Hi Susan,

No pix to share? Would help to see both the whole plant and the soil.

From your description I'd suspect drainage problems. Is the rootball hard to the touch? How long since you changed the mix?

You're right. Drainage problem Thank you.

Hi, Susan! I'm in Cape Coral, across the river from Ft. Myers. My TCs have been struggling this summer, too. Oddly, my red plants seem to be the worst mess, losing branches and seeming to be rotting. And some of these red plants are in a mixed pot with the other plants doing OK. I have been able to root the branches that have fallen off.

My plants are under the lanai, inside the screen. They get indirect sunlight. I have not had to water much at all this summer. I guess the humidity is well high enough. And of course the summer rains, too. They are all planted in a bark-based medium. Drainage is good. They are protected from wind, too.

Do you think it is our humidity this summer? Something is different for me and I haven't been able to put my finger on it. I am thinking I should run my ceiling fans out there during the day - at least for a few weeks.

Really not sure. I felt it was getting to much rain so i moved it to the center of lanai. It does drain but i dug down and found the bottom 2 inches of soil was pretty wet. I am going to repot tomorrow with new soil and see how it goes. This is usually my least needy plant and just blooms constantly but needs some TLC this year.

Wow that was quick. You're welcome, happy to help.

Am a recent convert to adding some bark to mixes for these myself. Am finally able to keep an EC alive, in mostly bark; it's thriving. Don't know what you use for soil, I used to use C&S mix & perlite. I think my TC & old style CC are still in that, but I'll be adding bark to them too next repotting.

Pls. favor us w/ some pix if you're able, we'd like to see 'em all.

Well, the plot thickens here. Actually, I have a partial answer to my problems. The pieces on the right are all the red TC that has been struggling so much. It came apart while I was inspecting at it.

There were mealies on it. The plant to the left is the same pot this red one was in. Those plants look OK. This is the first time I have seen the mealies. Don't know which came first - mealies then the decline or the decline followed by mealies. At any rate, I am sure the other plants need to be treated.

You can see that the potting mix looks dark. I also think that the bark has decayed and now is a compost. That is probably ruining drainage, too. I have found bark only last about 18 months for me.

So I'll treat for mealies and repot and hope for the best. I did get a seed pod from the red plant, so here's hoping I can grow some more of it. It is a bright scarlet plant and I hope I can salvage something.

I hope your repot takes care of your CC problem. And I hope you don't find any mealies. They have been bad here this year.

Good luck with your plant, Susan!