could we have a pic of the whole plant ..

and how do you water it ...

and seeing what i think is kids toys.. could such vermin [lol] ....have hit or touched it ... what we would call.. mechanical damage ... we might have multiple causes ...

whats the strap and stake about????

ken

No mechanical damage, for sure. My child does not touch my plants. I water it when the soil starts to dry. The roots are fine, I checked and repoted the plant in a bigger pot , 2 weeks ago. The spots on leaves started almost one tear ago and I cut the affected areas. The plant was very bushy but now it’s just getting worse. Any advice is glagly welcomed.

No mechanical damage, for sure. My child does not touch my plants. I water it when the soil starts to dry. The roots are fine, I checked and repoted the plant in a bigger pot , 2 weeks ago. The spots on leaves started almost one tear ago and I cut the affected areas. The plant was very bushy but now it’s just getting worse. Any advice is glagly welcomed.

Hi, Carmen. It's quite possible the spoiled foliage is a manifestation of watering it "when the soil starts to dry". If you're following the commonly parroted advice to water when the top inch or two of the grow medium feels dry to the touch, you're over-watering. By way of repetition, that advise has become pretty much a reflex reply, but it's really a recipe for over-watering. If you're using a pot that's say 10" deep, when the top inch or two of the grow medium is dry to the touch the bottom 6" (or more) of medium can be 100% saturated. this limits root function, can destroy root health, and robs an untold % of your plant's potential in terms of growth, vitality, and appearance. When root function is limited, the ability to efficiently move water to the plant's distal parts is curtailed, which causes necrotic areas on leaf tips and margins. Over-watering can also cause a physiological disorder called oedema/ edema. Your plant presents with both symptoms. Complicating the issue is the fact that your grow medium looks very water-retentive, and your plant really should be treated as a succulent because it's so intolerant of wet feet.

If your pot is deeper than 5", it really doesn't matter how dry the top 2" of the grow medium are. Most of the roots in the upper 3rd of most soil columns serve primarily as plumbing anyway. They lack the almost microscopically fine roots that do the lion's share of the plant's heavy lifting, and as such relatively unimportant. What is most important is moisture conditions at the bottom of the pot. The grow medium in the deepest part of the pot should be almost completely dry before you consider giving your plant more water. You can monitor conditions there best by using a homemade wooden tell. I'll leave some additional things I wrote about using a tell and oedema. I think that will help you get your plant back on track, though the signs things are better will be found only in unblemished new growth.

It would be a good idea to talk a bit about your watering habits, and to make sure you have a nutritional supplementation program that fills your plant's needs. Let me know if you want to have that conversation, because they are key elements of any care regimen.

This link should help, too.

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 plenty of air (oxygen) in the soil to drive root function. Many off-the-shelf soils hold too much water and not enough air to support the kind of root health most growers would like to see; and, a healthy root system is a prerequisite to a healthy plant.

Watering in small sips leads to avoid over-watering leads to a residual build-up of dissolved solids (salts) in the soil from tapwater and fertilizer solutions, 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.

Oedema

Oedema (aka edema) is a physiological disorder that can affect all terrestrial plants. It occurs when the plant takes up more water than it can rid itself of via the process of transpiration. The word itself means 'swelling', which is usually the first symptom, and comes in the form of pale blisters or water-filled bumps on foliage. Under a variety of circumstances/cultural conditions, a plant's internal water pressure (turgidity) can become so high that some leaf cells rupture and leak their contents into inter-cellular spaces in leaf tissue, creating wet or weepy areas. Symptoms vary by plant, but as the malady progresses, areas of the leaf turn yellow, brown, brown with reddish overtones or even black, with older damage appearing as corky/ scaly/ ridged patches, or wart/gall-like bumpy growth. Symptoms are seen more frequently in plants that are fleshy, are usually more pronounced on the underside of leaves, and older/lower leaves are more likely to be affected than younger/upper leaves.

Oedema is most common in houseplants during the winter/early spring months, is driven primarily by excessive water retention in the soil, and can be intensified via several additional cultural influences. Cool temperatures, high humidity levels, low light conditions, or partial defoliation can individually or collectively act to intensify the problem, as can anything else that slows transpiration. Nutritional deficiencies of Ca and Mg are also known contributors to the malady.

Some things that can help you prevent oedema:

* Increase light levels and temperature

* Monitor water needs carefully – avoid over-watering. I'd heartily recommend a soil with drainage so sharp (fast) that when you to water to beyond the saturation point you needn't worry about prolonged periods of soil saturation wrecking root health/function. Your soil choice should be a key that unlocks the solutions to many potential problems.

* Avoid misting or getting water on foliage. It slows transpiration and increases turgidity.

* Water as soon as you get up in the AM. When stomata close in preparation for the dark cycle, turgidity builds. If you water early in the day, it gives the plant an opportunity to remove (for its own needs) some of the excess water in the soil.

* Put a fan in the room or otherwise increase air flow/circulation. Avoid over-crowding your plants.

Al

Tapla, I would be more than happy to learn more about plants from you. I don’t know how to contact you privately. If you know how, please do it. You can find me also on Facebook. Thank you again for your input!

@tapla
I wish the "tell method" works for my big 24" box for tree because the soil in it is do densely packed my tell couldn't be pushed in. Furthermore I tried testing the top soil with my finger and touched a dancing earthworm accidentally which led to a scream so loud that my neighbor got concerned. ὄ0ὠ2.
So no so much luck for me so I continue to go by a "feel"...

I can guide you fine from here, Carmen. You'll find a very useful Overview of Good Growing Practices by following the link. It explains how to water properly and delves into nutritional supplementation as well. It's been so long since I wrote it, I cant remember if it gets into how to link your fertilizing directly to the number of times you water. It makes much better sense to water every 3-5 times you water than to set a uniform schedule based on the calendar. Your plant needs more water and nutrients when it's growing robustly, and less of both when it decides to take a winter off to be lazy.

Also, since your medium seems quite water-retentive, try this trick after you water: Tip your pot at a 45* angle. It will drain much more of the excess water your medium wants to hold. Compare B to A below to see how much difference it makes.

Also, note figure D. An overturned pot (with it's drain hole covered) serving as ballast is a passive way to eliminate a very large fraction of what a water-retentive medium can hold in terms of excess water.

Al

5-headed Aeonium (3 on left stem, 2 on right) in a cap from a tube of Chapstick:

Red stele - Phytophthora fragariae

No easy treatment.

Correct me if I’m wrong Al, but shouldn’t the bloom stem from last bloom be clipped off to redirect energy into the coming bloom?

I changed the soil again. It had a few root rot. It still has a lot of long heathy roots. The soil is completely dry now. Should i water it or wait for a while? Also, what else sholud I do ? Treat it with fungicide, cut the bloom stem?

"Correct me if I’m wrong Al, but shouldn’t the bloom stem from last bloom be clipped off to redirect energy into the coming bloom?" That is correct. Trees and herbaceous plants prioritize their parts, but perhaps it's better to say that the strength of energy sinks has a distinct order: Energy is first allocated to respiratory function, i.e. to maintenance of living tissues, then, to production of fine roots, followed by flower and seed/fruit production, then primary growth (extension of both roots and shoots), then secondary growth (thickening), and finally, the synthesis of defensive chemicals.

The soil is completely dry now. Should i water it or wait for a while? I would wait until Tue to water. Also, what else sholud I do? Make sure you water at appropriate intervals and monitor moisture levels at the bottom of the pot. Treat it with fungicide[?] That would be a good idea. Try Bonide's 'Revitalize', a fungicide with the active ingredient being bacterium Bacillus amyloliquefaciens. You can mix up a quart, then use part of it as a spritz for the top of the plant, and the rest as a soil drench. cut the bloom stem? Yes. See my reply above to Socks' question.

Al