tomentum

[SALOttawa]

Has anyone in this group heard of tomentum? I am getting a white sticky substance on some of my palms. I have had this issue in the past as well. I had always assumed it was a fungus. However, I cam across a post on Facebook where someone had an issue with a similar substance. Someone else commented and claimed it was tomentum. They claim it is normal and not harmful. I tried to do a bit of research. I did not find a great deal of information about it, but I have always treated it as a fungus by cleaning it off and then spraying with copper fungicide. It usually occurs on my TFs but I have also had problems with it on some dracaneas. When it is present, the plant always appears less healthy and if left too long it becomes very stressed. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[SeanK]

It's generally the dark, dry fuzzy stuff on the underside of leaves. Like the underside of magnolia leaves.

[Philly J]

It was me talking about tomentum on Facebook houseplant groups 🤣😆👍🏻

 

protective coating.  Nothing to worry about.

[jimmyt]

Looks like mealy bugs to me.  Especially if the plants are worse after it shows up. Easy to treat.

jimmyt

[Philly J]

Yeah I mean if it’s mealy and not the tomentum then for sure 👍🏻👍🏻 but here it is in my glossary of Riffle/Craft/Zona encyclopedia ❤️

[jimmyt]

I feel ya Philly J 😃

[SALOttawa]

So, if tomentum is hairy, it shouldn’t feel sticky, right? So therefore it must be something else?

 

[Philly J]

1 hour ago, SALOttawa said:

So, if tomentum is hairy, it shouldn’t feel sticky, right? So therefore it must be something else?

 

Sticky is mealy bugs for sure.  Trachy tomentum looks like this 

[floridaPalmMan]

Yea tomentum has a brownish color.

Pure fuzzy white like that is definitely mealy bugs.

Assuming this palm spends most of its time indoors since you're in zone 5a, I'd always have some natural horticulture spray on hand to douse it every other week because these bugs will just keep coming back.

The mealy bugs don't bother my other plants for some reason, just palms. 🤷‍♂️

[SeanK]

45 minutes ago, floridaPalmMan said:

Yea tomentum has a brownish color.

Pure fuzzy white like that is definitely mealy bugs.

Assuming this palm spends most of its time indoors since you're in zone 5a, I'd always have some natural horticulture spray on hand to douse it every other week because these bugs will just keep coming back.

The mealy bugs don't bother my other plants for some reason, just palms. 🤷‍♂️

Nice thumbnail. Looks like Vincente Fernandez (RIP). I'd recommend horticultural oil for indoor palms in that zone. In z7 or warmer, there are enough intermittent nice days to drag plants outside and use insecticide and to flood the rootzone.

[SALOttawa]

Thanks everyone. I gave them an insecticide spray today. It’s funny. I don’t get this problem on my washies; only my trachies seem to attract them.

 

[Dwarf Fan]

10 hours ago, SALOttawa said:

Thanks everyone. I gave them an insecticide spray today. It’s funny. I don’t get this problem on my washies; only my trachies seem to attract them.

 

Juvenile Sabal mexicana also seems to be susceptible to mealy bugs outdoors but I have never seen them on my Washingtonias or any other Palm.

Sagos also attract Asian Cycad Scale, also easy to treat with non chemical methods (cold coffee spray).

[Fusca]

On 12/28/2023 at 8:58 AM, SALOttawa said:

Has anyone in this group heard of tomentum?

Here are a couple of examples of tomentum on my palms.  Below in first pic is the top view of my Chamaerops humilis.  You can see the white tomentum on the edges of the newest fronds.

This shot shows the underside of the leaves with lots of tomentum.

Below shows the fuzzy brown tomentum on the leaf bases of a foxtail.  This fuzzy brown tomentum is what gives the Chrysalidocarpus leptocheilos its common name, "teddy bear palm."  Unfortunately my teddies are still too small to get a good shot of the tomentum.

Edited December 31, 2023 by Fusca