Daniel, I would add at least 25% Perlite to the bonsai mix. Before adding, however, rinse the Perlite free of the small particulate. This will create some waste, yes, but it will really improve the mix.

For the first two weeks after repotting, you should water more often....every other day, or every two days, but watering lightly. Basically, you want to maintain even moisture in the upper layers of the mix, where the roots will be. After a few weeks, new roots will shoot throughout the mix, at which point you can ease off the watering.

Josh

PLEASE HELP!!! I really love my plant but am not sure what's going on with it. I've repotted in a much bigger pot it was in with the same type of bark used for orchids and I added perlite. I test it before I give it water so I don't think it's undeewatered. I actually am more careful with this plant than the others I have but to no avail.

Can't tell. Need more pics.

Josh

How about a picture of the soil. Also, how do you check the soil moisture? Push a sharpened wooden dowel or something similar all the way through the soil to the bottom of the pot, and don't water until it comes out clean and dry. When that happens, water the whole surface of the potting mix slowly and thoroughly until water starts to drain from from the pot, wait a while, water it again, and after it drains the second time prop up the pot until it's at 45 degrees for 10 minutes, then set it upright to drain any excess water standing in the bottom of the pot.

Thank you both for responding, Yes, I check the soil for moisture. I've attached more pics

Is there a drainage hole in that container?

Josh

Yes

Well, let's run through the list.

Is it receiving lots of direct light through an unobstructed window?

Is it being fertilized regularly?

Is it rootbound?

Josh

Yes, it's sitting by the window, the last picture was taken on a cloudy day. I have not used fertilizer since Ive had it. Do you have a recommendation for one? It was in a smaller pot before and the pot in the last two pictures is the new pot. Thanks!

Any quality fertilizer. I use Foliage Pro 9-3-6, along with Osmocote slow release.

Josh

What I should have asked is how you check soil moisture. The best way to check what's going on in there is to stick a sharpened dowel (a wooden skewer or disposable chopstick works too) all the way through the soil to the bottom of the pot, and only water when the dowel comes out clean and feels dry. This ensures that the roots spend most of their time in conditions where they have access to air for oxygen, instead of drowning and rotting in saturated soil moist of the time.

thereciaj: Looks like the plant is situated near a window with some sort of drapes. If so the plant is not getting enough light. Just a plain window cuts down the light (even direct sunlight) a lot. As you move away from a clear window (even a foot) the light is considerably less compared to next to the window. This plant will enjoy a lot of light like most tropicals. Something to consider.

I need help! I've had my tree for about 4 or 5 years and it slowly keeps dying. It use to be 3 in 1 but due to root rot its down to 1. Its since been coming back really well, however, it's getting too too heavy and I'm worried it's going to break.

Hi,

Hope someone can help me with my money tree. I bought my very first one a few months ago and it was doing fine but lately it looks like it is dying. It used to stand tall but now looks like the leaves are withering away. The soil looks dry but I'm not sure. The trunk that was sort of braided looks dried and a piece fell off. I attached some photos.

Thanks in advanced!

Hello, remove all that moss, first thing.
Then, start finding the ingredients to make a very porous mix, like Orchid Mix.

Josh

Hello, money tree community. I've learned a lot from these posts, and am super grateful for greenman28's advice especially.

My tree is in some trouble, and I want to check in here before taking action. Basically, I chilled my 10 yr old, 5' tall tree too much when transporting it during a winter move, and all the leaves are dying. I expect the trunk and roots are ok because they are very established.

It seems as though I should cut off the tops to encourage new growth, and / or repot into a more porous mix like I've heard said. I wonder if doing both of these things would be too much shock for the plant, and which would option would give the tree the best chance. I'll also give it the most light available and perhaps mist the plant with a spray bottle. Any thoughts? Much appreciated!

I would let the leaves fall of naturally, and not do any pruning right now. Just be careful with the watering; limp the plant along until the end of May, then do a full repot and pruning.

Josh

Thank you very much, Josh! Leaving it alone with careful watering is what I'll do.

Hi everyone! I am amazed at how many years this thread has been going & how helpful everyone is with advice, Josh your continued guidance is absolutely amazing!!! I need your help saving our money tree. (It was a gift from my mom so it is sentimental as well.) Long story... when we first got it my coworker replanted it in a bigger pot (non draining, with some sort of garden mix & gave it miracle grow nutrients) & we put it in the bay window at the store & it doubled in size. It seemed to be happy & thriving this whole past year. Recently the door was not properly shut & our last snow storm blew into the store for hours before anyone knew! Snow & negative degree temps wrecked havoc on the plants inside. I'm pretty sure the money tree was frozen or at least shocked by this event. Two different plants next to it were deemed unsavable, but the money tree didn't directly get the snow on it & at least the first day was still bright green & looking spry. So we all thought it would be fine. The tree was watered thinking it would help. (I have a feeling this was a bad call.) Regardless the second day after this watering half the plant turned lime green. I asked no one to water it & to leave it alone until we could figure it out. Well a few days later the lime green turned to brown. 2 out of the four braids have completely brown branches & leaves, a few dry dead leaves are starting to fall off. The other two stems that seemed completely fine are now showing slight signs of being sick/discolored. I read the threads & can say that all four bases are hard not soft & I scratched one of the braids with all the dead leaves & it's still green inside. I will post pics, but I def also know the plant is not in a self draining pot & it's not in the recommended orchid soil. I was hoping if we let it alone the dead leaves would fall away & then I could repot it in warmer months in the recommended soil & pot, but now i'm afraid of waiting cause it's rapidly getting worse. I know it's winter & not an ideal time to repot, but I saw the mention of an emergency repot... would that be too much for the plant? Should I break away the two braids with the dead leaves/branches & just repot the other two healthier ones? Should I prune away the dead leaves & limp it along till spring ? Please any advice would gratefully be appreciated! A thousand thanks in advance!!! (Sorry for such a long post!) Sincerely, Katy

Hi. I have had my money tree for at least 10-15 years. It used to be braided with five stem. Now it has two. It also used to be about 18 inches high and now it’s about ten feet. Give it take the bent branches. It’s so weird looking and new growth only happens at the top of the trunks leaving this bent, wiry tree. I don’t want to get rid of it but I would sure like it to look better and healthier. Any suggestions?

I would prune off the dead tissue, then dust with cinnamon.

We are close now to the time of year when Pachira will "wake up" from slow Winter growth. Add some Osmocote to the potting mix, or give some half-strength fertilizer.

Josh

I had no idea about the cinnamon trick! Should I rub it on the stem that I cut or is it more for replanting trimmings? I ended up pruning all the dead leaves & brown branches off. I cut one top of a stem that was shriveled at a 45 degree angle, but then panicked when i saw it chopped off like that & so I left the bigger one alone. Should I cut that one too? Thanks for advice Josh! I will repot in a self draining pot with your recommended mix & add the Osmocote. :)

Someone has given me this money tree! It is pretty dead! I was googling how to revive it and feel pretty overwhelmed not knowing what I should do! Help please!

Hi Everyone,

I'd love some help on reviving my tree if anyone out there can help me! I bought my tree about a year and a half ago and it was doing really well until I moved into a new apartment that does not get a lot of sunlight about 8 months ago. So for the first 4 months I watched the tree become sad losing 90% of its leaves and then decided to take it to work where I had a lot more sunlight. I tried pruning two of the longer stems that didn't have leaves to encourage regrowth but the stems just dried up. So now I just have one long stem where the leaves are growing only at the top, and a small stem at the very bottom growing from the roots. I placed two long sticks to support the stem and the new small stem. It looks a lot happier in this environment but no growth is happening in the middle of the tree, is there any way I can change that? I appreciate any help you can give!

Hi, I am so happy to find this thread about the money tree. I have been taking care of my boss's plants for the last few years. He has a money tree that was really in bad shape, so I repotted it into a larger pot and pruned it down a lot about 6-9 months ago. I cut it about three inches above the V in the trunk. As you can see from the photo, the plant looks healthy, but only one branch of the V sprouted, and now it looks really gangly and kind of ugly. What advice would you give me for this plant? Will the other branch of the V sprout if I do something special to it? Should I trim the top off the green branch? Thank you for your advice!!

❗️❗️❗️Help❗️❗️❗️

I don’t know what to do, I’ve read a lot of the comments. And greenman seems to know the solution, but there are a lot of comments to read. How do I save my money tree! I need step by step instructions because I’m new to this

Also I don’t know how to upload the pictures every time I try it doesn’t do anything

I would love some guidance if anyone can help! We bought this money tree about a month ago and it seemed very healthy. However, now, the section of the branch that came trimmed when we bought it has gone from green to brown and I don't know if I should be worried. Thoughts? Suggestions?

can someone tell me what is wrong with this branch, it is alive down below but this part is dry and it lost its leaves

Hi, thanks for all the advice above! I have been learning a lot. I have a couple of problems with my single branch money tree, which I couldn't solve with the answers above unfortunately. It is approximately 5 years old. The tree has grown quite tall, almost 2 meters, however since it has gone through several problems it has lost most of it leaves as can be seen in the picture, and only four short stems at the very top survived looking a bit ugly the poor thing. One of the issues it has is an insect disease which makes it leak a sticky substance from its leaves. I was wondering, if I could prune the main trunk at around half size (1 meter) and whether it would survive and regrow despite having no leaves below? Or does it always need to have some leaves below the pruned height? If this would not be possible, what else would you suggest? Should I also repot it at the same time or should I do it before in order not to stress the tree so much at once? Thank you very much and greetings from Germany!

I can’t believe I’m back here! I had this down. I cared for my pachira from baby to teen tree. It’s been dropping leaves for a few weeks now and I thought it had something to do with watering. I tried watering more frequently but still my leaves yellowed and dropped. Now it’s all thin when it was a full plant just weeks ago!

I decided to take a good look. Some yellowing leaves have this orange thing on it (please see pictures). I’ve never seen this before on my other house plants. It’s orange. Textured. Doesn’t move. Not sure if it’s a bug or fungi. No clue how we got it!! What is this and how can I get rid of it? Please please help save my prized possession.

I posted exactly 3 years and 2 days ago

Seeking guidance - this is my first money tree. I’ve had it for a few years (maybe as long as 5 or 6 years, but I’m really not sure). It has grown to about 8-9 feet tall. I think it has just been dumb-luck and good light because I didn’t really know what this plant was when I picked it up from the grocery store!

1. I’m curious if the bare section in the middle of the tree will ever regrow leaves. Is there anything I can to to help it? There are three new stems starting to grow from the top, but I’m wondering if there will ever be new growth lower on the plant.

2. I’d also like to put it in a larger pot (with better support to help is grow more straight) but I’m not sure if selecting a pot that is too large will harm the plant.

Any advice? Thanks!

This is the bare section:

Hi All,

Hoping to get some help here, the trunks on my water tree seem to have stopped sprouting.

I have had this plant since last summer, and this is what it looked like at the time

but this is what it looks like now...

is there a specific reason the trunk has become harder, bark and no longer growing leaves? Is it just recovering from the winter? Should I replant the healthy green part? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Help! I can’t figure out whats happening to this MT 😿

Hello everyone..I need help with my money tree. why is the bark drying up but the leaves seem so healthy? what should I do? I just noticed that there were 5 braids , 2 were rotted so i just removed the twine holding them together and removed the 2 rotted barks but the 3 remaining, although still hard, they seem to be drying up.

Thanking you in advance.

I’m having the same issue. Very healthy leaves but one of the trunks is starting to shrivel and dry up...any insight for others would be great!

First, beautiful tree!

I had a few of my trunks shrivel up and die. It was due to root rot from over watering. I only wanter my pachira when its dry 2-3 inches down (I now have a 5' tree). That's my two cents. I hope others can provide other insights. Good luck!

Thanks so much, Kelly! I’ve been watering once a week and also try to monitor the dryness of the soil. There’s a chance I’m doing it wrong lol, so your advice is very helpful! Thanks again!

I just moved and live in a very cold climate. Despite my best efforts to keep the subzero time to under a minute, my braided money has undergone significant cold shock, and all its leaves have turned brown. Wondering the best course of action to save it? remove the dead leaves? prune it back? I'm new to plants, but feeling guilty..

Hi all! I'd love some help- I adopted this money tree because one of the attorneys in my office got a new office plant & was going to throw this one away. I decided to take her home to try to save her but I don't know how! I just bought some bonsai soil mix, regular potting soil, and a new pot on Amazon (not too big) and I'm planning to repot with a mix when they come in, or possible put the bonsai mix on the bottom as a drainage layer. Am I on the right track here? Thanks!!!

My pics didn't post for some reason: here's my new tree! Her name is Kathryn after the attorney who gave her to me

Hello can someone hrlp me eith my dying braided money tree? its lost all if its leaves

a 13 year old post.. with 197 replies ... one would think everything that could be said.. has already been said ...

check the pot - may be overwatering or the plant needs to be repotted.