Jen, I have better luck growing Money Trees like one would a Caudex/fat plant. Succulent-like. My MT is underpotted, so much so, soil dries every 2-3 days, but only gets a drink when soil is completely dry. If you want a thicker trunk, underpot. Roots should fit snuggly, very little extra room. Both my Money Trees, one braided, 13", one straight, 21" H, are in 4", plastic pots. In summer, they get fresh soil, but pot size stays the same. Trunk thickens as plant matures. If you like full, compact looks, repot 1 size larger when your plant needs repotting. Keep soil barely moist, more water in summer. Plantlvr, what type of trunk does your MT have? If you prune the top, 'trunk,' growth might resume off the sides. In other words, it probably won't grow erect/straight. It depends on your plant.. Toni

Hi, Danielle. Neat pot! Why Petrie? The first thing I thought of was a Petri dish. Some people get confused about the difference between repotting and potting up or just changing pots. Unless you live in the southern hemisphere, now isn't a good time to repot, the reason being that repotting includes root pruning and a change of soil, and doing it now will significantly stress the plant and leave it much weaker than it is now. With winter just around the corner, that wouldn't be advisable. If your pot doesn't have a drain hole, you should temporarily remove the plant and drill one, or change pots. If you need direction on how to drill the hole, I can help with that - not a big deal. After the hole is drilled, you simply let it drain at the sink & then set it on/in a collection saucer. If repotting IS in the plan you have for the plant, the best time to do that is very late spring - like around Father's Day. If you live in the deep south, a week or two earlier wouldn't be unreasonable. I would remove the dead plant. Reason: eventually all the trunks are going to fuse together via a process called inosculation. The dead trunk will force the living trunks to grow around it, which will interfere with the fusing process AND make for some unsightly lumps and bumps. You need a drain hole in the pot for 2 reasons. 1) to allow some of the excess water that is limiting your plant's root function to drain from the pot. A healthy plant isn't possible w/o a healthy root system. 2) So when you water, you're flushing the salts from tap water and fertilizer solutions from the pot. This is important because high salt levels create conditions that limit growth, health, and appearance, all occurring as a result of the plant's reduced ability to absorb water. If you think about how curing salt literally PULLS water from the cells of meat during the curing process, you are envisioning what an excess of salt(s) does to the cells of plants. If you like the rocks on top, there is no reason you can't keep them. They do slow evaporative water loss a little, but there are ways to make the excess water leave the pot w/o you having to nix the rocks. We can talk more about that if you like. In fact, if you're interested in a Basic Overview that will help you avoid all the common issues most new gardeners are forced to deal with at one time or another, just follow the link. Al

Hi - Hoping I can get a some help to save my tree... I took some pictures which are below. Only one of my four stems seems to be healthy and growing new leaves. The other three are in various levels of sick. Help! I usually only water when the soil is dry. Lately I've let it dry out a lot because I thought maybe I was over watering it. The tree means a lot to me and I really don't want it to die! Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated.This is the only healthy branch. This is the one that's the most sick. You can see that it's started to change color and wrinkle/twist. This one's leaves shriveled up. This is the only healthy branch. and here's the whole tree... looking sad. After reading a lot of these threads, I've stopped watering it. I think I over watered it this winter. I'm not sure if the wrinkled branch is dead or not. Is it possible to cut the tip of it off? Will it regrow? What about the one with the wrinkled leaves? Hoping someone has some advice! Thanks! Carlos

Hi, Roman. Came across your post in a search for unanswered pots. Is the tree still pushing out O2 (still alive)? How's it doing? Al