OOP - sorry JM. Yer right - been around a long time. Actually, I have a good excuse. I worked almost 40 years as a medical transcriptionist - we had a lot of big words to spell (typed them from sound, rather than sight). It ruined me for English spelling - even tho I could spell the Latin words just fine. My co-workers used to tease me a lot. One of the worst ones that I hung up on were: peal for peel. basil for basal. their for there. and now loop for loupe. LOL. But just give me schizophrenia, thoracolumbar, costovertebral, etc., and I'm a real whiz. Just another 2 c's. Bejay

kitty How was the stem after you cut it? It may be good idea to take photos of what you doing for future reference (I forget very often too!) And if not sure, posting photos will help to get some helpful tips. "Hoping the black section under the leaves doesn’t spread further, it’s making pretty close contact with the soil." By black section, do you mean the leaf end? In last photo, it looks like just old leaf drying up. But in previous pic there are few and so many at the same time may be rot - I hope I am wrong ! Whenever you repot, make sure plants are not deep inside - Kara mentioned good reasons, and on top of that - it looks better :) Hope your plant makes it, pls. post update.

All manner of insects can munch on plants and leave holes like that. But unless you can actually ID the culprit - like catch the bugger in action - suggestions for control will be vey nebulous. Various insects respond to various control method and products so identification is key. Try going out after dark with a flashlight or head torch and see what you can find. Look closely under the leaves as well as on twigs and stems. The good news is that leaf munching insects are more accountable for aesthetic damage than actual physical harm to the plant so if that is as bad as the leaf munching gets, you really do not need to do anything and can just let nature take its course.

It is in the original plastic pot and then that is sitting inside of another pot. I water it when needed. I know I said that it is fertilized weekly, but that should have been when I water it which averages every 8-10 days. I am always careful not to get water on the leaves and I use lukewarm tap water. Also, the fertilizer is at 1/4 strength.