Saw a weird plant at the local greenhouse yesterday

I stopped by Johnson's Greenhouse on Route 9 and noticed this ficus with white patches all over its leaves. Turns out it was just hard water stains from their sprinkler system. Has anyone else ever confused mineral deposits for a plant disease?

3 comments

3 Comments

dakota_miller939d ago

Oh man, I've done the exact same thing with my humidifier stains before.

blake_kelly198d ago

Used to think white spots on leaves were always some kind of pest or disease. Never connected it to the humidifier until I tried wiping them down with distilled water. Now I just keep a spray bottle of the filtered stuff handy and it's been smooth sailing.

dakota_miller939d ago

Actually that's not a ficus, those are rubber plants! They look similar but ficuses have pointier leaves usually. The hard water stains thing happens all the time though, especially if they're using a misting system with tap water instead of filtered. I've definitely freaked out over white spots on my own plants before only to realize it was just calcium buildup from my humidifier. You can wipe them off with a damp cloth and some distilled water to keep the leaves looking clean.