here's one of the frilly newer leaves

Very interesting.
How long as it been in this pot? How often is it fertilized, if at all?

It looks like a virus or a deficiency -- I'd guess one or the other. The pale chartreuse color of a normal leaf in the first photo would indicate, to me, that it's a deficiency of some sort. My Pachira leaves are very uniformly green:

{{gwi:5628}}

In any case, while I have no idea what it is, here's what I would do -- noting that what I would do is not necessarily the right thing TO do, haha.

Cut off all the deformed leaves, and pull it out of the pot gently. Manually untangle all of the roots and remove all of the soil from the root ball. Then I'd wash the pot thoroughly and put in brand new potting soil -- something that drains extremely easily -- and replant it in the clean pot with new potting soil.

Water once and then I'd let it dry for a couple of weeks, and observe what happens, I guess.

I grow mine inside in a huge room (it's in the dining room, which connects directly to the living room as one large room) with east and west windows so it's really bright all day long. I water maybe once every 7-10 days and fertilize every month or so but it's basically living in bark and rocks, so the water just goes right through.

But your mother has kept it alive and growing for this long, so I'm inclined to think it's not a watering thing.

If you do repot it, take photos of the before and after of the roots. Perhaps someone in the forum will identify something amiss there that we can't tell from the appearance only.

Hope that helps!

..... plant still living ..... still looking for suggestions?

Al

Thanks for the suggestion, Sugi_C! The plant isn't fertilized very often, I would say once or twice a year a most. It's still alive, and new normal shaped leaves have grown. Suggestions are always still welcome.

My guess would also be a nutritional deficiency, and I agree with the repot, though it would be better if you waited to repot until June, when the plant should make the fastest recovery. Keep in mind, a repot is much more extensive than simply potting up. Between now and then, I would:

* Flush the soil very thoroughly the next time the plant needs water and fertilize with a soluble synthetic fertilizer with a 3:1:2 NPK ratio. RATIO is different than %s. 24-8-16, 12-4-8, 9-3-6 are all 3:1:2 ratio fertilizers. I highly recommend Foliage-Pro 9-3-6 because it contains all the nutrients essential to normal growth in a favorable ratio (to each other) which can be very important - especially so if you're using a soil that forces you to water in small sips to avoid root rot or suppressed root function due to soggy soil conditions.

* Fertilize regularly with appropriate doses. We can figure that out once we know what you'll be using and figure out how close you can come to watering correctly.

For best growth and vitality, make sure that when you repot, it's into a soil that allows you to flush the soil of accumulating salts at will. You'll be at a turning point in your ability to maintain healthy plant material consistently once you understand how much influence excess water retention has in limiting your plants, and how much easier it is to grow things when you can water properly. The ability to water correctly is also a key element in your ability to take and maintain precise control over nutritional supplementation (fertilizing). Questions?

Al

What is happenig with my Pachira? Everyone I buy gets some kind of white marks on leafs. I give here wather once in month ! She is under nice sun, not to agressive. Please help ! I just love her!

Not enough info. Pictures? Better description of white marks?

Al

It's a fungal infection - probably one of the many species of powdery mildew. You need to remove affected leaves and burn or discard in trash in plastic bag and apply a fungicide - preferably one that works systemically, like tebuconazole. Where do you live?

Al

In a big house in Croatia/Europe with lot of sun . I placed my pachira in livingroom wich is very big and there is a lot of sun, but there is alos a fireplace I am wondering is it maybe to hot for here in winter ? Or maybe the white marks are from wather?

Fungal infection.

Al

My leaves are doing this does anyone know what this