Hi morello, To be able to suggest what might be wrong with your plant, it would be helpful to know more about the environment it is in. So, here are the "usual" questions: What growing medium are you using? How large is the container? Is it self-watering or do you manually water it? It would be helpful to know these things as well: How often do you water? Have you checked the moisture of the growing medium 3-5" below the surface? Is it dry, just right, or soggy? Are you feeding the plant? How often? What are the NPK values of any fertilizers you are using to feed it? What has the weather been like in your area? Can you post pictures? The more information you can give us, the better the chances that someone can give you an accurate diagnosis. Betsy

I need help. My momma spiderplant loves direct summer sunlight. I know its weird but she got three times bigger this summer and so so green. She's about 9 years old. I have growing babies also from her. But I brought her in like I always do for winter and put them all under my grow bulb for six hours daily then rest. I put her in a nice large pot with lots of room. Her roots were so congested. But I didnt break up the root base. I never have before either. But now she is sick! First her leaves turned brown and cracked in half. Now they are turning yellow so fast half of her is gone. And bad burns on tips. I only give her purified water now. In summer it was tap and no issues! I fed her a fertilizer stick in her new pot. Now my medium sized babies are yellowing and burning on tips. I changed their soil to an all purpose soil is the only difference other than bringing them in. I didnt change the pot on the medium babies. I've never seen her sick like this. Please tell me what to do! Help!!

It is frustrating and sometimes impossible to figure out precisely. The explanation for the browning is usually that the plants withdraw moisture from the leaf extremities first - tip or edges. This happens very often when there's too little water. Too much water can damage roots which then triggers the same response. Likewise with soaking then drying out excessively when it happens over and over again. Excessive fertilizer salts are not flushed out from the container mix can be another factor. Air temperature and the temperature of the planting medium are also involved. Your planting medium should be fine. The goal, however difficult it may be to reach, is consistent moisture with no extremes. Thinking in terms of weather, temperature, frequent checking of moisture content with your hands can help. A specific number of waterings a week is not likely to meet the plant's need every week of the year.

Before you repot or pot up (there is a significant difference between the two) it would be worth flushing the soil thoroughly with a garden hose (if temps allow). There is significant potential that the plant was watered in small sips; or, if the plant was in a collection saucer, was allowed to sit in the effluent that exits the drain hole. Both cause all the dissolved solids (salts) in tapwater and fertilizer solutions to accumulate in the soil. Eventually the increasing level of salts in the soil limits nutrient uptake. It can even reverse the flow of water into cells so water is pulled out of cells, this, by the same mechanism curing salts pulls water from the cells of meat. As the level of salts in the grow medium becomes more concentrated, the plant starts having difficulty moving water to its most distal parts - (leaf tips and margins), resulting in random areas of necrosis at these points. I usually suggest a grower should pour a volume of water equal to at least 10X the volume of the pot be poured slowly/evenly through the soil. This will flush out almost all dissolved solids - sort of like hitting the fertilizer reset button to 0. A day or two after flushing the soil, you should fertilize at the production rate. Unfortunately, over or under-watering causes the same symptoms as a high level of salts in the soil, but it's not difficult to determine what interval between waterings is appropriate. For that you can use a wooden dowel rod that can be pushed through the soil to the bottom of the pot. This will be easier after you repot/ pot up. More on that below. You might find this Overview of Good Growing Practices to be helpful. Using a 'tell' Over-watering saps vitality and is one of the most common plant assassins, so learning to avoid it is worth the small effort. Plants make and store their own energy source – photosynthate - (sugar/glucose). Functioning roots need energy to drive their metabolic processes, and in order to get it, they use oxygen to burn (oxidize) their food. From this, we can see that terrestrial plants need plenty of air (oxygen) in the soil to drive root function. Many off-the-shelf soils hold too much water and not enough air to support the kind of root health most growers would like to see; and, a healthy root system is a prerequisite to a healthy plant. Watering in small sips leads to avoid over-watering leads to a residual build-up of dissolved solids (salts) in the soil from tapwater and fertilizer solutions, which limits a plant's ability to absorb water – so watering in sips simply moves us to the other horn of a dilemma. It creates another problem that requires resolution. Better, would be to simply adopt a soil that drains well enough to allow watering to beyond the saturation point, so we're flushing the soil of accumulating dissolved solids whenever we water; this, w/o the plant being forced to pay a tax in the form of reduced vitality, due to prolong periods of soil saturation. Sometimes, though, that's not a course we can immediately steer, which makes controlling how often we water a very important factor. In many cases, we can judge whether or not a planting needs watering by hefting the pot. This is especially true if the pot is made from light material, like plastic, but doesn't work (as) well when the pot is made from heavier material, like clay, or when the size/weight of the pot precludes grabbing it with one hand to judge its weight and gauge the need for water. Fingers stuck an inch or two into the soil work ok for shallow pots, but not for deep pots. Deep pots might have 3 or more inches of soil that feels totally dry, while the lower several inches of the soil is 100% saturated. Obviously, the lack of oxygen in the root zone situation can wreak havoc with root health and cause the loss of a very notable measure of your plant's potential. Inexpensive watering meters don't even measure moisture levels, they measure electrical conductivity. Clean the tip and insert it into a cup of distilled water and witness the fact it reads 'DRY'. One of the most reliable methods of checking a planting's need for water is using a 'tell'. You can use a bamboo skewer in a pinch, but a wooden dowel rod of about 5/16” (75-85mm) would work better. They usually come 48” (120cm) long and can usually be cut in half and serve as a pair. Sharpen all 4 ends in a pencil sharpener and slightly blunt the tip so it's about the diameter of the head on a straight pin. Push the wooden tell deep into the soil. Don't worry, it won't harm the root system. If the plant is quite root-bound, you might need to try several places until you find one where you can push it all the way to the pot's bottom. Leave it a few seconds, then withdraw it and inspect the tip for moisture. For most plantings, withhold water until the tell comes out dry or nearly so. If you see signs of wilting, adjust the interval between waterings so drought stress isn't a recurring issue. Al