Mold on Soil and FLF Branching
kelseybutton
3 years ago
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kelseybutton
3 years agoRelated Discussions
Too late/worth it to repot monstera and flf?
Comments (0)Hello! I'm quite the newbie for the most part when it comes to houseplants and found my way here after several google searches. I have two houseplants that I love but just aren't "happy". I have a feeling it's due to the soil and light but was wondering if there is anything else that might be an issue. First up is my monstera, Meg. I bought her in March and she was doing ok. I lost a leaf or two so potted up in some basic potting mix. After reading through the forums for the last few days at various points, I realise that that was quite a rookie thing to do. Now she looks like this. Here are a couple of incredibly sad leaves, do these need pruning? And if so where on earth do you prune Monstera as they seem to be the newest leaves? Is is she beyond saving? There hasn't been any new growth since I potted up so I've moved her from the room she was in to a slightly brighter ne facing room. I'm considering repotting using gritty mix but I'm unsure if it's too late in the year? And then there is Arabella Fiddle Leaf Fig. She was a housewarming present from last year. She's been potted up twice (seriously, I regret these actions ) and the top two leaves are new growth. The three slightly below I'm sure are mechanical damage. She currently lives in front of a SE facing window, or at least within 1m with moderate direct sunlight for part of the morning. I moved her recently as I don't think she was getting enough light where she was, especially considering my husbands propensity to not bothering opening the curtains of a morning. There are a few crispy leaves and I'm uncertain if there is any new growth at the top as I'm watching her like the proverbial boiling pot. There are a couple of buds that are peeking out that seem to be getting more pronounced. So my vague plan with Arabella is to repot into gritty mix and potentially chop off the top third just above the bud that is pictured. Hopefully that would encourage branching and strengthening of lower tree? I might be able to propagate the cut off top and start from scratch on a second plant if I do. I love these plants and don't want them to die, Meg hasn't even reached a level of maturity where her leaves have split yet! Basically any advice or opinions on pruning in the case of Meg, repotting of both of them using gritty mix and my general plans for Arabella will be more than welcome! My main concern is I've left it too late to fix any of these problems this year and I'm unsure if they'll last the winter. Side note, I didn't realise you could see my sad succulent Florain the background of my pictures of Arabella! I may attempt to propogate more succulents from her as she seems less than happy too....See MoreFLF backbudding like crazy- help!?
Comments (16)@tapla thanks, that helps I rubbed off 3 of those 6top buds before leaving town and will check back in when I get back as I do want your design advice before rubbing any more off! @rebecca ... obvi @tapla is my the ultimate source & where I’ve learned 95% + from... and I def follow his train of thought that there has to be perched or trapped water “sitting inappropriately” somewhere by the look of those brown marks and you saying the leaves are limp. Just to clarify though do they feel limp which is usually overwatered( trapped water here guessing) vs limp as in just dropping down though which is definitely what also happens from a lack of water (all leaves will feel very crunchy though if that’s the case/ not soft which they do look kinda soggy soft in the pic ). Also note that leaves from bottom to top can definitely start to droop and soon after will usually fall off the tree if there was stress during the repot ( in your case maybe a ton of fine roots “ripped” if u removed soil with hands vs a hard water spray or maybe the roots dried out which I learned my first repot dosent take much.) Just all thoughts to help you problem solve. ( The brown spots alone can be from over or underwatering btw... but they do look soggy here) But no this is not a standard gritty occurrence... aka there is no way your plant could be overwatered right now unless something is majorly not right with your set up: so First thing is ensuring you fully removed the old soil completely as @tapla mentioned & sifted out fine particles in your gritty ingredients ( if not he will have to advise on if your better off repoting again right now or not as I dont have experience there). Also check to make sure you don’t have water sitting bt the decorative planter and what I’m guessing is the black pot the plant is actually rooted in? Also make sure the holes in the pot are in a location that allows the water to drain out completely/ aka on bottom or corners but not just holes one inch up the side. Conversely... Ways this may be due to underwatering: if you didn’t really soak the mix/ turface & bark especially prior to the repot then the one time watering was probably not even enough to truly deeply wet the soil much less give non established roots anything to drink. ( if that’s the case I’d just sit it under a water faucet and let it run over/ flood the pot contents for a solid 5-10 minutes... that still counts as just one good deep watering btw which is how FLF trees like being watered). If it helps for some gritty mix standards... For my FLF’s in gritty mix inside my house which stays at about 60% humidity unless we’re blasting the heater a few weeks a year ( & all my FLF trees are rooted in Various plastic pots btw so not porous thru sides) I ‘can’ water my plants every other day no problem though I wouldn’t unless preparing to leave town for weekend/ I’d say every 3-4 days is usually best for mine... and Ive never ran into trouble with my trees getting so severely dry there is visible evidence ( leaf droop or drop or brown spot ) until the 7th+ day of no watering though the leaves are ultra crispy dry and not happy before then. So THIS is the beauty of gritty... it really is pretty hard to overwater with it and makes it so easy to care for what is know as a finicky plant. In your tree... I’m suspecting it’s about to drop at least a few of those bottom leaves which if so is already unpreventable at this point. And know the brown spots are also irreversible now though it should stop once the problem is fixed ( & then you can kinda trim just the brown part off in a few weeks if you want/ if the leaf dosent fall off on its own)Also once leaves droop like that those specific leaves can’t ever perk back up again which is unfortunate I know. All I can say is something very similar happened with my first two repots( i think you can search my name and find my post from 2 yrs ago) which i know for me was due to too stressful of a repotting/ Root pruning/ letting roots dry out but i learned A LOT about these trees from it all in the meantime from that first ever real repot and now i have gone thru 6 other repots with root pruning involved with these 4 original FLF trees and afterwards the trees have hardly missed a step immediately after and always visibly flourish by 2 months later. So know that even if every leaf was to drop off ( your top few still look strong though at least ) the tree still has great potential if you can rectify the problem and help it get its strength back. Repoting into Gritty mix can definitely have a learning curve but i have definitely seen with my eyes that in the end it really does set you up to be exponentially more successful:)...See MoreKinked branch in FLF, HELP!
Comments (10)It sounds like the roots are compacted and/or in a soil with no oxygen in it. Roots need oxygen & moisture at the same time to function. That could explain the negative reaction to being watered. Changing the soil to something more chunky/porous/airy would eliminate any need to allow the soil to dry significantly before adding more water, which also eliminates any need on your part to try to develop clairvoyance about the soil's moisture level, or other methods for trying to determine what is going on under the surface, you would then only need to add water often enough so that your plant does not wilt. Plants do not always recover from a hard wilt. I try to avoid that happening at all. Using an unglazed clay pot can eliminate the risk of rotting roots also, and has the added benefit of changing to a lighter color when the soil has dried....See MoreFLF root propagation - is it a fail?
Comments (3)Don't worry. Four weeks is no time at all in propagation terms. And yes, it would be better to put it in growing medium. Indeed, for future reference, it would have been better to start it in such and skip the water altogether. You don't get the fun of seeing the roots develop but it's better for the plant in the long run....See Moretapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
3 years agokelseybutton
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agotapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
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3 years agotapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
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3 years agotapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
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3 years agotapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
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3 years ago
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