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Help with a Norfolk pine

9 years ago

So my mom gave me this Norfolk Island pine after the holidays. She didn't want it and was just going to toss it and of course I couldn't let that happen. So I added it to my small (just getting started) house plant assortment. I really love this beautiful plant and want to make sure I do everything I can to care for it properly so it has the best chance to grow healthy and stay around for a long time.
I've done some research and I do the best I can to meet its needs. It get partial non direct sun at least 2-3 hours out of the day, mostly morning sun light. I have it on a water routine watering every 5-7 days, depending on how dry the soil gets. I also mist with cool water every other day to every 2 days.
But I guess my main question is it's pot. It has room to drain and I empty any excesse water out after it's weekly watering. But I was wondering about repotting. I know to not over pot and to use a pot with good drainage and about 2 inches larger. But I've also read they're not so fond of being transferred and you should try to repot in the spring. I was wondering if this small pot will do until spring or if it would be okay to go ahead and repot now. And also if everything else Im doing to care for this guy sounds like a good routine.
Thanks so much for any help..
-A newbie house planter

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Comments (8)

Sohrab68
9 years ago
hi dude the repotting in this plant is not good. in every plant you must wait till the roots go out of hole of pot.this situation tell us to change the pot! most of plants for optimal growth needs to be root bounded and when you change the pots you give time to roots to grow and suspend the stem growth till the root reach an optimal growth.
GreenLove5
Original Author
9 years ago
I should probably just keep him in this little pot then, for now. I don't see any roots from the holes yet. But it just seems he's a bit wobly in this little pot. But I'll hold off on repotting until spring or when his roots seem better rooted :) thanks for the help sohrab!
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Are you sure it hasn't been watered too often? When that happens, the bottom of the trunk gets soft and begins to rot (take a good look at it and maybe pull away some of the soil), as days are getting 'shorter' due to fall coming (I know it's indoors) and daylight decreasing, which means less water is needed by the tree. If that's what happened, you may be quite out of luck as it's not really a fixable thing - if the roots are wet (though surface soil is dry) then your soil needs a lot of grit added to it as it's not draining fast, which it should be (NIP's don't like wet conditions). In those circumstances, a fungicidal 'drench' could be applied after slimy black root parts are cut away, but if the trunk is all mushy, then you may be in trouble with it.
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NIP is an extremely popular houseplant and will typically do quite well inside the average home. II find it very difficult to believe that you found a lot of websites claiming it to be difficult to grow inside...because it isn't! If your home became exceedingly dry over the winter, that would pose a problem for your plants as well as you. Humidifiers can make life a bit better for all. Also be sure that the plant is situated away from drafts and heat vents. However, if lack of humidity was the real problem, I think that the needles would drop fairly quickly. I'll suggest that your little plant might be infested with the primary pest of NIPs, spider mites. They are probably the number one reason for the browning of the needles. So, have you seen any signs of spider mites? Another possibility is that it wasn't watered properly (too much, too little), or over fertilized. As with all containerized plants, we have to find the right balance of light, water, and other factors. If I were you, I'd do all that I could to raise the humidity in the room where the NIP is. Misting does nothing to help with this problem, other than keeping the dust off (a good thing) and perhaps helping control mites, if they are present.
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Repot it again. Put some gravel in the bottom of the pot and some on top to stablize the pot AND the plant.
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without a pic.. its hard to say much of anything ... i would stop repotting it ... its is stressed not hungry.. no fert ... i am surprised the houseplant forum died ... ken
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rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
9 years ago
I've got to disagree with the comment about roots coming out of the hole as a sign of repotting needed. Roots can be completely encircled, without sufficient medium and still not emerge from the drainage hole.

I'd simply lift the plant from the pot and examine the root ball, a simple procedure that won't harm it one single bit. That's the only way to tell.

This plant looks like an infant. How tall is it and what is the size of the container?
GreenLove5
Original Author
9 years ago
Hi thanks for your help rhizo. The plant is about 15-16 inches from the bottom of the pot to the highest tip on the plant. The pot itself is 4 inches. My mom said she received the plant as a gift from a coworker on dec 23. (Probably bought at Walmart or somewhere, it was in one of those cardboard boxes with "Charlie brown christmas tree" on it) also when I took it off my moms not so green thumbs it was just sitting in the box in a very wet baggy of water, obviously over watered. So on about dec 29 I removed it from that and put it into a small bowl to drain. Also didn't water it for about a week after that? Figured it had enough h2o.

Also, more question arise .. The more you post the more you learn :) ... What exactly should I be looking for in the root ball?
Thanks for all the help!
greentoe357
9 years ago
> What exactly should I be looking for in the root ball?

To snap a picture and post it here. :-) It's easier to advise once we see what's happening down there.
GreenLove5
Original Author
9 years ago
cool will do tonight when I find some spare time! Also tonight I'm planning to pick up a nice peace lily I found on craigslist! I'm super excited about this one :) But ill try to post that pic tonight.

Here is a link that might be useful: link to my new peace lily :)
teengardener1888
9 years ago
I can get on the computer link about the peace lily because it said(and is probally wrong) that "The page you are trying to browse to is categorized as "Pornography"

.............Im using a school computers and sometimes the messages are a mistake, sorry
GreenLove5
Original Author
9 years ago
Oh lol that's def not right! It's a Craigslist ad... Here I'll just post a pic from the add.

This is the lily I'm going to get tonight. Do you think it looks healthy?

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