A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2004 Ming Aralia email ?

Len has a ?:

I have just registered. I have a 20 year old ming aralia. It is losing its leaves and the leaves that come out are at the very tip. How do I bring back the more leafy look. Len

There are three possibilities that come to mind. This first one is my best guess and it's called shattering. If a ming aralia has been given too much fertilizer (they don't need much) or other growing conditions have changed that have caused fast growth, the plant can shatter and lose all it's leaves. The new leaves will be small. Take a look here. Scroll down to the ninth paragraph.
http://www.rhapisgardens.com/ming-aralias/

"...shattering, a term used to characterize a sudden and complete loss of leaves. Properly treated plants do not shatter. But forced plants suffer extreme shock when moved from near-full sunlight conditions to indoor 60 to 90 percent shade. The sudden reduction in fertilization also strips them of leaves. In addition, plants weakened by forcing have fewer roots in relation to foliage and are prone to disease."

"The plants are exposed to high light intensities, provided with higher humidity and gorged on fertilizers containing additives such as sugar products."

Optimum growing conditions are at the bottom of the page. They do like to be a bit rootbound, so if it was repotted recently it may be unhappy.


Another problem could be spider mites or scale, though I suspect spider mites could be the problem.

Newt

Len,

The sudden leaf drop is almost assuredly water related, although a sudden change in light or temperature could also cause this problem.

Mings are quite sensitive to both under and overwatering. Either will cause the same reaction so I cannot tell you which you are doing without knowing your watering regimen. In general, my watering advice is to allow the top half-inch of soil to dry in betweeen thorough waterings.