This plant ctenanthe pilosa is sitting on our coffee table in the family room getting light from the north. It is my wife's plant. We have been gone for over a month and it has been left in the care of a neighbor .I just returned home finding a note from my wife's friend stipulating that she was sorry for letting the plant die. We have had quite a heat spell recently in this area and I think the plant dried out and then was heavily watered. I'll be home about six weeks before going back to where my wife is. She really liked that plant misting it quite often and watered it with a long necked glass bulb. I have been on the net all day trying to find out just what kind of plant it is. Lo and behold I ran across the UBC web sight and found your posting. Now my question is can I save the plant ? It is all floppy and loose but not all brown, some of the leaves are green and limp. The soil is very wet. Nothing stands up, the whole plant is like a wet dish rag. Should I divide the green stems and try rooting? I would hate to go out and buy another plant, she would know. Our kids are all grown and gone. The kids in the house now are the plants, and I think this is her favorite. I mainly run the mulch pile and the veg. garden, maybe with a little help I can become an indoor plant man. What say ye ?
OK. It sounds like the poor thing got fried and then drowned. I have a huge bed of Ctenanthe in my garden, and they're normally pretty happy things but after a week solid of rain they do the exact same thing. They perk up when their soil dries up, but you don't have the advantage of natural drainage. First measure is to get it out of its mud and into a fresh pot of some dry dirt. Chuck the brown stems, as they're not going to come back, but the green ones will respond to this. When you've got it out of the soil, check the roots for rotten parts; these will be squishy rather than firm. If the whole root is rotted, then chuck the stem it's attached to; if only a part is, then cut that part off about 1 cm above the squishiness into the good root. I'd only advise using a tropical plant rooting powder if you have to damage the roots in this way, otherwise just let the plant take its course naturally. Hope it recovers!
I applaud you on your concern for your wife's plant! Sure, you can become an indoor plant man---you've already begun with the ctenanthe and by joining this site. We all gotta start somewhere! Folks here are a living encyclopedia of botanical knowledge, and have that invaluable quality of experience. Not only do they know scientific fact---they can tell you what they have actually DONE, and give you hope that you can do it, too! Welcome, and let us know what happens.
Thanks for the info, will get right on it and let you know what happens down the road. All I want is a smile on my wife's face when she comes in to check out her baby.
