My advice: Repotting, but not too big pot. Careful watering. More light (more daylight will soon be available). Patience. Plants from clearance tray often suffer from neglect, and need time to recover. Also look carefully for creepiecrawlies. Good luck! :)

Hi Cindy!
My moonlight has been teasing me for a few weeks now with a new leaf that I'm beginning to think the tip of which is stuck fast in the petiole...an issue I'm going to chalk up to not enough humidity.

I've never had a moonlight before so I'm still starry-eyed over it and as such,pretty patient with it...content that it will grow when it's good and ready(I did just dribble some water on the leaf where it's stuck though).

Come to think of it I got mine on clearance at WM too...and about the same time no less. I wonder if we have the same plant because they seem to be doing the same thing(seems to me anyway).

It can't hurt my impatience that I have been waiting for months to see the third leaf on a favorite aglaonema open and I'm still looking at a wrapped up leaf! LOL

Compared with ags,..philos grow like weeds. :)

Here's a pic of my moonlight right after I got it...

Lack of proper care, under watering and a lack of light can stunt the growth on these..

Keep them in a well lit area but no direct sun and make sure you keep them evenly moist, never to dry out completely...
If they are in the original soil, I would flush them well at the next watering to help the roots to heal and do their job.
I'd consider a good porous mix that allows you to water copiously without over watering and allows you to fertilize frequently without fear of disolved salts come the spring.
They will grow properly with time...

Mike)

Cindy, most plants, especially tender house plants, do very little growing in winter months. Don't expect anything until March/April, and then you will see your little guy go nuts. Trying to promote new growth in January is not really great for the plant. Let it rest and in a few months, it will take off.

Do you have a pic? I have some burgundy NOID Philos that occasionally aren't able to finish a leaf. Sometimes I tear off the petiole, sometimes I just let it go.

Mornin Purp!

Does your noid philo look like this?

Yes, the stem/leaves are red though I've managed to sunburn most of them to plain green, or even orange/bown, seen in this community pot. It's been doing that occasionally ever since I've had it. I'm not going to put these things on front porch this summer, somewhere in the back where it so much cooler & more shady. I gave a part to DH's Mom a couple years ago and this past summer it had beautiful, large burgundy leaves, not being abused by too much sun like mine.

Hmmmm,..may not be the exact same variety as mine but it's definitely an erubescens...google around and you will likely come a lot closer to an id for it if it's important to ya! :)

Here's another shot from last summer(you probably remember this).

Hi...long winter here in MN

I started this thread back in January when my new rescued moonlight had 2 leaves that would not open. I repotted it somewhere around late Feb, early March....moved it to the dining room table for more light. I eventually lost patience and gently eased those leaves out of those stubborn tips..they did uncurl a bit but no growth or change in the pale color and.....

Now it has one small, pale green, new leaf that fully opened :) BUT what is this brownish stem like thing (attached to very base of plant) emerging in an arc like way out of the soil????

Thanks,
CIndy

Sounds like it may be making a flower! Pic?

Hi...long winter here in MN

I started this thread back in January when my new rescued moonlight had 2 leaves that would not open. I repotted it somewhere around late Feb, early March....moved it to the dining room table for more light. I eventually lost patience and gently eased those leaves out of those stubborn tips..they did uncurl a bit but no growth or change in the pale color and.....

Now it has one small, pale green, new leaf that fully opened :) BUT what is this brownish stem like thing (attached to very base of plant) emerging in an arc like way out of the soil????

Thanks,
CIndy

Ok here's a picture of the stem like thing emerging out of the soil in an arc.

Ok here's a picture of the stem like thing emerging out of the soil in an arc.

{{!gwi}}

Aerial root?

Btw,I so know what you mean about the long winter. Looking like it will warm up soon though!

Color me relieved! :)

Oh by the way...

I think petrushka has the answer to the leaf issue.
She and I were discussing this in the aroid forum...

Here is a link that might be useful: check it out

I read that whole thing, and didnt find an answer :-(

Lauraeli,
Petruska said he thinks it was caused by thrips. It's near the end of the post.

Planto

nope, the thrips were causing those spots on xanadu. nothing to do with tips curling/not opening.
i went and clarified that, just in case.
one of my anthurium leaves was not coming out properly again - and i know i kept it just a bit drier for may be a few days. the next leaf also coming is all right though.
so...i think it's when the surface of the soil is allowed to dry a little too much, as the leaf is getting ready to pop out of the sheathe.

Soil dried too much. Ok :-) So Walmart did it, not me.

Also, oh really? I betcha those thrips are getting in my philo (bippinatifidum) as well! You think they get in there before the leaf opens up? I ALWAYS have mysterious little spots on my new leaves. I always just ignored it because the damage was minimal. But now I think Im going to go attack the opening leaves with neem oil.

This post was edited by Lauraeli on Tue, Jun 24, 14 at 0:32

Okay, my mistake. I misread your statement then, Petrushka (don't ask me how).

Planto

ok, 2 things.
first, i should add that some thrip damage (they live inside the sheathe/unfurled leaf) CAN cause dried up edges on the new leaf and then it'll have problems opening and will become distorted.
however, that did not seem to be the case with OP judging by pics.
but the xanadu example was different: it does not get stuck ever, may be because there is no sharp tip? the leaf is round. but they do pock the leaf up while it's still totally inside.
2nd - what helps with dried up top layer (and i mean just a little dried up, still feeling slightly moist) - is mulch. you can use anything for mulch: gravel, bark, even shredded paper. i like to put a thin layer of long fiber sphagnum moss - since aerial roots love it on philos/anthuriums/syngoniums and also it's very easy to see when it starts drying, so you can rewet in time.
that anthurium that kinks for me did not have mulch, it was new and very wet and so i needed to dry it up somewhat. but now i put sphag on it too. and will watch if this finally will solve the problem.
i've had a 'greenhouse thrips' year - and been collecting pics of damage on various plants. if only smbody diagnosed it for me last summer !...would've saved me a lot of work.

neem won't kill them, they just fester and then explode if you stop spraying for a week or 2. the only thing that works is systemic. and then you need sev applications and then using different systemic ...it's a total pain.
but otherwise you can't really get rid of them.
i've been spraying with neem twice a week - and also drenching soil ...for months...since last summer.
but now after a good dosage of systemic i finally have a new crop of leaves coming clean.
here's a leaf with dried up margin damaged by thrips(center one). those lighter stringy areas leading to the ripped edge are also thrip damage. also a few pock-marks here and there.

This post was edited by petrushka on Tue, Jun 24, 14 at 11:24

i also wanted to add about light.
you can see on prior purple and asleep pics - outdoors - very nice growth. most philos indoors do not get enough light, especially in winter. i keep mine in dappled sun year round and warm too, so they continue to grow even thru winter.

I have thrips in here, but Im not looking to 'get rid of them'. It would be impossible. I leave my balcony door open during the day, and besides that the window in the bedroom, where they come in through the screen. They arent that bad in here. Not like an explosion or anything. I use neem oil insecticidal soap. The 'insecticidal soap' aspect kills them. But the neem oil remains on the plant to discourage further feeding. I can smell it on the plant a week later, so I know it is there.

sorry, it got to thrips conversation again.
there are many dif kinds of thrips. some better then others.
eg. the ones that you get on african violets - just stay on them and don't bother other plants.
the ones i have, came directly from florida growers greenhouse, so to speak - they attack mostly foliage and it can get really bad. and they spread to other plants attacking mostly new growth. i of course inspected the plant very carefully when buying, but since i've never delt with these kind before i did not recognize the signs.
and i sprayed with insecticide soap to be sure too.
other plants were ok until spring came and then suddenly lots of new growth was looking quite bad.
these pics are just beginning of infestation. it gets much worse (see xanadu in the link).
just be on the look-out, especially with new plants.

Well that's no good :-( Im glad my thrips are tame. I see one on a plant, and frown about it and procrastinate, and dont end up doing a whole lot about it. Every once in a while I spray a plant if I want it to be left alone for some particular reason.

My AVs arent blooming much right now, or they might be more of a nuisance, since they shorten the life of the flowers.

Hello this is off topic, but can anyone help me ID this Plant. I've been online for the last hour trying to get a proper name ... My best guess is philodendron bloody Mary??

Looks like a P. erubescens cultivar. I wouldn't try to attach a cultivar name if it didn't come with one.