In general, the decorative elephant foot (bot. Beaucarnea recurvata) is considered to be quite easy to care for and robust. It is not particularly often affected by diseases and/or pests. Most of the damage is caused by more or less serious care errors.
What diseases occur in the elephant's foot and how can I save it?
Diseases in elephant foot can occur due to waterlogging, drafts or lack of light, resulting in yellow leaves, soft trunks or root rot. To save the day: repot in dry soil when wet, change location if there is a draft or lack of light, if necessary remove pests such as spider mites or scale insects.
What diseases occur in elephant foot?
Yellow leaves can sometimes appear on an elephant's foot, and 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 cold or violent temperature fluctuations. Avoid these as much as you can. Hydroponics isn't particularly good for an elephant's foot either.
A soft trunk or root rot also indicate too much moisture. You should react quickly here. The softer the trunk, the more drastic the relief measures should be. If you do nothing, your elephant's foot will almost certainly die. Other mistakes that the elephant's foot could cause you are drafts and a location that is too dark or excessive fertilization.
How can I save my elephant foot?
You may be able to save an elephant foot that has been watered too much quite easily. If the damage to the plant has not progressed far, then it may be sufficient to not water the elephant's foot for a while. If it is extremely wet, you should repot your elephant foot in fresh, dry soil and then not water until the substrate has dried significantly.
Does your elephant foot suffer from drafts or lack of light. Then moving the plant helps. However, there should be no extreme changes as this could lead to the leaves falling off. Eliminate drafts immediately, for example with a windbreak, but get the elephant's foot 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 spider mites can be seen on the edges of the leaves or in the leaf axils. Mealybugs or mealybugs can also be easily recognized by their cotton ball-like webs, while scale insects are usually well camouflaged.
The most important things in brief:
- robust and resilient when cared for well
- cannot tolerate drafts, lack of light or waterlogging
- needs a lot of light and warmth
- fertilize and water little
- possible due to waterlogging: yellow leaves, soft trunk, root rot
- Possible pests: spider mites, scale insects, mealybugs
Tip
In a warm, bright location, in a rather poor substrate and with little water supply, the elephant's foot is robust and less susceptible to diseases and/or pest infestation.
