Spider plant in need of rescue
mindibun
15 years ago
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erict
15 years agogreattigerdane
15 years agoRelated Discussions
Spider plant rescue and question on placement
Comments (3)Almost all municipalities use a form of chlorination that renders the chlorine nonvolatile (doesn't dissipate), and fluorine is so reactive it is never found in elemental form, and is also nonvolatile, though allowing your plant water to stand long enough to come to room temperature is a plus. Brown tips could be a symptom of over-watering, under-watering, a high level of soluble salts in the soil, or a fluoride toxicity. Some often point to a fluoride toxicity the minute necrotic leaf tips or margins are mentioned in the same paragraph as 'spider plant', but it's far more likely that excessive soluble salts in the soil is the culprit. Low r-humidity can be a factor contributing to necrotic tips/margins, but misting does nothing to raise humidity for more than a few minutes at a time; again, look to one of the three reasons I mentioned that limit water uptake as the primary cause of necrotic leaf tissue. However - you said leaf tips were black, and that strongly suggests chill injury to me. Remember, chill injury can occur at temperatures as high as 45-50* under the right conditions. Since spider plants do not tolerate high fertility (salt) levels well, the best way to grow them is in a soil you can flush regularly and fertilize frequently with low doses of fertilizer w/o having to worry about the soil remaining soggy for extended periods or salts from fertilizers and tap water accumulating. Here is something I wrote about tending spider plants. Some of it might be redundant, my having already mentioned some of the following: A) Most important is to use a soil that drains very freely. This allows you to water copiously, flushing the accumulating salts from the soil each time you water. B) Fertilize frequently when the plant is growing well, but at low doses - perhaps 1/4 the recommended strength. This, in combination with the favorable watering habit described above, will keep soluble salts levels low, and keep levels from rising due to the accumulative effect we always see when we are forced to water in sips when plants are in water-retentive soils. C) When watering, using rainwater, snow melt, water from your dehumidifiers, or distilled water also eliminates the soluble salts in your tap water and will go a long way toward eliminating or minimizing leaf burn. D) If you make your own soils and use perlite, be sure the perlite is rinsed thoroughly, which removes most of the fluorides associated with it's use. E) Allowing water to rest overnight doesn't do anything in the way of helping reduce the amount of fluoride (the compounds are not volatile), and it only rarely helps with chlorine in certain cases, depending on what method of chlorination was used to treat your tap water. Al...See MoreNeed help identifying and rescuing a very distressed plant
Comments (8)What fawnridge and wisconsintom said. The part of the plant which is dying is the rosette which flowered. But under the dying leaves, around the trunk, there may be baby plants -- new rosettes -- and if there aren't any currently, there may/will be more soon. You can cut off the bloom stem now, or if you want seeds, you can let the seeds mature and maybe plant some. Do an image search for agave "seed pods" to see what seeds and ripe seed pods look like. HOWEVER, your photos of the stem show new leaves among the dried flowers -- and I believe those will turn into baby plants! (Something similar happens occasionally on daylily flower stems: I have a tiny daylily which started that way and is spending the winter with my houseplants.) Here's a page which talks about this process. Unfortunately it doesn't give information about planting the plantlets or bulbils, but the C&S forum folks can probably help: http://www.azfcf.org/docs/DAC/Bulbils.Blackburn.pdf...See MoreWhy did Spider Plant "Boonie" become Green Spider Plant?
Comments (36)The rhizome contains genetic information that will duplicate the parent plant. when you take a leaf cutting, the whole reproductive process changes. Just one cell from either I, II, or III will begin the rooting process but that one cell only contains the genetic material coding for whichever layer it comes from. The rhizome contains all of the genetic information from the parent, instead of having to start from scratch at just one type of cell. many African Violets are this way, chimeras. You can reproduce the plant only if you have a full crown (with all the genetic information, including the mutation) but if you take a leaf and try to propagate a new plant, it will not be true to the parent and will lose some of that genetic coding along the way. The cells in the leaves are very simple. They are to do one thing, and one thing only. Now, the cells in the dormant buds contain a different type of cell, one with much more potential than just a leaf cell. imagine it as if the dormant buds are similar to human stem cells, they can grow into almost any type of organ or tissue. Humans can't regenerate limbs (or bodies) so that example has to stop there lol. But with starfish (sea stars!), they can grow a limb back, but if a limb is ripped off, unless it has part of that central core (body), then the arm cells don't have enough genetic information to create a new body. The difference is the TYPE of cell used in starting the plant, whether it's a "stem cell" that holds information for the whole plant or just a leaf cell that is specialized and only holds the genetic information for its layer of leaf cells. That's probably going to be really confusing. It was kind of all over the natural world lol. I love biology though, so I enjoy our conversations!...See MoreNeed help rescuing Jade plant
Comments (3)I think the plant will survive. I would put it in a smaller pot, though, with some fast draining mix. I would also give it as much light as possible, as it seems you are already trying to do. As much light as you can give it, and little water are keys to success with this. Your can look like mine in a few years...Christopher...See Moremindibun
15 years agoUser
15 years agogreattigerdane
15 years agoobxgirl
14 years agotapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
14 years agodotspan1_optonline_net
12 years agoTiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
12 years ago
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tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)