Different plants have different soil and water requirements. Just because a certain type of soil is good for some plants, doesn't mean it will suit all plants, unfortunately. I allow my plant to get very very dry between waterings, and it's looking nice. I think the plant could recover and start growing again - ZZs are tough! - but I also think you should take the plant out of the pot and see what the soil is like. If it's wet or compacted, try mixing it 1:1 with orchid bark chips before repotting the plant. ZZs like good drainage. If there's a lot of extra soil in there with no roots in it, you should probably use a smaller pot. Just looking at the picture again, I think your plant may be planted too deeply. Usually, the bulbs are not completely buried. You should be able to see most of them above the soil. Burying them could cause them to rot. When I have underwatered my plant, the stems wilt and start to look a little bit shrivelled. Sometimes the lower leaves turn brown. I really hope you can figure out what's wrong! At least the little leaves down the bottom look good!

Bonnie, I've been trying to get hold of you via email. Is my mail bouncing off you again? I left a note here earlier, asking if anyone from the RR could enlighten me, but thought I'd check back and see if you had posted recently. I know, I know....should have thought of that FIRST. Rented brain, you know how it is. Here's hoping you use the "mail me followups" option on your posts!

Thanks for the help. The photo is from my phone camera, so it is not the best. But you can clearly see the lighter, brighter green new leaves (third rhizome from the right) which unfurled from their sheath just in the past 48 hours!!! No kidding. Before that, it looked like the "sheathed" growth of an unopened rubber-tree plant leaf. This is in addition to the other new shoots that have appeared since I got the plant on May 11. This rapid growth ASTONISHED me, as on-line research kept referring to ZZ plants as "very slow growers." (I am joking with my friends that my ZZ plant somehow aspires to be an oak tree, or that atheletes must be sneaking into my home when I am at work and dumping performance enhancing drugs into its pot. LOL.) I watered it on the 18th and watered it again last night, June 1, and am sticking with watering every 2 weeks Should I water more often? The current pot is about 10 inches across. Last night I purchased one that is about twice that size (the largest one I could find with drainage holes) and will re-pot the plant tonight.

The plants were rooted and grown in this soil, which for these plants takes quite a while. If it were a soil issue, the plants would've suffered from it much sooner. The soil isn't what causes the bad smell. It's the amount of water that's not draining away. This cuts off the supply of fresh oxygen to the roots and that water stagnated. To alleviate this, all he has to flush the soil out thoroughly until it begins to run clear from the drain holes. This washes away any stagnant water and replaces it with fresh water. Once it has had sufficient time to drain most of the water away, just place the pot on top of a dampened rag or paper towel and this will wick away any additional excess water from the soil and open it back up to fresh air circulation. It definitely needs to be repotted, but that can wait until springtime, when the conditions are more favorable. For now, the plant is still happy and healthy, despite shedding old growth, and it's currently sending out new growth that hasn't even had a chance to harden off yet. Waiting until spring will give it the time it needs to do this. Though I will admit that only replacing part of the soil didn't help things any and may have contributed to this problem you're having. For my ZZ plant, I used a 50/50 mix of Miracle Gro Cacti & Succulent soil, and Miracle Gro Orchid Bark. Although, perlite is also a good substitute, too. I don't use it because I hate how it floats to the top every time I'd water it. That's just more of a personal preference.