I've never grown this myself, but probably it's just an old plant - the new leaves grow at the end and as the older leaves die you end up with the bare stems. If you don't like the bare stems you could probably cut off the ends, stick the stems in water until they root, and plant them again. WW Green Aglaonema>

Giving the plant direct sun should allow proper growth, but limiting nitrogen may help as well (especially if you can't give it enough light). As for phosphorous, most plants use N-P-K in approximately a 3:1:2 ratio. That means P should be the smallest number, yet most fertilizers use something more like a 10-10-10 or 10-15-10 formulation which provides far more P than most plants can use. When growing cuttings from succulents you should always allow the cutting to callous over for at least a day, and as long as several weeks for large wounds. The cut needs to be completely dry and sealed off in order to prevent rot. Pieces that fall off shouldn't have large wounds, but may still need a few days to callous over properly. A porous soil also goes a long way in preventing rot in cuttings. It looks like it could be a very nice plant if you cut off the skinny growth and get it growing nice and fat again. Good luck to you.

I remember my dad coming home from work every evening in the summer, eating dinner and then going out to the big vegetable garden in the back yard and working until almost dark. I remember tomato and pepper seedlings on all the windowsills in spring, and the squash vines growing waaaay out of the garden onto the lawn in the summer. I remember string tied to the tall bird feeder post and scarlet runner beans growing up the strings. I also remember staring at huge salads and mounds of vegetables at dinner, knowing I had to choke it all down before I could leave the table. No salad dressing for the salad or spices for the veggies - that wasn't 'healthy'. Everything tasted either just green, or green and bitter. Bletch. At least I could feed the coleslaw to the cat when my parents weren't looking. However, gardening was in the blood, and there was no escaping my destiny. :o) So, since I had issues with vegetables, I grew flowers. At first, when I was still living with my parents, I grew the easy flowers such as cosmos, zinnias and cleome. Then, soon after I got married and moved to my own house, I came across a Fine Gardening magazine issue that changed my life. The front of the magazine had pictures of roses that were unlike any I'd ever seen in real life... They resembled those big blowsy peony-type roses that you would see in old dutch paintings. They were a completely different species from the hybrid teas I knew. They were called hybrid musk roses, and I was in love. Fast forward a few years and almost a hundred roses later. I discovered gardenweb.com, and started seeing posts in the roses forums about a hideous disease called Rose Rosette Disease. I started researching flowers that I could use in place of roses in case mine got the disease and had to be destroyed. I haven't found a replacement for roses yet, but I did discover many types of flowers that I'd never seen in any of the catalogs I receive. I can't afford to buy many plants, but I can afford seeds, so that's how I got most of my new flowers in the last couple years. Recently, I've come full circle and started growing (some) vegetables. I started this past summer with some tomatoes and cantaloupe. Of course, this was the worst year in decades to grow tomatoes, but I still managed to get a few before the tomato plants died of blight, or drowning, or something. DH really loved the tomatoes, so I will build a raised bed this winter and grow them properly (meaning, farther apart than 6 inches) next year. Even if DH didn't love them, I'd be tempted to grow tomatoes just for the funny names some of them have. Someday, maybe I'll learn to cook vegetables that actually taste good. I imagine it requires a lot of butter. Oh, and I would describe myself as a "collector" gardener and not a "designer" gardener. I keep seeing flowers that I MUST have, but I don't have a clear idea of where to plant them. I admire beautiful gardens that have 'drifts of color', but I've never been able to achieve that. Lois in PA

I am actually feeling much better today...perhaps seeing things a little clearer. Having just been thru the whole house selling/buying nightmare, I am really very happy to sit this one out. The house is over-priced (clearly) so its my guess its gonna sit. The guy Bill picked is already showing signs he is not all that on top of things (Yea I did chuckle about that) So I will hope for the best! I had a chat with my younger brother last night. He was asked to move in with mom 2 month ago after the first hospital stay and we are letting him live there until the house sell-at which time he should have enough money to make a new start...He was saying they already had a showing...he said he had no idea what to do so I told him about my story and again he had no idea!! Over the time it took to sell my old home I prob had no less than 100 showings and so I became a bit of an expert at it. So I told him what to do and put his mind at ease. In the meantime I have another question....Mom told me to take her irises. It was a few month ago and I said no but now that she is gone I think I would like to have some...there is a whole garden of them! So I would like to dig them up and give some to anyone who wants them but I have no idea how to do that. I mean should I do it now or wait until the house is sold?? Is it hard?? I do have a bad back so is it something I can do myself or should I get hubster to help?? Once I dig them up how should I store them until everyone gets some?? And finally where do you think I should put it?? Sun/shade ect??? Thanks Guys!! Cheers! Susie