Overwatering is really a misnomer. What's really going on is that some types of soil can stay moist for too long, because of the texture of the particles, and they way they lodge tightly together, filling all spaces in the pot. When that happens, there are no tiny air pockets and roots can rot. When a drip saucer is used, the bit of standing water in there can also be lethal to roots. When roots are rotting, they are unable to deliver moisture and nutrients to the leaves, and the effects manifest as yellowing, brown edges, eventual death of the plant. Learning how to avoid that can greatly increase your success with any potted plants. To read specifically about that, this article is extremely informative. Bagged potting soil is often not what one would describe as well-drained, especially after significant time has passed. It can settle (in conjunction with some decomposition as well) and suffocate roots as it turns into muddy muck. Meanwhile, the roots have filled the spaces they find suitable, and eventually run out of room to grow. A well-drained soil... water flows out as fast as you can pour it on, and dries within a few days. The way (stuff to use, amounts of it) to achieve that is the worthy subject of debate, but about the principle, there is a huge confluence of agreement. Ideally, about any (non-cactus) plant would like to have soil that is never dry, never soggy, always well aerated.

Hi robin98(NZ(9b)) thanks for your help! *I've had the plants for approximately 2 years. *I repotted them approximately 1-2 months ago. *Both were in terracotta pots, now just the larger one is. The smaller one is in a plastic pot now, there's been no change in either plant other than getting worse. *I water both when the top 2 inches are dry, I use my finger or a wood dowel to tell if the soil is damp, mainly my finger. If the top 2 inches are dry I water until soaked, with the water draining freely through the holes. I never let them sit in water for longer than maybe 30mins, after watering. *The build up was before I repotted, it looks like salt or water hardness. I removed them from those pots and placed them in fresh pots that had been disinfected prior to use. There's some build up since that time on the rim of the terracotta pot (can be seen slightly in photo below of the top of the pot) I'm still sad, but learning to cope with it! ;) Well, I'm trying to learn from this experience. Thank-you so much! I've included some newer photos, please feel free to ask more questions if necessary. I'm considering removing the large one from it's pot, to repot again, but into a smaller pot after I remove some roots. It smells from the top of the soil now, and although when I repotted previously there was no indication of rot I'm thinking this is either leaf disease of some type or root rot. I removed these leaves: Then this started: Here's a picture of the top of the pot: Thanks everyone in advance! Let's hope we can save these guys!

Emily, you must be doing a few things right to have them that big and green! But wilting leaves even though plants have been watered means they're not able to take up that water, so look to the soil and the roots. Salt buildup in the soil from fertilisers and/or minerals in your water can prevent the roots from absorbing water by creating an osmotic pull in the other direction. Or your potting mix might be old and compacted (soil level looks pretty low in photos), your plants might be rootbound, maybe there could even be some root rot going on - all of which interferes with the roots absorbing water. Overwatering can do the same thing but that sounds less likely for you. Of course fertilising contributes to how well a plant will do but only once the above factors are sorted, I doubt just giving your plants a bit of this or that will be the answer. First step I would flush the pots out with plain water ie. water them thoroughly until it's draining through, wait 10-20 minutes and repeat. This will dissolve any salts back into solution and then rinse them out. Like re-setting. Cassandra, I see a nice looking one of these in the background of another post of yours, whatever you're doing must be working too!

What you have there is just a leaf with petiole. What you need is a section of stem which the petiole was attached to. The petiole and leaf come from a node along the main stem of the plant. That is also where roots come from. A leaf and petiole on their own will wither away.