What's wrong with my split-leaf philodendron???
Vonbook
9 years ago
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Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
9 years agosultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish)
9 years agoRelated Discussions
Need ideas about leaf casting of split leaf philodendron
Comments (5)Rainsend, my experience trying to do what you want involves lots of skinny leaves breaking off in your hands.... no matter how much fiber you use. Look at the picture below (and the 3 following it) to see what I finally did. It is not a leaf cast but it did turn out to be very pretty. The first photo shows the initial result and the next 3 show different views of the same paint job. I do not have a picture of the final product - the same paint job with a coating of exterior urethane that added darkness to the reddish color and a slight amber to the lighter areas. I did this by coating the leaf with as "even" a coat of white cement (quickwall in this case) as I could get. ooops, I forgot an important step. FIRST, lay out a sheet of heavy clean plastic on a big sturdy table. Wad up a small amount of paper and decide how much to put under the center section of the leaf to give it alittle depth but still be able to put the leaf fronds flat on the table. It doesn't take much padding here - and JUST under the center vein area. NOW pick up the leaf and put it somewhere else and spray it with spray adhesive. I had some 10 year old can of stencil adhesive but I think anything would work. Next, go back to your clean plastic on the table and carefully (extra hands help here) lay the leaf down on the wads of paper and arrange each frond so it is separate from the others and push down so the adhesive makes the leaf parts stick to the plastic on the table. Get this all looking like you want and gently press down every edge so concrete won't seep under the leaf. NOW you can go back to spreading white cement very carefully on every part of your leaf. Try not to get much smeared off the leaf because you are going to have to clean up every bit before you go on. When you are happy with your white cement coating (at least a quarter of an inch thick.... more on the big solid parts of the leaf), get all the edges like you want. Because you surely will have made a mess somewhere, now sprinkle clean sand over the plastic sheet and between every separate leaf part. DO NOT get much sand on top of the white cement). Let all this dry for awhile. I waited about an hour. Mix up a big pan of gray concrete and color it whatever color you want. I added a small amount of red powder (concrete colorant) someone gave me to try. I used a hypertufa recipe(on the dry side... not runny ) because this piece was going to get too heavy with just solid concrete. The rest is easy and quick. You dump the colored (could be gray - just not white) mix over the leaf and pat it gently around so it covers everything and mounds up to the shape and thickness you want. Because the middle of this leaf is so deep, you need to have about a 2 to 4 inch thickness. Because you are using a mix that doesn't run, you can use your hands to give it a basic overall shape you like. All that sand you poured on the plastic will give the front of your piece a nice sandy finish which you will brush off later. check out the photos and see if this would work for you Laura Here is a link that might be useful: try here...See MoreHAVE: Split leaf philodendron and ficus
Comments (5)Robin, I live in Mesquite. You can email me at lynnmariep86@yahoo.com and I'll give you my address. I really don't need anything. You'll be giving me ROOM on my patio! I'm going to just go buy a smaller version of the same thing anyway. I like the looks of it, but it is just too big....See MorePlease help!! Split Leaf Philodendron - yellowing, mushy leaves
Comments (10)Susan - Tiffany is pointing you in the right direction with her comments pertaining to root health. You simply can't hope for a healthy plant unless you can provide an environment conducive to a healthy root system; and even if you could make every other cultural factor that influences your plant perfect, it wouldn't make up for or counteract the limitations imposed by a sick roots. Using rocks as a drainage layer can be counter-productive or it can be helpful, depending on what's going on in the bottom of the pot. Used as a drainage layer, they are almost certainly counter-productive. Used as ballast, they can range from somewhat helpful to very helpful, depending on how they are situated in the pot. I'll try to illustrate with a little science. In the picture above, PWT means perched water table. Perched water is water the soil holds so tightly, it won't drain from the pot by the force of gravity alone. Most commercially prepared soils hold from 3-6" of perched water, meaning that if you water fully, until water is exiting the drain hole, after the pot stops draining, the bottom of the pot is fully saturated with water. Since water and nutrient uptake is energy driven and requires oxygen, you can easily imagine what effect the lack of oxygen has on root function. If you add a "drainage layer" water simply perches in the soil above the drainage layer (see the middle picture). Obviously, that's worse than the first picture because there is considerably less 'healthy' soil for the roots to use in the middle pic than in the first pic. Using ballast correctly reduces the amount of soil that the PWT can occupy. There is less soggy soil, so less excess water in the picture with ballast than in either picture, so even more ballast would be helpful. The problem is, the ballast doesn't fix the soil that causes the excess water to be retained. It just uses physics to reduce the amount of excess water the soil CAN hold. Are you still with me? What we CAN do, if you're up for it, is put together a strategy that will help you rid your planting of SOME of the limitations causing the problems that are related to water retention. The links that Tiffany left are good primers and can provide something of a framework of knowledge that can be expanded upon. With a little effort, you can very quickly learn to avoid all the most common pitfalls that bring people here, looking for help. I don't want to assume anything, so I'll keep an eye out for a reply and what you think of what I said. Thanks for the referral (thread you linked to), Tiff. ;-) I DO notice when you do that, and want you to know I appreciate it. Al...See MoreHELP: Online Monstera Deliciosa Gone Wrong! (Split Leaf Philodendron)
Comments (7)Yeah, taking a closer look, it looks like the seller didn't give you very much stems to work with. All I see there are the petioles, which connect the leaves to the stems. New growth will only emerge from the stems, and you weren't given much of that to even work with. So I would ask for a refund or replacement, if at all possible.Here's a closeup of my plant's stems. They're what the roots are emerging from, as well as the petioles. Looking closer at your photo, I don't see any stems whatsoever. To me, it looks as though the seller just snipped off a couple of short growth tips and stuck them in some pots. Have you unpotted them? Do they have any roots at all? If so, then they might pull thru. Just as long as the stems, what little of them there are, are still firm and viable. Under ideal conditions, these plants just might make it. But unless you got these for a very cheap price, then they weren't worth whatever price you paid for them. My first ever Monstera was a very healthy, well-rooted plant with multiple stems and at least a dozen or so leaves, and it only cost me around seven dollars. I've seen large, two-gallon sized pots of Monsteras for sale at Home Depot for just over twelve dollars. I just took a quick glance of the selection over on Amazon and none of them seemed reasonably priced. Even if these plants didn't suffer any cold damage, I wouldn't find these cuttings acceptable. Not for those prices. Places like Home Depot or Lowe's sell large Monsteras for only $12.98. Much more bang for your buck. Get your money back and shop elsewhere. If the seller doesn't work with you, then post a negative review, along with your photo. They ripped you off....See Moretlbean2004
9 years agoVonbook
9 years agoVonbook
9 years agoVonbook
9 years agoTiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
9 years ago
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