—I have a Dracaena marginata which is on its last legs. At the begining of the Spring it started to develop a strage white sticky substance on its leaves which has slowly got worse over the summer and now all its leaves are turning brown and soggy and most have fallen off. The white stuff was washed off with water but returns. I have put it outside to see if the sun would dry it out but nothing works. I have searched the internet for information but all I get is that this plant rarely gets diseased. Do you know what is wrong?

I’m not a tropical plant person, but have just purchased a new Dracaena Marginata to replace my 15 yr. old 10′ Dracaena Marginata. What I’ve learned, by searching on the internet, is that my plant had scale. I never noticed that mine was covered with white, but it was so sticky that it caused a terrible mess all over everything — the floor, the wicker chaise, the window sill, etc. I read that one treatment was to wash the plant with Murphy’s Oil Soap, which I did. I’d already lost most of the plant (the trunks got long and soft and I finally cut them off, but new growth has been developing. Anyway, I put the remaining plant outside and with a bucket of water mixed with Murphy’s Oil Soap, and a sponge, I washed every inch of that plant. I read that it should be dripping, so I loaded the sponge and sloshed it on. I also wiped each leaf, top and bottom, and actually saw that tiny brown dots were washing away — the scale. I also washed the trunks. I then used a soft spray from the hose to rinse it off. I left it outside for a few days and it looks great! They say there are potions you can buy at the garden centers, but I went right to my laundry room cabinet.

Good luck!
Marcy

I bathed my plant in the Murphys Oil Soap mixture and it looks SOOO much better! I didn’t notice the brown “spots” on it until I got your message and you were right…they just washed away! I read somewhere that the bath may need to be repeated a few times to really get rid of it, so we’ll see!

Thanks again! Amy