Wandering Jew Mystery hair!!! Help!

At first I thought it was just dust. So I tried to wipe it off with my fingers. Well that didn't work it is stuck on. Seeming a part of the plant itself. Some of the leaves that it is on look perfectly fine, others are dead or dying. It is also on the stems, and they are looking healthy as well. It isn't in the best lighting conditions it could be in. But for now it's were it has to stay. This is a starter from my main plant. That one is totally healthy, just losing a few leaves from overwatering it a few times. And that one is in good lighting. I know they are a little hairy to begin with. Is it possible that it is a pest? Or could it be that the hair/fuzz is growing whacky from the lighting conditions. I really haven't seen anything like this.
The hairs are fine, some are about an 1/8th of an inch long, a cobwebby type color, and basically they look like dust balls, they are all in clusters. HMMMM gotta a clue? I don't...lol
Thanks for any help you can give,
Holly

get your camera out and post a pic if you can.......cindy....you take such very good pics anyway.......(wish mine came out half as good)..........lol....cindy

Ok here is a picture of it. It looks really dirty, but I have tried to get it off and it won't come off!!!!
http://davesgarden.com/showforumphoto.php?imageid=4377

This message was edited Wednesday, Aug 29th 11:20 PM

it looks ok to me........but i wear glasses too.....lol....btw......how did u get that pic in here......i was gonna send you one of my fuzzy jew but i cant seem to figure it out....lol.....cindy...ill try to email it to you

ill post a pic of fuzzy jew in photos.......check it out in there....cindy

Cindy, I went to the photo forum like you did. All you have to do to put a link in here, is to copy the location and then paste it in here. I just copied the addy that the pic was at. I have my angelfire page, but they no longer allow you to link directly to pictures hosted on their site. :( Things were so much easier then. Now I have to try to find all other ways of loading my pic.
Thanks for your help
Holly

Holly,

I really can't address the hairs, but looking at the hyperlink (here) it seems this plant is rather lacking in light (etiolated). Am guessing this by the rather long spacing between the leaf nodes (most trandescantia types I know are less leggy than this). I don't think the hairyness is a big deal (but that's just a guess).

I think Pirate Girl is quite right in that your plant is not receiving enough light and about the hairyness. Also, because there is no color on the leaves, obviously this is the plain green jew. However, I think the fuzz is perfectly normal and not to worry too much, unless you're feeling a "sappy" substance. The leave change/dropping is probably due to under/over watering, needs a pot change, or just the normal cycle of leaf growth, or even some type of stress previously suffered.

By the way, how is that New Jersey is zone 7?

Pirate Girl, You are correct. Definately not enough light. I have it in a spot where it actually looks good the odd way it is growing. Come winter, believe it or not, I can give it better lighting than it recieves right now. My wandering jews for some reason hate water. When I water them they get very PO'd at me. ANd tend to lose many leaves :( I let the water sit out room temp, I have tried all sorts of different routines and they still get mad at me. I have gone sometimes two weeks without touching and give them water and they perk up after that. But if I water to often, look out cause a good portion of it's leaves go BYE BYE...lol

Debra, I don't know how I can be a 7 in Jersey...lol I went to a site one time and it said that's what I was. Possibly because I am right on the coast and our winters aren't as bad as those inland, and also we get warmer and more humid summers because of the water. Does that sound like a good answer??? :) I just looked at another site and it puts most of the state in a 6b upper most parts of the state in a 6a. But I seen that along the coast they have a tinge of red which makes me 7a. Oh it is very confusing. Before I had plants' I hadn't a clue what zones were.
Thanks for all of the help. I'll try to give him better light. And as funny as it sounds, he is one of my more fussy plants.
HOlly

Say Holly, (bet you already know this...), don't forget they need less water with less light.
Oh yes, and lots of (um) perlite added to the soil will help with drainage. Perhaps they'll be less finicky.
:)perL