I’ve got a Chinese Evergreen at my office. It’s the great-great-grandchild of one owned by Typo Knig’s roommates before they were married (i.e., it is UNKILLABLE).
However - it seems to have some sort of pest.
For a while there, I occasionally saw what I think were fungus gnats - tiny black flies that occasionally flew around the plant and around my desk. Those are long gone - I haven’t seen them in many months.
Back then, and even now, however I see very tiny clear drops - smaller than the head of a pin - on some of the leaf stems. They’re sticky to the touch. I’ve never seen any visible bugs. Though I looked again just now and some of the “droplets” were more opaque/white, when I brushed one off it didn’t seem bug-like (maybe it just picked up dust?).
The plant is gloriously healthy - the main stalk is getting so long it’s fallen over (I need to cut it off and re-root it), and it’s started a second plant which is doing well - shot up from the same roots. The main plant is also flowering right now.
I need to bring it home from work some time soon, but if it’s got something contagious, I sure don’t want it spreading to the other plants.
Because you metioned a slight opacity to the droplets, I’d google mealybugs just as a precaution. However, I’m inclined to think that this is not a pest problem. Aglaonemas (Chinese evergreens) tend to form these droplets on their own in my experience. Just wash them off if it bothers you. Insects that excrete sticky honeydew, i.e., scale, mealybug and aphids, are usually highly visible.
I had a plant a few years back that had mealybugs (in fact it was a Chinese Evergreen that I’d salvaged from being thrown out by the office building’s maintenance crew), and this current plant definitely doesn’t have that pest - in the years since I’ve noticed the “problem”, it hasn’t become more obvious or widespread. In fact, that’s the only time I’ve ever had a Chinese evergreen die - the ones we have as noted were descended from one owned by a couple of single guys, and before that, by a fraternity.
Good point on the sticky bits - they don’t bother me, I was just worried they meant a problem. I’ll double-check on the aphids and scale to see if that looks familiar.
This phenomonon has the most appealing name of guttation. Chinese evergreens are called Aglaonema. My brain seems to be overrun by strangely spelled words.