Question
Schefflera plant recently acquired from a friend. was in a small pot and I transferred to a larger pot about 8 days ago. Now has shiney. stickey looking goo on the leaves, basically the lower leaves. Covers the entire leaf. What do I do. do not post on m essage board.
thank you

Answer
Gloria,

It sounds like it may have a sucking insect on it such as scale, aphids or mealy bugs. The sticky stuff is their excrement also known as honey dew. That sticky stuff will soon get moldy and turn black, it's called sooty mold.

You first need to figure out which type of insects you have and then treat them.

http://www.cce.cornell.edu/suffolk/grownet/tree-disease/sootmold.html

One meethod of eradication is to touch them with Q-tips soaked in rubbing alcohol or to spray rubbing alcohol on the tops and bottoms of all leaves daily for a week then every other day for 2 more weeks to kill any eggs that hatch.

Good luck.

Darlene