PA - Her plant is healthy enough (at least in the picture) that it would tolerate a repot if it was done now, but the object of suggesting a summer repot has more to do with skirting how much it will tolerate now and planning around the time of year the plant is most able to deal with the stress of a repot, which includes a root-pruning and change of soil. That's best done when A) the plant's energy reserves are highest and B) when the plants current photosynthate (food) output is also at its peak. The effects of a repotting now might linger for 2 or more months after the work, while the same work done in summer might only impact the plant for a couple of weeks. During the time the plant is weakened, it's more susceptible to insects and diseases, so we want to work WITH the plant's natural rhythms instead of against them whenever we can. If the plant was in imminent danger, a repot now would be in its best interest, but it doesn't appear to be, in the picture. Juliande - I would indeed encourage you to either leave or remove the new shoot, and to cut the larger stem back quite a bit next summer. When you cut back, cut back just above a living leaf and make the thicker stem about 2/3 taller than the new shoot - even if that means cutting back the new shoot as well. Your plant won't look natural if the fat trunk ends up being shorter than the thin one. Your eye will tell you something is wrong, even if you can't quite put your finger on just what it is. Let me know if you want/need anything additional in the way of help. Al

Did you repot (includes bare-rooting and root pruning) or just pot up? The variegated plants seem to be a little more sensitive to issues related to watering (over/under) and fertilizing; and of course they're more sensitive to bright light extremes. The odds are that it's an over-watering issue, but a high level of solubles (salts) in the soil is also a possibility. Often, plants grown in very bright light and warm temperatures are pushed hard (with maximum fertilizer doses), which is ok as long as growing conditions remain optimum; but when you take a plant that has a high level of fertilizer in the soil out of optimum conditions into a rather dim home setting, fertilizer burn can show up as a by-product of the reduced light levels. Best advice: Make sure it's in a soil that drains fast enough that you can water copiously, so at least 10-15% of the water applied exits the drain each time you water. This will be particularly important over the winter when the plant's growth and water needs have slowed. If you can't water so you're flushing the soil, it's likely that dissolved solids will accumulate in the soil and cause a variety of problems like spoiled foliage and reduced vitality. Your plant would like open shade, dappled shade, or early morning (until 9-10) and evening (7 & later) sun, but it won't tolerate full sun well if at all. Al

I did not ask this question before. The one in the living room may get a bit of cold air when i open my front door when im coming in or exiting and i did water it not very long after i purchased it.

Use a 'tell' to check moisture levels. I'll leave something about using a 'tell' below. The necrotic leaf tips are from over-watering or a high level of solubles (salt) in the soil. You should be flushing the soil when you water. If you can't, for worry that the soil will remain wet for an extended period, you should consider a more appropriate medium and/or learn how to mitigate the effects of excess water retention via the use of ballast, wicks, or other effective measures that help control the amount of water your soil can hold. AFTER you flush the soil thoroughly, you can start fertilizing regularly. If you start fertilizing now (before flushing), and all or part of the necrotic leaf tips are attributable to a high level of salt in the soil solution, you'll only add to the problem. 3:1:2 ratio fertilizers are probably the best bet. The best I've found in that ratio is Foliage-Pro 9-3-6. I use it for everything I grow, though I do 'doctor' it for a couple of plants like hibiscus and tomatoes. Appropriate Medium From my perspective, an appropriate medium is a medium that allows us to water to beyond the point of saturation at will, so we're flushing the dissolved solids (salts) that are present in tapwater and fertilizer solutions. These dissolved solids are left behind and accumulate in soils whenever we're forced to water in sips, which is commonly employed as a strategy in order to avoid the sogginess that limits root function and wrecks root health. It's important to realize that a healthy plant is not possible w/o a healthy root system. If you have established goals that include healthy and attractive plants, it's critical that you have a plan to avoid the limitations imposed by over-watering and an accumulation of dissolved solids (salts) in the soil solution. Not every grower fully understands the dilemmic issues associated with inappropriate soils that force the plant to pay a vitality tax resultant of an unhealthy amount of water being retained for extended periods when we water correctly – which is to say, when we flush the soil to limit salt build-up. On one hand, we have the potential for over-watering, and when we act to avoid it by offering dribs and drabs of water here and there, we have high salt levels to deal with. It's easy to see how we all might benefit from use of a soil that allows us to water so we're flushing away excess salts without limiting our plant's vitality via waterlogged soils. Flushing Soils Water-retentive soils that can't be flushed during our regular water applications need to be flushed regularly to ensure salts from tap-water and fertilizer solutions aren't accumulating in the soil and limiting the plant's ability to take up water. To flush the soil of a planting: Water with room temperature water until the soil is completely saturated. Allow the planting to rest for 15 minutes to an hour to allow as much of the salt accumulation as possible to go into solution, then pour a volume of room temp water equal to at least 10X the volume of the pot the plant is in slowly through the soil. This will remove most of any accumulation of offending salts and resolve any skewing of nutrient ratios. It's a good idea, no matter what time of year, to fertilize most plants immediately after flushing the soil. Try to be sure you're using a fertilizer that has a ratio as close as possible to the ratio at which the plant uses nutrients. The NPK % listed on fertilizer packaging is not its ratio. 7-7-7 and 14-14-14 are 1:1:1 ratios. 9-3-6, 12-4-8, and 24-8-16, are all 3:1:3 ratios. Container growers should try very hard to avoid use of fertilizers advertised as 'bloom-boosters', or any number with a middle number (Phosphorous) higher than either the first or third numbers (Nitrogen or Potassium). These fertilizers can badly skew nutrient ratios with even the first application). On average, plants use about 6x as much N as P, so there is NO potential for a positive outcome when supplying many times as much P as the plant requires. I, and a large number of other members, use Dyna-Gro's Foliage Pro 9-3-6. It's designed to closely mimic the uptake ratio of the average plant, and has many other attributes not commonly found in other fertilizers. It also has ALL of the nutrients essential to normal growth. Summarized, it makes fertilizing as easy as it can be, and from 1 container. Using a 'tell' Over-watering saps vitality and is one of the most common plant assassins, so learning to avoid it is worth the small effort. Plants make and store their own energy source – photosynthate - (sugar/glucose). Functioning roots need energy to drive their metabolic processes, and in order to get it, they use oxygen to burn (oxidize) their food. From this, we can see that terrestrial plants need air (oxygen) in the soil to drive root function. Many off-the-shelf soils hold too much water and not enough air to support good root health, which is a prerequisite to a healthy plant. Watering in small sips leads to a build-up of dissolved solids (salts) in the soil, which limits a plant's ability to absorb water – so watering in sips simply moves us to the other horn of a dilemma. It creates another problem that requires resolution. Better, would be to simply adopt a soil that drains well enough to allow watering to beyond the saturation point, so we're flushing the soil of accumulating dissolved solids whenever we water; this, w/o the plant being forced to pay a tax in the form of reduced vitality, due to prolong periods of soil saturation. Sometimes, though, that's not a course we can immediately steer, which makes controlling how often we water a very important factor. In many cases, we can judge whether or not a planting needs watering by hefting the pot. This is especially true if the pot is made from light material, like plastic, but doesn't work (as) well when the pot is made from heavier material, like clay, or when the size/weight of the pot precludes grabbing it with one hand to judge its weight and gauge the need for water. Fingers stuck an inch or two into the soil work ok for shallow pots, but not for deep pots. Deep pots might have 3 or more inches of soil that feels totally dry, while the lower several inches of the soil is 100% saturated. Obviously, the lack of oxygen in the root zone situation can wreak havoc with root health and cause the loss of a very notable measure of your plant's potential. Inexpensive watering meters don't even measure moisture levels, they measure electrical conductivity. Clean the tip and insert it into a cup of distilled water and witness the fact it reads 'DRY'. One of the most reliable methods of checking a planting's need for water is using a 'tell'. You can use a bamboo skewer in a pinch, but a wooden dowel rod of about 5/16” (75-85mm) would work better. They usually come 48” (120cm) long and can usually be cut in half and serve as a pair. Sharpen all 4 ends in a pencil sharpener and slightly blunt the tip so it's about the diameter of the head on a straight pin. Push the wooden tell deep into the soil. Don't worry, it won't harm the root system. If the plant is quite root-bound, you might need to try several places until you find one where you can push it all the way to the pot's bottom. Leave it a few seconds, then withdraw it and inspect the tip for moisture. For most plantings, withhold water until the tell comes out dry or nearly so. If you see signs of wilting, adjust the interval between waterings so drought stress isn't a recurring issue. Al