How to Care for White Spots on Pachira Plants

The Pachira genus of trees contains several flowering, tropical varieties. These trees add color to your yard, but they require a lot of moisture to survive. This excess water makes them susceptible to white spots from mildew growth. White spots on your Pachira plants could also be caused by red spider mites, though this is less common since mites prefer arid conditions. However, mites attack a Pachira plant when no other food is available.

Care For A Pachira Plant

The native habitat of a pachira plant (Pachira aquatica) gives a clue to caring for the plant either outdoors or indoors. Also called water chestnut, Guiana or Malabar chestnut, money tree or saba nut, pachira is happy with regular, deep watering or even flooding now and then if you plant it near a creek or stream. Leaf spots may indicate lack of potassium. Check the amount of the mineral in your fertilizer and add a supplemental potassium fertilizer as directed on the package label. * Cut back on watering to let the soil breath or repot the plant if your soil doesn't drain well.  * Mold on the surface of the soil might mean you are letting the soil remain too wet, rather than simply moist. Fungus gnats, which look like tiny black flies, lay eggs on the surface of the soil. Or control the plant's size by cutting off one or two of the oldest and tallest stems in the fall.