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Hi everyone, I just picked up a small Alocasia Polly yesterday at the… | Pests, diseases and problems | Comunidad de Planta

Heather 🌱✨

Hi everyone, I just picked up a small Alocasia Polly yesterday at the supermarket. It was such a great price that I couldn’t leave it! It was sitting next to another Alocasia that had spider mites, so I’ve put mine in quarantine for now. I’m quite new to plant care, but so far it seems healthy. I can see tiny white roots at the bottom of the pot, and it even has a new leaf coming in. I’m a bit unsure about the next steps: • Should I just leave it alone for now, or start cleaning its leaves and treating it for pests preemptively? • Should I cut off the smaller leaves? • Should I wait to repot since it has a new leaf, or is now a good time? Any tips would be amazing!

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  1. BigGrac

    Definitely treat for spider mites. Just assume any plant that is next to one with mites needs to be treated. And even if it wasn’t, I always treat new plants coming into the home and try to quarantine for a week or so. Alocasias in general are total spider mite magnets so you’ll probably need to keep a more watchful eye on it anyways. I don’t think there’s a need to cut off smaller leaves but you can if you don’t like them. Maybe if any, you could chop the super dry one. I would wait to repot. Unless the soil is janky I usually wait at least a month to let the plant acclimate to my home. Those are a minimal amount of roots poking out the bottom so it’s probably not root bound or anything. Super cute plant and pot - good luck!

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  2. New Plant Mom

    My Polly is soooo prone to spider mites. Mine was struggling so bad in soil that I just put it in hydro and now it’s thriving. Since it was next to one that had spider mites, I would proactively clean the leaves and treat as if it did have mites. For me personally, I always treat every new plant I get by cleaning the plant and treating as if it came with bugs. I also pull the plant out of the pot and get it down to the roots so I can make sure the root ball is actually large enough for the pot it came in. Most of the time I have to downsize the pot to prevent root rot. I also like to cut off old/dead leaves and then place it in a very bright area and wait a few weeks before adjusting anything so it has time to bounce back and acclimate. These are the steps I take that work for me.

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    • BigGrac

      Good tip - I agree with often needing to downsize.

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  3. Heather 🌱✨

    Thanks so much for your tips! I’m going to try them out and hopefully get my Alocasia to thrive.

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  4. Waspinator

    Alocasias are drama queens that are prone to shocking after a move; expect it to sacrifice some weaker leaves and possibly the new growth as well. I'd give it at least 2-3 days to calm down before treating it. And if you have it outside or don't mind spiders, you can put a regular spider on it instead of treatment at least for the initial week or two. You'd be surprised how efficient predators can be. For best results, use a jumping spider or wolf spider; they hunt actively instead of waiting in webs

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