, Neem oil was sold out at the 2 places I looked today and I ran out when I put my pines and junis to bed.
2 tbs simple green soap

Put into a 25 oz spray bottle with 1/2 cup of 91%the alcohol and doused the plant with it. Covered the soil with a plastic bag. I treated it with the original mix (above) and on Dec 2 and with the new mix on Dec 14.

It is definitely knocking them back. I will continue to treat 1x a week for the next couple of weeks then see if they come back.
 

vega2306

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update

So my poor plant got blasted by a faulty furnace last weekend and I didn't remember to read forum replies until today. I went all over my plant and studiously scraped away all the brown bumps. I also removed any of the branches that had died off and has no bend to them just were breaking off the plant. I've been monitoring the soil to make sure I don't over water it. (The earlier pictures were of ago the new growth after my plant had been recovering from losing most of its leaves after I purchased it and brought it to a new location). Any suggestions aside from make sure not to over water and keep an eye out for mystery bumps?
 

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vega2306

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whoops!

Forgot to mention a lot of the branches have new tiny tiny green buds so it's still trying to be alive and gorgeous.
 

vega2306

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Update! My plant lives! I'm so pleased. This little guy is a fighter.
 

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Paradox

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Just keep watering when it needs it and keep it out of extreme temps and changes in temp. You can trim back any dead branches as needed. Dont do anything else, just let it grow and get healthy again.
 
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