In general, the decorative elephant's foot (bot. Beaucarnea recurvata) is considered to be very easy to care for and robust. It is not very often attacked by diseases and/or pests. Most damage patterns are caused by more or less major care errors.

Brown leaves can be an indication of disease or a wrong location

What diseases are found in elephant feet?

Yellow leaves sometimes appear on an elephant's foot, this often affects the young leaves. This is often due to waterlogging, which causes root damage. Another possible cause is strongly fluctuating temperatures. In general, the elephant's foot does not like the cold or severe temperature fluctuations. Avoid these as much as you can. Hydroponics don't do very well for an elephant's foot either.

A soft trunk or root rot also indicate too much moisture. Here you should react quickly. The softer the trunk, the more drastic the relief measures should be. If you do nothing, your elephant foot will almost certainly die. Other mistakes that the elephant foot could take offense at are drafts and a location that is too dark or excessive fertilization.

How can I save my elephant foot?

You can possibly save an elephant's foot that has been watered too much quite easily. If the damage to the plant is not far advanced, then it may be sufficient not to water the elephant's foot for a while. If it is extremely wet, you should repot your elephant's foot in fresh, dry soil and then not water it until the substrate has dried significantly.

Does your elephant foot suffer from drafts or lack of light. Then moving the plant will help. However, no extreme change should take place, because this could lead to the dropping of the leaves. Eliminate drafts immediately, for example with a windbreak, but allow the elephant's foot to get used to more light relatively slowly.

Are pests a problem with elephant foot?

Even if the elephant's foot is not particularly sensitive, pests can occasionally appear on it. Scale insects or spider mites are mainly found in dry air. The fine webs of the spider mites can be seen on the leaf edges or in the leaf axils. Mealybugs or mealybugs are also easy to recognize by their cotton ball-like webs, while scale insects are usually well camouflaged.

The essentials in brief:

  • Robust and durable if cared for properly
  • does not tolerate drafts, lack of light or waterlogging
  • needs a lot of light and heat
  • fertilize and water little
  • possible due to waterlogging: yellow leaves, soft trunk, root rot
  • possible pests: spider mites, scale insects, mealybugs

tips

In a warm, bright location, in a rather lean substrate and with little water supply, the elephant's foot is robust and not very susceptible to diseases and/or pest infestation.

Category:

Vegetable garden