Ok here's some more info then.....I've had a spider plant and it got covered in white fuzzy stuff (mealy bugs maybe?) and no matter how hard I tried I could not get rid of it and it died very fast...like in a couple of weeks. Well the plants on the east side of my house in the windows are about 1 foot from the window...maybe closer. I repot them in decorative pots with the holes in the bottom and the water catcher attached. I asked about the potting because I just can't believe every plant in my office has been in those black 10" things for 10 years, are no where near a window and they look great... I generaly water mine at home once a week. I try to water my rubber plant twice a week because that's what I have read and it's doing just ok but is growing towards the window like it's starving for light. My sheffelera (sp?) does best when I totally ignore it and maybe give it a tad of water once every 2 weeks. I can't seem to bring my corn plant back. New leaves turn brown every single day now. I'm at a loss. When my plants look sick, i put them at my back covered patio where they get a tad of morning sun and within a week they spring to life (except the corn plant). I dread having to bring them in this winter because they will sulk but usually survive ok in front of the west window. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I've killed something called a Tea plant (purplish leaves) spider plant, majesty palm(although the one i have now is happy on the patio in the sun) cactus, aloe vera plant, plenty of succulents (they hate me) I even killed a philodendron....2 of them. Maybe I do over water.....

I think if I kept squeezing my Adeniums, they would probably get soft too. :-) Leaf and stem health and color tell you more about your plant than squeezing. Hard to say much from the out of focus photo other than you have a brown spot on the root that may be rot. If it's soft and mushy there and smells bad, it has to be removed asap. You could use a spoon and scoop it out. The spoon needs to be sterile the last few times you use it to get back to clean white flesh or you'll just spread the rot to other areas with the spoon. I would dust it afterwards with cinnamon, a natural fungicide. I would leave it sitting out in the air in a shady, warm, dry location for about a week to make sure the rot is gone. Then you can pot it up in decent soil and protect it from wet cold weather. randy

Sounds like something killed or cut the root; maybe a cutworm? Do you have a dog? Dog urine, and cat urine to a lesser degree are very concentrated; and can seriously damage a young tree. Salt? as in water softener? Hard to tell from afar, especially without fotos. Could simply be SIDS... Sudden infant death syndrome, with no explanation. At any rate, I would un-pot it and have a look at the root; if the root is good, you can always put it back and pray for reincarnation.

Okay--reporting back the results, so far, of my extreme measures taken in eradicating 'Southern Blight' on several of my hosta! The one-eyed crown I removed from the 'Golden Sculpture', unearthed and removed all leaves, cutting the crown back severely, and soaked in a bleach solution for an hour and then changed off the water every two days--is doing great! The remaining eyes, in the original pot show no evidence of the 'blight', with that eye removed! I did spritz full-strength bleach on the soil surface of those left in the pot, as well. So far, the one-eyed crown is producing 5 additional eyes and three of them are already sending up leaves. So far there is no sign of the 'blight' on this one, (these eyes) either! Now--the 'American Icon' that I also dealt with severely, and did not unpot, but in this case I just sprayed straight bleach on the base of the petioles, and surrounding soil, and left it on for a couple of mins. before pouring on a good amount of water--so far, so good! I've also sprinkled corn meal on the soil surface and watered it in well! The 'S&S' and 'Titanic' I treated in the same way and also have added corn-meal fairly heavily and watered in--so far, so good! Lost almost all the petioles and eyes on those, but one eye (that was decimated) is sending up a small leaf! They did get repeated straight bleach sprayings after pouring on the 10% solution seemed to not be working! The 'Alex Summers' planted in a raised bed--I removed on Thursday and also removed all the soil and soaked over-night in a 10% bleach solution--I have rinsed and soaked a couple of hours in plain water and potted them up, divided with cornmeal also heavily applied. Every leaf is turning a bright orange! On the one pot of 3 eyes I have just, today, cut the petioles back severely. I've left them planted to see what comes of it! The other two eyes are potted and I'm letting them play out the dying off of the leaves, in hopes they will also reflush! I started out with one eye of this one, from Hosta Direct, and had 5 eyes this year--3 summers later!!! I really am not very hopeful about those two! The roots looked so fragile when I removed them from the bleach water!! I've also done the same thing with another hosta that has shown the nematodes--my 'Maui Buttercups'!!!! I'm just sick about that one, especially! I started out with one eye two summers ago, and now I had three this year! It was looking so good! I also dug it up yesterday--removed all the soil, all leaves (cut them to the crown) and separated all three eyes and soaked them overnight in bleach water! They, too, looked fragile this morning! I've potted them up--set them apart from all other planting areas and will keep a close eye on them for a couple of years. I did test a leaf in the water, (that was also soaked in bleach last night) as I do with any nematode infestation and there seemed to be no 'nematode' life evident, today! How far reaching was the bleach in effectiveness on the nematodes, remains to be seen. And, will the hosta in both situations, having been soaked overnight in bleach 8-10%, survive and thrive--will also remain to be seen! Oh, I got the idea to bleach for nematodes from 'Pietre'! :o) I'll keep you posted--whether you want to know or not! ;o/