As someone who root prunes EVERYTHING (except mayyyybe edibles, but that depends) if it's been in a pot for more than a year or two, I think your plant will be fine. If you take off that much of the bottom and leave the whole top, some suffering is to be expected. :) When I first joined GW, it took me a couple of WEEKS to understand what Al was talking about lol. But then I did, and then I seriously repotted every single one of my plants into GM OR 5-1-1 over the course of a couple of days with no regard for weather or season, haha. A few plants did what yours is doing...."OMG WHAT HAPPENED TO ME," and others shined from minute one, but I didn't lose a single plant to the business. I had one croton that quite literally flopped over immediately that Al had me bag (since it was small), to increase the humidity to and even that came back. And don't be hard on yourself. I had been gardening for years when I first came on board with GM so it wasn't like I didn't have "experience," and had no idea I was doing anything wrong; just thought a 50% survival rate was normal, lol. I expected and hoped for slightly better but it's basically 100% success at this point with anything I put into a gritty mix of some sort. I can't quite say the same for things I still use regular mix for, like veggies, but it is really up there in that case, too(say, 85% lol), just because I understand more about a plant and the root system, though water movement is still not checked off solely because there is too much to read, haha. Here was my first foray into gritty mix. Hope it helps! http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/1378652/taking-on-gritty-mix

Your soil choice and how you water is what determines when it's appropriate to fertilize - not the season. Mother nature doesn't remove the nutrients from the soil during periods of quiescence, predictive dormancy, OR consequential dormancy, and her plants don't seem to suffer setback due to her indifference. Nearly all who offer the well-worn advice that you shouldn't fertilize in the winter can't tell you why they offer the advice, and don't realize it's based on the assumption you'll be watering in sips for the entire winter to avoid root rot. Advice based on assumptions needs to be qualified lest it be misapplied. The advice 'not to fertilize during the winter months' assumes you'll be using a water-retentive soil you can't flush regularly w/o worrying about root rot and impaired root function. Not flushing regularly ensures not only a rapid build-up from fertilizer salts and minerals in tap water, it also causes badly skewed nutrient ratios, which in turn create antagonistic deficiencies, which occur when a toxicity (excess) of 1 nutrient causes a deficiency of another (or more) nutrient(s). Using a healthier soil you CAN flush regularly eliminates not only the over-watering concern, but the worry about build-up of mineral salts from fertilizer and tap water. Flushing the soil regularly effectively purges the soil of nutrients, sort of like pushing the fertilizer reset button and returning the salt levels to 0. THEN, when you DO fertilize with an appropriate, you can plan the solution strength so you're at the lowest possible concentration nutrients you can have w/o deficiencies, which is optimal. That is impossible to achieve by withholding nutrients. If you ARE using a water-retentive soil, your best course is to: ** Wait until your plant needs water to flush the soil THOROUGHLY by pouring room temp water = to at least 10X the volume of the pot the plant is in through the soil. ** To ensure the pot drains well, employ a wick through the bottom at the sidewall and tip the planting 45* so the wick is at the lowest point, and let it drain. ** Right the plant and slowly apply what the manufacturer suggests as a full strength fertilizer solution over the entire soil surface until about a cup comes out of the drain hole. ** Tip it again until it stops draining. Since you're fertilizing an already wet soil, the water already in the pot will act to dilute your full strength solution so it's somewhere around 1/3-1/2 strength, so don't worry you'll be over-fertilizing. ** Repeat the steps every 4-6 weeks if you're watering in sips. If you're using a high quality soil you can water properly, you can fertilize at very low rates every time you water (I do), all winter long. The only extra effort it takes is measuring 1/4 tsp into every gallon of water you irrigate with. Got all that? Al

It looks like all the overwatered FLFs I've read about on the houseplants forum, and all of them have turned out to be caused by overwatering. 'Overwatering' happens when the soil stays saturated for long periods of time, preventing air from prejudicing oxygen to the roots, leading to dead and rotting roots and a plant that starts to kill and drop leaves its reduced root system can no longer support. You might want to scan the first page or two on that forum for FLF threads, but meanwhile I'll ask a few questions: Does the pot have a drain hole? How do your water--on a schedule, when the top of the soil is dry, or when the soil at the bottom of the pot is dry? Do you give it a fixed volume of water, or water until it drains freely from the pot? Does the pot ever sit in standing water? What kind of soil are you using? Have you potted up (put the plant in a bigger pot with new soil around the existing rootball) or repotted it (removed all old soil from the roots, pruned errant roots, and replaced the soil with all new mix)?

Just realized I posted in the wrong section, sorry!