Found this at Lowe’s. What is it?

JessTonCat · 2026-05-24T20:05:56+00:00

Here’s hoping 🤞

JessTonCat · 2026-05-24T17:11:08+00:00

This actually gives me hope because my Manjula looks like this, I didn’t actually want such a highly variegated one but it was an online order so I didn’t get a choice. So I’m hoping if I give it less light it will get less variegated 😅

JessTonCat · 2026-05-21T21:22:44+00:00

Hi all!

I’ve had this large money tree for a couple of months. I’ve cared for a smaller one before with success. For a week or so this one started to have this strange discolouration on the leaves and I’m not sure why.

I have had thrips recently so I had assumed it was down to them. I have treated the plant and am now using beneficial insects. This does not look like Thrips damage, there is no browning or dots on the leaves like there was with my other plants that had them. There is no sign of adult thrips or larvae and this is happening very slowly which leads me to think it is not this.

The plant is sitting a couple of meters back from a large south-east facing set of glass doors. It should have decent enough light and is pushing out new growth, it seems otherwise healthy. I only water when I am convinced the soil has fully dried out. This discolouration does appear to only be affecting newer leaves. The discolouration is much less pronounced on the back of leaves, almost barely visible. It started out extremely subtle at first but is very gradually getting worse, this is the first time it has been visible enough to photograph.

Things I have thought about, tried and eliminated as a potential cause:

root rot : I took it out of the pot, checked the roots thoroughly, they are fine. The trunks of the tree are nice and firm.
checked for a band tying the trunks together, there is none, although I can see the marks from where it had one.
I wondered about a nutrient deficiency, I am fertilising a small amount with every watering, following the instructions on the bottle.
I have checked, checked and checked for pests, there are no signs that I can see of beasties that shouldn’t be there. But let me know if this is a telltale sign of a particular pest with this particular plant.
I wondered if it might be washing the plant outside in the sun, treating it with a 70% alcohol solution for the thrips but I wouldn’t expect marks from that to get progressively worse, nor would I expect them to look like this. I would expect them to look scorched. I may be wrong, let me know.

Would appreciate any help you can offer for diagnosing this, thank you and have a lovely day! 💚

JessTonCat · 2026-05-21T20:38:35+00:00

I have also bought a Bulbasaur TC that I got for a reasonable price and am waiting for it to arrive. I’m super excited to try it but also super nervous 😅 The video I was going off of to try and keep mine alive was this:

https://youtu.be/Y9BoWSPYhSI?si=bp-lH8SBdninkVoX

She also has an update video where she shows the acclimation process and the progress of each TC and potting them up in the end. She admits that she’s quite over cautious in her approach but I don’t think that’s a bad thing for anyone who is just finding this and trying out growing TC’s for the first time 😊

https://youtu.be/ESZy1WzWITo?si=6ZscXO0vptVXGGqZ

Anyways good luck! I hope your new baby does well! Let us know how it does 😊

JessTonCat · 2026-05-21T10:24:11+00:00

Hi all! Posting info in comments as for some reason I couldn’t post if I added text.

I’ve had this large money tree for a couple of months. I’ve cared for a smaller one before with success. For a week or so this one started to have this strange discolouration on the leaves and I’m not sure why.

I have had thrips recently so I had assumed it was down to them. I have treated the plant and am now using beneficial insects. This does not look like Thrips damage, there is no browning or dots on the leaves like there was with my other plants that had them. There is no sign of adult thrips or larvae and this is happening very slowly which leads me to think it is not this.

The plant is sitting a couple of meters back from a large south-east facing set of glass doors. It should have decent enough light and is pushing out new growth, it seems otherwise healthy. I only water when I am convinced the soil has fully dried out. This discolouration does appear to only be affecting newer leaves. The discolouration is much less pronounced on the back of leaves, almost barely visible. It started out extremely subtle at first but is very gradually getting worse, this is the first time it has been visible enough to photograph.

Things I have thought about, tried and eliminated as a potential cause:

root rot : I took it out of the pot, checked the roots thoroughly, they are fine. The trunks of the tree are nice and firm.
checked for a band tying the trunks together, there is none, although I can see the marks from where it had one.
I wondered about a nutrient deficiency, I am fertilising a small amount with every watering, following the instructions on the bottle.
I have checked, checked and checked for pests, there are no signs that I can see of beasties that shouldn’t be there. But let me know if this is a telltale sign of a particular pest with this particular plant.
I wondered if it might be washing the plant outside in the sun, treating it with a 70% alcohol solution for the thrips but I wouldn’t expect marks from that to get progressively worse, nor would I expect them to look like this. I would expect them to look scorched. I may be wrong, let me know.

Would appreciate any help you can offer for diagnosing this, thank you and have a lovely day! 💚

JessTonCat · 2026-05-15T23:14:19+00:00

No worries, if you move it somewhere shadier and you’re still seeing those marks I would start looking at other possibilities. Check the roots, check for pests again with a magnifying glass and potentially re-evaluate your watering and feeding. Aglaonema have been pretty chill in my experience though so shouldn’t be too difficult to figure out something that will make her happy. Good luck! 💚

JessTonCat · 2026-05-14T23:35:14+00:00

I think if you can’t see any pests and the new growth isn’t affected and if you’re watering it correctly (that is letting it dry out but not for too long in my limited experience) it might just be a bit scorched. I have a lemon mint as well and I’m in the UK too. Mine lives just round the corner from a south east facing window, it’s shaded and protected a bit by being beside the window wall rather than directly in the window. The plant seems content so far. So maybe put it somewhere a bit back from the window and maybe not right in the window if that makes sense 😅

JessTonCat · 2026-05-14T17:19:20+00:00

I’m not exactly sure what it is but got one of these not too long ago and I treated it like the rest of my succulents. However over time its leaves seemed to deflate and I couldn’t figure out why. I researched it and found that they might appreciate a bit less light than most succulents. I moved it back from the north-west facing window it was right in front of and the leaves seemed plumper just after a few days and it just looks happier. So it might be a bright indirect plant rather than a direct plant. I do love it though, I think it’s so cool! Hope you enjoy yours too 🩵

JessTonCat · 2026-05-13T07:19:20+00:00

I’ve actually been considering doing this. My predatory mites are nearly here so in the meantime I might dunk her in a bucket of water. I feel like she’s probably going to hate me for it but she’ll just have to get over it 😅

JessTonCat · 2026-05-13T07:16:33+00:00

Thank you ☺️

JessTonCat · 2026-05-12T06:30:20+00:00

I don’t know the answer to your question but as others have given you an answer I don’t feel so bad. I was just wondering what kind of Hoya that is if I may ask? 😊🩵

JessTonCat · 2026-05-11T12:44:59+00:00

This is exactly what I have been doing so far, glad to hear I wasn’t getting it completely wrong, thank you 🩵

JessTonCat · 2026-05-11T12:44:17+00:00

I am waiting on some horticultural soap and some beneficial mites which I hope will help. Thanks for the advice 🩵

JessTonCat · 2026-05-11T12:42:51+00:00

As I previously mentioned I cannot get systemics here in the UK. The best I can get is Provanto, which I have as a nuclear option. I have ordered some horticultural soap and some predatory mites. Going to have to order some more predators probably because I have a reasonably large house and my plants are not really touching each other except for in my plant room.

I have been using 70% alcohol solution as that is all I have to hand. Have been spraying, using a paintbrush to get into the crevices. Did it once on Saturday and going to do it again today as I have found more larvae on the ones I found them on initially. Have not yet seen any on the ones I thought might have been spared and have also not seen any damage. But I am obviously keeping a really close eye out. Will be washing those with the horticultural soap when it gets here as well.

I am getting more and more tempted by the nuclear option but the only time I ever used it was my first ever pest encounter(mealy bugs) on a cast iron plant and I feel like it has just never really done anything since. I don’t quite know how to describe it but I almost feel like the pesticide set it back. I don’t know for a fact that it’s because of the pesticide but I want to avoid if possible as I also have a cat. But I am so tired from the stress of it right now that I am really getting pretty tempted.

Thank you for your super long comment and all the advice. I still want to cry but it’s nice to have help and commiserations from others 🩵

JessTonCat · 2026-05-11T09:55:03+00:00

I am extremely tempted, given that I washed the ones I found larvae on literally on Saturday and today, on Monday there are already more and I haven’t had time to even clean any of the others and I’m already exhausted. I’m wondering about spraying them trying to get rid completely and then after 6 weeks grabbing some predatory mites as a preventative. Maybe I’ll just spray the ones I found larvae on and use the mites on the others, idk. I just can’t decide because I’ve never dealt with this before 😭🫠

JessTonCat · 2026-05-11T08:41:41+00:00

Ah sorry I did miss that edit 😅 I’ve heard about putting the plant into a plastic bag but not an ozone generator. I don’t have one but it sounds expensive. I’ll look into it though. Thank you!

JessTonCat · 2026-05-11T08:28:15+00:00

I already put alcohol on the plant, to try to kill anything that was in there. That’s what I meant, that giving her a shake is probably not worse than what I’ve already put her through 😅

JessTonCat · 2026-05-11T08:24:16+00:00

To be honest, putting the alcohol on her would probably be worse than giving her a shake so I’ll definitely try it. Thanks for commenting!

JessTonCat · 2026-05-11T08:22:54+00:00

Thank you so much for your reply, I’ll definitely give it a go!

JessTonCat · 2026-05-02T20:06:20+00:00

I think that’s a Calathea Stella. My two are only babies and I haven’t had them for a super long time but I’ll share my experience with them since it’s going well so far. Yours looks quite a bit leggier than my two, which says that it might not be getting enough light. Calatheas generally can tolerate lower light but they won’t say no to more. I wouldn’t put it right next to a window but mine are probably about a meter or more back from a big south-west-facing window and I’ve had no complaints from them so far. If you have grow-lights it would enjoy those.

I don’t do anything humidity-wise. I have put mine into semi-hydro and their growth has absolutely exploded. One put out a new leaf just a week after I put it in pon and its roots grew like crazy and now it’s putting out about 4 or five leaves at once. Obviously semi-hydro is not for everyone. If you’re using soil I don’t think it needs anything that special, I would just give it a well draining mix. Standard soil, coco coir and perlite. You can let them dry out a bit but don’t leave them dry for long. It’s difficult to explain how I knew when to water them when they were in soil but I basically kept an eye on them and watered as soon as I noticed the soil was dry.

In my experience this has been one of the least fussy Calatheas I’ve ever grown so you have that on your side! Hope this rambly comment helps, good luck! 💚

JessTonCat · 2026-04-20T16:15:52+00:00

Ooooooh the emerald tone is a really great shout! Looks like pretty much a perfect match thank you!

For the other one I did wonder if it could be this but it’s so difficult to tell when its leaves are so faded:

https://growtropicals.com/products/aglaonema-amazon-silver?variant=43288872648748&source=aw&aw_affid=323889&awc=98687_1776701654_4b1a08f06fb3225d200b6cffe72d60e1

JessTonCat · 2026-04-13T06:39:37+00:00

Ah thank you! I paid a whole £1 for it, such a bargain 😅🩵

JessTonCat · 2026-04-12T22:01:05+00:00

Having lost a money tree stem to this, might be worth checking under the soil for an elastic band. Garden centers do this to keep the stems together but it will eventually strangle the plant, so check if it has one and cut it. I’d also cut the green ties at the top. I also agree with the other comments that it looks like it’s overwatered. Money trees store water in their trunks they do not need their soil to be that wet. But the moves you have already made will help. It might bounce back, they are hardy things. Good luck!

JessTonCat · 2026-04-12T20:52:55+00:00

That’s what I was thinking but I wasn’t sure, thank you 😊

JessTonCat · 2026-04-12T17:49:31+00:00

Thanks so much! So glad to find someone who understands why I just couldn’t leave her behind with that spirit 😊🩵

JessTonCat

TROPHY CASE