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Tropical Fruits

Help! My coffee tree is shriveling!

15 years ago

I bought a beautiful coffee tree from Wally World last weekend. I repotted the plant into a slightly larger pot and mixed it with some clean potting soil and a little compost. During the week it began to shrivel. So I repotted it again but this time, I loosened the dirt from the roots. I gave it some water too. The plant is indoors for the winter. Am I doing something wrong?

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Comments (2)

red_sea_me
15 years ago
hello Tiffaney,
a picture would help to be sure. Some basics (forgive me if you know already) coffee likes bright light (not direct sun), acidic soil, fair amounts of water. It is good that you loosened the roots, into some acidic soil? Then soak the soil maybe with a little Superthrive added to the water. Sometimes the rootball does not absorb water, if after watering you pot still feels light try blocking the drain holes or submerging some of the pot in a bucket then rewater.

I came across a huge wilted coffee plant on the sale rack at lowes. The rootball was completely dry. I had to weigh the pot down in a bucket of water and leave 'til the rootball soaked up water (1hr?). After that I loosened the roots and repotted it. It and the smaller seedlings I have get soaked and then allowed to dry out a little before watering again. My plants would enjoy more humidity but they cant have everything. Dont give up on your plant, they seem to be pretty tough.

good luck,
-Ethan
tiffaneyga
Original Author
15 years ago
Ethan,

Here's an update. The plant is now growing in my garage under shoplights installed on the ceiling. Since the weather was so nice today (69 degrees), I took the coffee plant outside gave it a good dousing, cut off the old leaves, and placed it back in the garage under the bright lights after it dried off (garage stays at 67 degrees w/ 88 humidity. I have a fan circulating air and a humidifier going as well. The soil is very acidic since it is composed of regular potting soil and compost loaded with old coffee grounds. Hopefully it will make a speedy recovery, but so far I don't see any signs of it perking up......

-Tiffaney
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Hey, there! I've been growing these for quite some time, and I've overseen the growing of many others. They can be a fickle tree, but are well worth the effort. I can't add much to what's been written, as the advice is sound. Often, Pachira are sold in near-death condition, and so it may have been declining for a long time. Don't beat yourself up over it. It might be out of your control. As long as the roots haven't rotten, and as long as the trunks are firm, there's a chance. Even if all the leaves fall off, it could still recover. Several of us have lost leaves by putting them in the sun too soon, and the plants regrew a full compliment of foliage. I'll include some links, below, that might give you some ideas for a future approach. With more information, and pictures, we can offer even more specifically tailored advice. 1. This is a Thread I put together on re-potting my Pachira last Spring: Pachira (Money Tree) - Spring re-potting pics 2. This is a massive Thread that has spanned several years. Lots of varied information: Sick looking braided Money Tree 3. And lastly, these are the search results for Pachira Threads, which you might pick through: Pachira Search Results Josh
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You we're probably right to cut back on watering. You definitely want to vary it by season and not water unless needed. You may consider sticking a wooden chopstick or skewer into the potting medium and checking it before watering. Looks like you may have root rot with the consequent loss of leaves and branches. This seems a bit high up for the blackened parts, but it also looks like you still have plenty of green below that point. If you can, I'd suggest taking a photo that includes the soil line and posting it. Depending on how far gone it is, you may just want to hack it up and wait for the pieces to root. Generally pretty easy to do with jades. The good news is that other than the one weakness of overwatering, they're tough as nails and re-root readily. Regarding the store soil, every time I've let a plant languish in the peat based stuff they come in, I've had problems, especially with succulents. I'd definitely pot into something else, whatever the outcome is here. At a minimum, some new compost or peat based soil heavily amended with perlite or similar (wide variety of options for this, of course, so it bears perusal of threads about potting mix). You might also consider getting it better light if possible, the green growth in the bottom of the picture looks very gangly, suggests it's not getting enough sunlight.
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