Ponytail Palm~help!

[isabel]

A friend suggested i try here for help even though it is a garden group.....

I have a ponytail palm that i have had for about a year. I have recently married and moved from GA to TN...and i guess my plant is telling me that he doesn't like it here! He has some kind of white mold fuzzy stuff....forgive my description, but that's what it looks like. It is on the leaves and down where the leaves come from the plant. Do you have any suggestions to help me help my plant? I love this plant and hate to lose it....i did try a local gardening center...but to no avail. The clerk didn't seem to have any suggestions that....she was 'filling in'.

thanks for any advice!

isabel

[Cereus-validus-...........]

Sorry Tennessee!!!

An advanced case of fungal rot. There is nothing you can do at this point.

If the trunk is soft and mushy, the plant is gone.

Yeah, those garden center clerks are a real font of folksy wisdom!!!

[bamboo]

[isabel]

Nope...it's just fuzzy stuff. I made friends with a neighbor who has a beautiful garden (even during the winter!) and she suggested maybe spraying with a soap and water solution.

I am a bit concerned about my other house plants....i have the ponytail palm in a room alone now as i am worried about my other plants. Should i be worried? :(

isabel

[Cereus-validus-...........]

Pesticides won't work because the plant is dormant this time of the year. In any case, what would have been needed is a fungicide not a pesticide.

If the fungal infection is far enough along that it is producing fruiting bodies, the plant is already too far gone to save.

[Cereus-validus-...........]

There is no such thing as "just fuzzy stuff".

If its fungal fruiting bodies, the plant has become thoroughly infested with fungal hyphae and it is too late to save it.

You never said if the trunk of the plant is firm or soft and squishy.

Spraying it with soap and water won't do anything. Its a fungal infection not a bug problem.

Worry if you want to. It won't change anything.

What you need is improved air circulation around your plants.

[isabel]

Thanks so much for all of the input....as a new gardener and houseplant person, i still have lots to learn!

isabel

[gardenlen]

g'day isabel,

not sure if i'm to late but just stick the plant into full sun and let the potting medium dry out, they don't like over watering and preffer full sun.

len

snipped With peace and brightest of blessings,

len

-- "Be Content With What You Have And May You Find Serenity and Tranquillity In A World That You May Not Understand."