Hi Marea, new to Garden Web and trying to figure out how this swap thing works. If i wanted some of your plants for postage OR trade, what is the procedure. Thanks for your Help!! Bill and Kay in Florida Email is beautyspa4u@aol.com

Hi Toni, thanks for the response, but I don't think light is the problem. The plant is directly in an east/southeast facing window with no curtain. I have other WJ in the same window and they are fine- it is just this one that has the problem. The leaves aren't pale- they have a pretty good purple/pinkish color- and it's not spindly. It's just that the plant seems to have lost almost all of its green color, and you can't really see the stripes anymore. It's odd- I've heard of WJ losing their purple and being mostly green (and have had this happen myself) but never a plant that lost its green and was all purple. I can send a picture if that would help (not sure if I can post on this forum, I am a newbie, any advice would be appreciated). Thanks! Vicki

Yes, even on the healthiest plant, a leaf will die occasionally. More sun is good, tho. I don't think there's anything you can actually do to this plant to hurt it except rot the roots. In which case you could still probably continue the top growth because these plants have an interesting ability to make a "stopping point" on their stem. I don't know what the technical name is for this thing but I've seen it happen, the top part just falls off, looking for a more suitable place to start new roots. This also happens sometimes if the stem gets pinched against the edge of the pot. The weight of a stem can cause a break/stopping point at the rim of the pot. Just stick it back in.

If there's still enough of it, take a piece that has two or three 'joints' on it and put it in water. It will often root very easily. (By 'joints' I mean the little knobs where the leaves join on to the stem.) Tradescantia is/are really tough IMHO, but they're not keen on very shady sites, unless it's T.fluminensis. They tolerate drought, frost (although they die right back), and living in water for months at a time, but they do like to have some direct sun in the day. Did you get a plant known as 'Tahitian Bridal Veil'? That can fade back in the winter and looks to be on its last stand, but it revives with the spring. You might want to repot into fresh mix. Sometimes the plant people ship with a peat-based mix that will hold water and be light enough to keep shipping costs down, even though the plant would do better in a more open mix. If you do, and quite a bit of the leaf cover has gone - pot into a smaller container. If you don't, when you water there won't be enough plant activity to pump the water through and your plant could rot/drown. When it picks up again in the spring you can pot on the the next size of pot.