Kelby, send your address to me at bluesea14808@yahoo.com, along with any likes and dislikes regarding color, plain or patterned leaves, size etc. I have a lot of new and old hybrids, ag species are hard to come by but I have a small number. If you're interested in philodendrons I could supply some of those.

I can make the same offer of for-postage to a limited number of others on this forum, you can contact me at the email address above.

Russ

@russ1023 what are your thoughts on this little lady? I took her home from the doctors office I work at because she was starting to look sad. I think it may have some sun burn on the leaves and it seems like a new one drops daily. The soil isn’t overly moist, but one of the stalls came right out when I jiggled and appears to have no roots. All the stems are firm when I give a squeeze. This is the only fertilizer I’ve ever used. I added a bit to the spill about 1 month ago when I brought the plant home. Any tips are greatly appreciated!

Here are the roots.

Hi Lila! Your Silver Bay has lost its roots, probably from over-watering. You will have to reroot the stems, not a difficult process. First I would dump the pot and take out the rest of the plants. If you see white roots you can leave those alone, but trim off any dark or rotted roots or tissue from the stems. Any long, leggy stems can be cut to a better length, 6 to 8 inches. The stem with all the leaves is a good candidate, trim off all the leaves except a few at the top but depends how you're going to root them. If you're not in a southern state I would root in water, in this case you can leave several leaves at the top, no chance of wilting. If you root in a soil mix, which requires warm temps and fairly high humidity, one or two small leaves is max unless you put the pot in a clear plastic bag and close it. If you're in a warm state, you can still root in water or put the stems in a pot of light, peat-based mix such as Miracle-Gro, Pro Mix, or similar. An addition of extra perlite would be good if you have it. Let the top inch of mix dry before watering.

Do not reuse the old potting mix.

Let me know if any other questions.

Russ

Okay Lila, those stems with roots look okay, just take them outside and spray the old soil off the roots with the hose, then repot in fresh mix. Make sure the pot isn't overly big, just a guess here but for all the plants a pot 6 inches across and fairly deep might work best. I would put the rootless stem on the right in the same pot and see if it will root. Same with the small pieces, or put them in a small pot of their own, or in water.

@russ1023 Thank you for your guidance. After loosening the soil, the bottom half was a swamp even though the top few inches were completely dry. I pinched away dead roots and used fresh miracle grow organic soil with some of the fertilizer pellets mixed in. I will wait a few days before lightly watering to activate them. Fingers crossed! I think it looks happier already.

Very good Lila. If the pot doesn't have drainage holes in the bottom, roots will rot again. Ags are extremely sensitive to constantly wet soil. I see you have the pot in a decorative sleeve, take it out to water and let it drain completely in the sink before putting back in the sleeve. Those brown, damaged leaves aren't helping the plant at all, take them off if you wish.

Keep in touch as to progress, or problems.

Will do. The internal and external pot both have drainage holes, but I will water it in the sink nonetheless so water doesn’t end up on the floor. I was hesitant to remove the other leaves because it already looks so thin, but you are right. All they will do is take away from the rest of the plant. Removing them now. Thanks again!

Lila, regarding being thin, you can always cut the tops off the tall stems and stick them back in the pot to root. If they fail to root in soil and the stems get rubbery, not firm, transfer them to water to rehydrate. I would leave them there to root, once they have many white roots, pot them and see if they continue to grow.

Hey Kelby!

Aglaonemas actually don't like as much sun as would be provided by a south facing window. I keep all of my different Ags against the far wall of my bedroom where no windows are. My bedroom has windows on the north side which would put my plants on the interior south side of the room. They are happy happy happy!

Here's the soil mix I currently have them in:

1 part Coco Coir

1 part worm castings

2 parts pumice (perlite can be substituted here, but it's a less sustainable additive)

Good luck with your Ags! They are such pretty plants. :)

@russ1023 I found this thread while searching for help with my Aglaonema, and wondered if you had any advice for mine. I just got her in the mail about a week and a half ago, and she was very droopy (my guess is from overwatering). Since then her leaves have been yellowing and dropping, and she’s in a low to medium light area. I haven’t watered at all, but the moisture meter I just bought says she’s dry to moist. Any ideas on what to do? She’s my first houseplant!

Caroline, you're either keeping the plant too dry or the roots have rotted. Either way the leaves aren't getting enough water to stay hydrated, so they wilt. I would unpot the plant on some newspaper and see what the root ball looks like. Is the potting soil completely dry? If it looks moist, break off some of it to see if it's bone dry inside the root ball. Some peat mixes will not rewet once they have dried out completely, if this is the case, I recommend you work all the soil off of the roots with your fingers, then put the plant in a container of water up to the lowest leaves, all roots in the water. In a few days it will rehydrate and you can repot in new, fresh potting mix. Cut off all yellow and off-color leaves.

If you have more questions post here, or feel free to email me

Russ

Bluesea14808@yahoo.c

@Russ1023 (central Fla) thank you so much! here are some pictures of the roots. One of them was mushy and fell apart as you can see. I assume it’s best for me to just toss that one? I’ll put the others in water for a couple days.

Caroline, on the one with a rotted stem, if the base part is completely mush, toss that. But I can see that the top might be salvageable. Cut the rot back to where you see good tissue. Brown spot in the center, keep trimming off another quarter inch until you only see white tissue. If there's 3 or 4 nodes left, you can probably root it, but for now just put it in water.

Leave all cuttings in water until they look hydrated, a few days is fine but they can actually stay in water indefinitely, so don't worry about the time. Not a bif deal, but your cuttings look a little deep in the water, just want the roots covered.

Keep us posted.

looking better already! the new leaves are even starting to open. I think I’m going to try to root the one that had bad root rot in water. Right now they’re in a medium to low light area, would bright indirect be better?

Hi, I really need some help please, I was given this plant as a gift. I over watered it so I repotted it, removing the rotted roots. It seems to still be too wet in the pot, it's not grown any new leaves and nearly most of them have died or gone yellow.

Hi Han, I would try putting the roots in water, I did that and you can see my photos above. I'm new to plants, so this is just a guess, but that really helped mine! Put it in indirect sun, and it should stiffen up and get healthier. They can stay in water indefinitely, but you can repot it once it looks healthy. Then be really careful with watering, only water when the soil dries out completely to be safe. Hope this helps!

Thank you! How long did it take for it to start looking healthy again once you put it in water? And when you saw new shoots?

A day or two for it to perk up! Mine have only been in water for about two weeks, so no noticeable new roots yet. I think it usually takes a month or more

Hi all,

Also seeking advice for my poor little plant. One half of the plant seems well - green leaves, not droopy or anything. The other side of the plant has lost over half of its leaves in 2 weeks. The base of the stem is becoming more brown, and the leaves are fading to a pink-brown and then dying off. The dying leaf in the photo looks dried up, but the other leaves were more saggy and had brown spots when they died. I try to pay attention to how the soil feels before I water it, so I'm not sure what's happening. Is this a case of overwatering? Inconsistent watering?

Any thoughts or suggestions on what I can do are very greatly appreciated!!

Bridget, is the plant that's failing the small stem on the other side of the healthy one? It sounds obvious to me that it's roots have rotted and maybe the bottom of the stem.

If you give a light tug on either of the stems, do they seem loose or solid in the soil?

It's likely an overwatering problem, if you are watering when the top of the soil is still wet or even damp, it's too soon. Is this the case?

Also, I don't see any perlite in your soil, is this one of the dirt type potting mixes?

Hello everyone can you do advice me how to revive my aglonema suksom jaipong plant? First is the leaves become limpy ,I water it 1 or 2 times a week.I thought I over water it, so, I decided to bring outside in the morning to get sun for 2-3 hours .And now the leaves is burn . Any advice or comments will help. Much mahalos...

Arlyn, leaves becoming limp means your ag has a problem with taking up enough water to support leaves. One of two things has happened, the 2nd being most likely problem.

1. The soil dried out completely and now it won't accept water within the root ball. Also, the root ball shrinks when dry so water goes thru the gap between soil and sides of the pot rather than soaking the root ball. So roots are basically trapped in a brick and the plant wilts.

2. Your plant has rotted roots from soil staying too wet. Lost roots means the plant can't keep up with the demand for water by so many leaves, so it wilts.

If the leaves are severely burned, I would cut them off. Cut the petiole (leaf stem) close to the main stem. If there are unburned leaves, they can remain but only leave a few on the plant.

One way to diagnose is to scratch down in the soil. If the top material is wet but then bone dry under the surface, that's your problem. If it's wet an inch or more down, then you have rotted roots. Unpot the plant and check the roots, are they white and light colored, or dark and mushy? Also, does the pot have drain holes in the bottom? One hole is enough but those decorative ceramic pots often don't have any, and they're usually a death sentence for plants.

I'll get back to you once I have your answers.

Hi there i am very worried about my chinese evergreen as you can see its dying.I repotted it from a larger pot to smaller one because i saw it was becoming yellow and mushy leaves and stalks due to moisture hold.But after repotting it just dropped.The roots were healthy and white when i was repotting but now i just took out and checked they have turned brown.

Can we save it or its too late

I need a little more info. Are all the roots brown and mushy? Have you shaken or teased the soil off roots so you can see all the roots?

It doesn't look like you're too late, I still see green stems. Are they hard and firm or weak and flexible? In either case, if all the roots have rotted, I would cut off the bottom leaves of each stem, leaving only two, then cut off the brown, rotted roots and put the stems in a glass of water to rehydrate and hopefully reroot. If there are good roots leave them alone. If there are a LOT of good, white roots and the stems are turgid, not soft and rubbery, and leaves are upright, not droopy, you can pot in a light, peat based mix in the SMALLEST pot that the roots just fit into. You might have to water more often, but you're less likely to overwater with less soil. Make sure the pot has drain holes. I don't recommend the kind of pot you're using now with the non-removable saucer. The saucer prevents all the extra water from draining and soil will stay too wet. A regular decorative pot with matching loose saucer is much better, let the pot drain in the sink, then place on the saucer.

Post again if you have more questions or need clarification.

Your ag is probably Pink Valentine if it didn't come with a name.

Hey guys,

My friend’s office was closed through corona and this plant was left there, she brought it to me last week. I’ve tried to revive it but I’m not sure if I’m doing the right things.

Please can you help me!! I really wanna save this plant

Thank you for the response, I’ll unpot and put the cleaned stems in water. I really hope it survives.

Are my photos being uploaded? I’ve sent pics of the leaves and stem both rounds

No pics. What is the condition of the stems? Are they firm, or soft and rubbery? If they're firm they'll probably be okay, if soft it depends on how far gone they are.

Hi,

My aglonema had root rot. It did have new roots so I repotted and its much better now. It had a pup before repotting, which is thriving. However the original stem had all leaves yellowing and falling off. Shall I keep this original stem or cut it off? Will it grow new leaves? It seems to have reached an end.

Priya, I'm assuming the stem and the plant with leaves have a common connection below the soil line. The plant with leaves is the dominant growth and the old stem will likely do nothing as long as they are connected. If you had cut them apart with equal amounts of roots when you repotted, you would eventually see growth from the bare stem..

How big was the root ball on this plant? The plant looks far too small for the size of the pot. Also, that looks like a terrible potting mix. Is it dense and heavy? Aglaonemas aren't too picky on soil mixes but the heavy, dirt-type 'potting soils' don't grow good tropicals of any kind. You might have better luck with any of the light, peat-based commercial mixes available at Home Depot, Lowe's or similar stores and amend it with perlite. Some brands have ground pine bark or other amendments already added, which is fine. If the pot sides are more than 2 inches wider than the root ball, I would put it into a smaller pot.

If you decide to leave it in the same pot and soil mix, you can dig down and cut the stem so there are two separate plants. Try to make sure each plant has some roots, the bare stem should start growing and produce it's own leaves. Another option is to cut the bare stem at the soil level and put it into a glass of water. It will sprout roots and you can pot it in a couple of months.

Your ag looks like an old hybrid called Red Valentine, one of the so-called 'Thai Hybrids' that are so popular these days. It has many other names, including a long Thai word.

Let us know how it goes.

Russ

Thanks Russ! The picture might have been too zoomed maybe..attaching another one..
Yes it does have the same root ball..And the soil is the miracle gro potting mix..its not heavy..just a bit dry on the top.
Learnt to keep it dry after the root rot ☹️
I will cut the stem a little above the soil level then and place it in water..hopefully it give me another plant😊

Hi! Not sure if my previous message went through. Any advice on what to do here? Repot as is or cut off all these roots?

Hi! Not sure if my previous message went through. Any advice on what to do here? Repot as is or cut off all these roots?

You could pot them with all roots intact but the plants are small and pots would be bigger than they need. You can trim the roots but I wouldn't recommend cutting any more than about half of the length, that will still leave them a good root system. Leaves look a little wilted, you might put the plants in water for a day or so to rehydrate before potting.

LMK if you have more questions.

Russ

Hello,

could someone help me please

my aglaonema has had 3 leaves turn yellow and fall off- ive just checked the roots going off your coments and found my plant only has one large root? and its rotten.- ive taken this off now

its also got these tiny 2cm white buds - looks like roots starting to grow?

what shall i do? put it in water? put it in soil?

thanks in advance

Emily, those look like offsets (new plants) rather than roots. The easiest and safest thing to do is put it in water for now. Approximate water level should be just above where that new green offset joins the stem

Once rooted, if you're in a northern state I would wait til late spring rather than try to transplant to soil in Jan or Feb. I doubt you'll have any trouble with rotting of the stem, but if you see any dark areas developing you should cut them away.

If you don't like water, you could try rooting in long fiber sphagnum moss if you're familiar with that. In either case, warmth would help tremendously, a heat mat works well. Post again if you have more questions

Hi, my aglaonema had unfortunately complete root rot, also three leaves have fallen off, some are still hung and a new one is growing. I removed all root roots and a part of the rooten stem. Is that OK?

Should I put it in water now or what would be the best thing to do?

Thank you very much.

Yes, in water for now. There are still more leaves on the cutting than it might be able to keep, if they wilt take off a couple of bottom leaves and see if leaves will stand back up. You might see yellowing bottom leaves, just take those off as it's a sign the cutting can't take up enough water to maintain the number of leaves. By the time spring rolls around you should have a root system and can pot it. Freshen the water once in awhile, a few drops of water soluble fertilizer once a month would be good.

I know you said roots were mush, but what about the bottom stem of plant, was it soft and completely rotted?

Sure, it will be difficult to survive all the leaves. I think one is already yellowing now.

Well, now when I putting the cutting in the water I noticed that the bottom stem of plant was also rotted for about 1 centimeter in length, so I removed/shortened it:

I’m sorry this happened, I didn’t feel like I was really watering it too much. :/ it‘s so beautiful plant.

Thank you for advices.

Watch the stem end carefully, if it continues to rot cut it a half inch above the bottom to try and get to good tissue. When it gets roots and you pot it, add a good amount of perlite to your soil to help drainage and keep from staying wet so long. Only water when the top half inch to an inch of soil is dry.

Good luck.

Hi there fellow plant lovers! I am in desperate need of help! I was gifted a beautiful Chinese Evergreen (might be Valentine according to other comments I see on this thread?) from a dear friend of mine. She said she used to keep it in water, (first picture) but decided to move to soil when she gifted to me (second picture). Within a few weeks two of the leaves snapped in half bent over so I cut them off. There was also a little new leaf growing at the top that completely shriveled and died. Pictures 3,4,5 show where we are today. I did a little research and found that because my friend propogated this plant in water, it should have stayed in water as an adult, is that correct? So I transplanted back to water and heres how it looks (pictures 3,4,5). Its been about a week since moving to water and it still looks so sad. There are dark looking roots that I think might be dead. Do I need to cut off roots or all of the leaves? Or is my little plant too far gone to rescue? Any advice would be much appreciated!

Oh and I live in IL for reference, suburbs just outside of Chicago. I have the plant sitting in my south facing kitchen windowsill so its getting a good amount of sunshine each day.

Thank you so much in advance! 😊

Update: This morning I tested all the roots and they were all mushy. I cut them all off and about 1-2 inch of the stem rhat was also mushy and brown. (Last two photos)

FWIW, I think the propagule would have been ok and made the transition from water to a solid medium had it been appropriately prepared ahead of time for the transition. There was simply too mush leaf surface area for the roots that formed in water to keep the leaves hydrated. Most of the leaves should have been removed or cut to less than 1/3 their current size. Here's a before/after image of a propagule about to be stuck:

"..... because my friend propagated this plant in water, it should have stayed in water as an adult, is that correct?" Not necessarily. It would have been best to, at first, start the propagule in a solid medium instead of water. Reason: the roots developed by plants growing in water are much different than roots of plants growing in soil. The roots of plants in water are structured so the oxygen required to 'burn' the food that provides the energy for the roots' metabolic processes can be obtained from the air surrounding the plant, not from the water. Plants grown in a solid medium get their oxygen from the pores in the medium. Too, the water roots are filled with a tissue called aerenchyma, rather that the parenchyma at the core of terrestrial roots. This makes the roots very brittle and much less efficient at water uptake. No need to be efficient at water uptake when roots are entirely inundated, right? "So I transplanted back to water ..... and it still looks so sad." Whereas many plants are able to adapt to inundation to varying degrees, precious few are ably to make the back and forth transition from conventional container culture to inundation. Do I need to cut off roots or all of the leaves? Or is my little plant too far gone to rescue? Any advice would be much appreciated! Much of any stored food/energy the cutting had was used to form the initial roots, so there is a question whether or not the cutting is salvable because of its current low energy reserves. This increases the time it will take the cutting to reroot, which increases the probability of the fungaluglies already in play will block the propagule's plumbing before a root-to-shoot vascular connection can be established. Here is what I would do:

* shorten the propagule by cutting as much off the bottom as possible while still leaving several nodes that can be inserted into the soil.

* hold the propagule by the top and dip the bottom part in a 10:1 solution of water:unscented household bleach for about 10-15 seconds, then rinse with room temp water.

* remove all leaves except the very top leaf, but cut that one in half.

*stick the propagule in a moist/damp (never wet/soggy)

* cover with a clear plastic bag, making sure the bag is large enough that the leaf doesn't touch the plastic.

* leave a small opening or cut a small hole in the corner of the bag to allow for at least some air circulation.

* place the plant and bag in bright light and keep it where temps are about 70*. It would be helpful if there was around a 10* difference in the day/night temps with the night temps being lower.

Al

@tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)

WOW! Thank you SO MUCH for the very detailed information, explanation and instructions!!! I will do exactly as you suggested and hopefully I can save this plant! I truly appreciate your knowledge and guidance! Thank you so so much, my friend! 😊

I appreciate your kind words, but don't get your hopes too high. Odds of success are marginal at best. Would your friend be willing to part with another cutting?

Al

@tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)

Yes, I don’t have super high hopes, but at least I’m able to do something which makes me feel better! 😊

If this little baby dies, I will ask my friend for another cutting if she can spare it. I’m just not sure how large her mother plant is.

But thank you once again for your kindess and advice!! 🪴💚

Hello

Question specially for Russ

1- Someone gifted me this pot 3 weeks back. Aglaonema leaves started to die. Stems get mushy brown and very very smelly. Brown spots develppe in leaves with back dots and this arra is also mushy. I showered it overhead and water may have been retained in cervices resulting in this, does that seem so? Please help me treat and save this plant.

2- Also i have multiple plants in same pot.

do i need to separate it from them?

3- do i need to change soil of entire pot?

As u can see alocacia polly leaves turning brown in the background as well. I figured it might be too thirsty and had too little light so i started showering every 2 3 days in between waterings, hence the aglaonema dying. Is this a bad combination of plants?

P.S the other aglaonema and the plant with big leaves (dont know the name) seem fine