white spots on gollum

by carol sitarski
(delevan ny)

Water Softening Unit

I recently installed a water softener and now notice white spots on my gollum but not other succulents.They are not scale or dust mites. I read somewhere this maybe excess salt. True or false? If so how to treat?

Comments for white spots on gollum

Click here to add your own comments

Good Guess!
by: Jacki

This is exactly what it is.

It sounds counterintuitive, but what water softeners use to 'soften' the water is salt and other chemicals.

Watering succulents with the result is especially bad, because of the way that the drops dry on the leaves, leaving white marks.

The only way to remove it is to stop using the tap water for watering your plants, and either use rain water, or buy filtered water.

It may take a while to rinse off the chemical deposit, if at all.

Spray the leaves with the rain water, but make sure that the area is well ventilated so they dry off quickly, or you run the risk of rotting the leaves.