My selloum is not doing well, What can I do?

Discussion in 'Indoor and Greenhouse Plants' started by MDNemec, Oct 6, 2006.

  1. MDNemec

    MDNemec Member

    Messages:
    15
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Texas, USA
    I purchased this plant (labeled Philodendron selloum) from a nursery about 4 months ago. It was grown inside the 'store' part of the nursery, on the floor, where it received no natural light and only limited artificial light (I was told it was a good match for my apt). It was beautiful when I purchased it.

    Here are the few compounding factors that may have contributed to it's demise:

    1) It was very rootbound and needed to be repotted. So after about a week in my apt, I repotted it.

    2) Not only did I not break up the VERY tight rootball before repotting, but I also overwatered initially. The leaves began to droop and turn yellow on the edges. Slowly, the yellow edges browned and dried out and I had to cut them off.

    2) Assuming root rot, I dug it up, scored the roots slightly with a knife so I could spread out the rootball, and let it air out overnight. The next day, I repotted and removed any more yellow/brown leaves/stems.

    3) The leaves that drooped, stayed droopy. However, after scoring and repotting, the plant seemed to be doing better and 2 new tiny stems/leaves appeared and grew to their current size (in the picture) very quickly (about 1 week).

    Overall, it seemed to be doing better. However, it has stayed in this same state for 3 months now with no improvement. The larger leaves are still slowly turning yellow on the edges and then brown and drying out at about the rate of 1 stem/leaf per month. The new small leaves/stems have stayed at their current size and are not growing any larger. Any suggestions?
     

    Attached Files:

  2. Rima

    Rima Active Member

    Messages:
    991
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Eastern Canada
    Two things - how dry (or not) is your apt. air? Maybe try a humidity tray under the pot - a wide one with stones and water, but don't allow the pot to touch the water (and that goes for drain water too, of course). The other thing could be the soil - if it's potting soil (and therefore full of peat that holds water forever), it may need a serious handful of grit to be mixed in, or at least change the soil to coarse loam and some grit, to allow fast drainage - however, as you've repotted twice recently, I'd definitely wait to do this til the spring. Have you tried a little more light - plants are stimulated by and grow to the light, after all, even if some prefer less than others. The last thing would be fertilizer, and if it's had none, it certainly should be getting it routinely, otherwise it will just sit there doing nothing.
     
  3. MDNemec

    MDNemec Member

    Messages:
    15
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Texas, USA
    Rima, thank you so much for your suggestions, I was worried I wouldn't hear from anyone!

    The air in my apt is very dry, I never gave the dry air much thought before, but I will try a humidity tray. Also, since it was grown as a low-light plant in the nursery, I never considered increasing the light for it now while it tries to recover. I know this plant can withstand brighter light, so I will move it closer to a window to see how it does.

    About the soil...it is potted in standard potting soil (and given that the plant is now so small and the pot is huge in comparison), it might not be draining well. I am not that familiar with different types of soil, but I will try to find a better mix. If it survives until next spring, I will repot it in more appropriate soil.

    Finally, the potting mix I purchased was pretreated with MiracleGro All Purpose fertilizer. I assume I don't need to fertilize for a while. Am I correct? Should I still be fertilizing? I also assumed since it was "All Purpose" fertilizer that it would be appropriate for most common plants. Is it possible that this "All Purpose" fertilizer is not suitable for this plant? Can anyone suggest a specific fertilizer with a unique combination of ingredients?
     
  4. Rima

    Rima Active Member

    Messages:
    991
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Eastern Canada
    It's 'suitable', but doesn't last forever (and buying soil with fert. in it is never a good idea as you don't know how much, how long, etc.), so I'd definitely give it some house plant fert. (according to label directions even if the amt. seems tiny). Ask for a 'balanced' one for foliage plants (vs flowering). Balanced means the same or similar amts of nitrogen, phosphate & potassium ... which will appear as big #'s on the label such as '15-15-15'. One for flowering plants might be 20-35-20. Overpotting (why'd you do it?) is not conducive to growth in a lot of house plants, so when you repot, unless there are a lot of new roots, think about scaling down 1 size. And what's 'low light' in a nursery is likely still high light in your house - it's all relative :-). Good luck.
     
  5. MDNemec

    MDNemec Member

    Messages:
    15
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Texas, USA
    Thanks again! The fertilizer information is very useful. The plant was actually quite large when I purchased it and had become rootbound. The nursery suggested I repot it in a slightly larger pot, which I did. Unfortunately, now that so much of the plant has died off the pot looks huge in comparison!!!
     

Share This Page