Last winter my curry leaf tree came through the winter with flying colors. It even had pretty white fragrant flowers. This year things are not so rosy. I really love it when my plants are healthy. When they are not I don't have the knowledge or the patience to deal with it. My curry leaf tree is currently residing in the bathroom. I knew when I found it with sticky leaves that it was in trouble. Now the poor thing is isolated from its friends and being treated to my version of intensive care. I wasn't feeling too awful about how spindly the tree had become until I read Garden Rant and saw a picture of healthy happy curry leaf trees.
My plant nursing skill is sadly lacking but I do know one thing. Here are the real villains. It's scale! These disgusting tiny little suckers cling to the leaves like grim death and they multiply faster than rabbits! I'm giving the plant showers, scraping the scale that I can see off with my fingernails, using detergent mixed in water. Today I read that full fat yogurt mixed in water fed to a curry leaf plant will perk it right up. Perhaps I'll try that too. Secretly my plant probably wishes it could just hop a plane to Mumbai for the winter, but I'm afraid it's stuck here in upstate New York with me. Six months of intensive care in my bathroom nursery could turn out to be a life sentence or maybe the yogurt will turn the trick and give the plant the will to live and I will find the perfect solution to kill the scale.
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