Hi, Birdie. How long has it been since your last repot? One of the symptoms of tight roots is shedding of lower and interior foliage. If the internodes (distance between the leaves) are growing shorter, your plant needs a repot, but winter and early spring are poor times to consider repotting - especially for plants that are stressed and very low on energy reserves. Root congestion can promote blooming in some plants, but root congestion IS a stress, and as such limits growth and vitality to a degree that varies with the amount of congestion. I think the wise thing to do would be to get your plant healthy again, and THEN worry about blooming. Sound reasonable? When did you last fertilize? Often, plants starved for nutrients, particularly nitrogen, shed foliage after 'harvesting' mobile nutrients from older leaves so new leaves can grow. Culturally, you can treat your plant like most succulents. Letting it dry down completely IS a stress, so try to time it so you're watering just before soil is completely dry. Humidity is no problem for this plant. It's glossy leaves are very high in cuticular wax, which helps guard against low indoor humidity. I'm sorry, but I disagree that a fertilizer with a high middle number is a good choice for any containerized plant. There are no plants that use more P (the middle number) than either N or K (first and last numbers). The excess P adds unnecessarily to the level of salts in the soil and can actually contribute to leaf loss and deficiencies of other nutrients ...... particularly iron and manganese. That may be more information than you need, but others too, may be curious as to why high P fertilizers are not such a good choice for container plants. Best luck - let me know if there are any other questions you think I might help you with. Al

Well Linda, it appears I did have the dreaded tomato russet mite. Fortunately, it appears it was caught in time for a recovery. Thank you for your help. I followed a homemade insecticide recipe someone had posted on the forum that involved garlic, mineral oil, water & soap and it appears to have worked. I just put my second treatment on this morning to catch any mites I may have missed last week. We'll see how it continues.

Kendra Not the soil to add, but perlite. That is the white granules, few are visible in your soil (but it is better to add more). You can buy a bag of it, screen it and rinse it. I would add some and gently poke the soil closer to the rim with a chopstick (so I won't disturb the roots much), to mix it in - not leaving it on top. Or if the soil in the pot is loose enough, you could shake some out holding the plant. Mix this with perlite and put back in the pot. Perlite is very light and easily floats to the top. This would be temporary help, and if you don't feel confident about doing it - don't. I am only suggesting it for a time until you decide if you want to make 'proper' mix. You would need to make it yourself - they don't sell it in stores. There is just couple of places you could order similar by mail, but I am not willing to pay the $ they ask + shipping so I don't buy it and can't advice you about them. robinswfl gave you good advice, re-read her 2 posts again. Using well draining soil is much better for the plants, and makes it easier for the grower because it decreases chance of overwatering. Sure, even gritty mix could be overwatered, but it would take lots of water to do that+leaving pots sitting in saucer full of water. Keeping plants outdoors is also much better for the plants, and with that kind of soil one doesn't have to worry much about the rain...again, just my opinion.

Before doing any more, or allowing people that do not know what they are doing spray something else, tak samples of this shrub and place them in a sealable plastic bag and take it to your local office of the University of Florida Cooperative Extension Service. They will identify what the problem is and what the appropriate means of control might be. http://sfyl.ifas.ufl.edu/map/index.shtml