I'm having the same problem with my croton plant (Bush on fire) drooping. The soil is usually damp unless I've just watered. The humidity is really dry like 18 - 22% with winter set in so I've placed a plastic over the croton. Also have a humidifier set up and 6 pails of water sitting around to help the humidity but to no avail. Plastic over the plant has helped the last of 3 croton plants (in same pot) to not droop till now. First the smallest, then the med. drooped and died during summer when a/c was on. The leaves are very colorful, shiny and strong and they stay that way even as they go down. I used miracle potting mix and wonder if this is the right soil? It sits in a south facing window in a mini greenhouse with extra plastic over the plant itself because the humidity is so low. I have containers of water under the plants in the greenhouse as well but with the greenhouse cover being quite loose at the bottom the air is very dry in there too. Also covered the bottom shelf with plastic to block some of the dry air and keep some circulation - not making a difference. What to do? any ideas? Then today as I was watering the plant, there were bugs, I think because of being closed in plastic - very damp around the plant. Will try the soap in water container first as that seems the least expensive at the moment. Thanks in advance.

Do the cuts occur where there leaves are discolored? Sounds like damage from shipping that you may have missed? Has it had any wind exposure?--that will sometimes shred a few leaves if it's strong. Scissor-like cuts sounds like mechanical damage. HTH. Can you post a pic?

Try posting this on the Palms forum.

This is my fear Ricky. I was so hoping you'd tell me that the croton borer also attacked plumbago and then I could rationalize that I had that AND whatever is killing oaks in our neighborhood. We put in a pool very close to this area eight years ago. And everything was fine for awhile but I wondered if we lost the oak because we weakened it by cutting so many roots, especially when something was going around our neighborhood killing oaks. But nothing has really changed since then. We don't irrigate, and never have. And I've never had anything besides too much water kill plumbagoes. Our neighbor also does not irrigate, or do much of anything besides mow. I'm glad my coffee grounds aren't hurting anything. They seem to make the gardenia happy. I'm only a couple blocks from the bay. Do you think saltwater intrusion could do this? None of the houses in my neighborhood are on wells anymore, haven't been for decades, and none of the neighbors remember why they abandoned their wells, though many of the older houses, including mine, have old capped wells. Ugh. I gotta find something to fill in that part of the hedge.