Help me help my plants
June 17, 2019 12:47 PM Subscribe
I have two questions, one more general, and more specific. The general question is: How can I learn to take good care of my plants? The specific question is: What's wrong with my prayer plant with yellowing leaves?
I don't have much experience keeping plants, for various reasons, but I've always liked them. Unfortunately, they don't end up too happy once they're with me. There tends to be a slow decline that ends with me eventually saying goodbye.
I always look up how to care for them, but the problem is, plants respond so slowly I'm not sure I've identified the problem correctly and if I'm making it better or worse. So I guess what I'm looking for something that's a cut above what you can generally find with a keyword search on Google: books, forums, databases, anything like that that you've found particularly helpful.
My current more specific question is typical of the problem. I recently bought a prayer plant. It arrived a little beat up, with some leaves starting to yellow around the top end. It's currently putting out new leaves, but the yellowing is still progressing. I'm not sure what's wrong because it could be multiple things, according to the internet:
Is it too much water? (The soil does not dry out despite a draining pot, it is very humid here; I'm not sure how to fix that if it's the problem.)
Is it what's in the water? (I could try watering with distilled, but how long would it take for me to tell if it helped?)
Is it getting too much light? Or is it getting too little? (It's not in a direct sunbeam, and the weather has been generally gloomy, but the room has a south facing window with a curtain I can either keep open or closed.)
I don't know what to try first or how long to wait to see if the plant improves, so I kind of faff about and the plant just dies eventually...
I don't have much experience keeping plants, for various reasons, but I've always liked them. Unfortunately, they don't end up too happy once they're with me. There tends to be a slow decline that ends with me eventually saying goodbye.
I always look up how to care for them, but the problem is, plants respond so slowly I'm not sure I've identified the problem correctly and if I'm making it better or worse. So I guess what I'm looking for something that's a cut above what you can generally find with a keyword search on Google: books, forums, databases, anything like that that you've found particularly helpful.
My current more specific question is typical of the problem. I recently bought a prayer plant. It arrived a little beat up, with some leaves starting to yellow around the top end. It's currently putting out new leaves, but the yellowing is still progressing. I'm not sure what's wrong because it could be multiple things, according to the internet:
Is it too much water? (The soil does not dry out despite a draining pot, it is very humid here; I'm not sure how to fix that if it's the problem.)
Is it what's in the water? (I could try watering with distilled, but how long would it take for me to tell if it helped?)
Is it getting too much light? Or is it getting too little? (It's not in a direct sunbeam, and the weather has been generally gloomy, but the room has a south facing window with a curtain I can either keep open or closed.)
I don't know what to try first or how long to wait to see if the plant improves, so I kind of faff about and the plant just dies eventually...
If you're serious about caring for this or future plants, the first thing I'd suggest to do is re-pot it into pot with drain holes and use decent container potting mix. The soil that nurseries use is not great for home use.
And, you can purchase an inexpensive moisture meter for use with plants to help figure out the watering.
Light levels are harder to judge....
Over-fertilization is another problem but doubtful with a new plant.
posted by mightshould at 1:00 PM on June 17, 2019 [1 favorite]
And, you can purchase an inexpensive moisture meter for use with plants to help figure out the watering.
Light levels are harder to judge....
Over-fertilization is another problem but doubtful with a new plant.
posted by mightshould at 1:00 PM on June 17, 2019 [1 favorite]
As a veteran plant murderer, my current approach to keeping plants has been to get a lot of them. Right now I have 12 potted plants, whereas in the past I'd maybe have 2 or 3. This is good for several reasons:
-It's harder for me to forget to check on them regularly when I have so many.
-If one of them kicks it, I'm less upset about it.
-I can note the ones that survive and thrive under my imperfect care and just get more plants like those. This is the most important part for me. I have learned that I can't really keep up with the needs of delicate herbs, but the oxalis and jade plant right next to them are doing great, so I'm going to replace the herbs with more tuberous plants and succulents rather than buying and killing my fourth basil plant.
As for resources, I like the Dave's Garden website. It's a real old-school throwback type of site, with a pretty helpful forum and lots of info.
posted by showbiz_liz at 1:24 PM on June 17, 2019 [7 favorites]
-It's harder for me to forget to check on them regularly when I have so many.
-If one of them kicks it, I'm less upset about it.
-I can note the ones that survive and thrive under my imperfect care and just get more plants like those. This is the most important part for me. I have learned that I can't really keep up with the needs of delicate herbs, but the oxalis and jade plant right next to them are doing great, so I'm going to replace the herbs with more tuberous plants and succulents rather than buying and killing my fourth basil plant.
As for resources, I like the Dave's Garden website. It's a real old-school throwback type of site, with a pretty helpful forum and lots of info.
posted by showbiz_liz at 1:24 PM on June 17, 2019 [7 favorites]
Overwatering is so common it makes me think it's very likely that your plant is too wet. How long have you had the plant and how often have you been watering it? When you say that the soil does not dry out, do you mean "standing water" or just "still damp"? Either way, take a week or two off from watering as a minimum first step.
I've become a fairly successful houseplant-grower (though I don't have any really tricky plants or anything with flowers) mostly through trial and error but talking to people at the nurseries where I buy my plants has been really helpful. Also I got myself on a watering schedule. I water all my plants on (or around) Sundays, and I very rarely water them any other day. And I make sure their saucers are dry within an hour or two of when I water them. They seem cool with it! Some of them get pretty dry by Sunday, but no one has lost any leaves yet. If they seem too damp, I let them go until the next week. In my totally amateur understanding, the early visible consequences of overwatering (rotting roots) are much worse than the early visible consequences of underwatering (drooping and/or falling leaves). Most plants have some way of dealing with drought; ability to deal with prolonged flood conditions is much rarer. So you're almost always better off watering less.
Finally, this might be sacrilege (especially considering that I say that people at nurseries are really helpful), but I've also had really good luck with shitty supermarket plants. If a plant can survive a few weeks being half-assedly watered by bored teens in a windowless box store, it can probably handle whatever I'm going to throw at it. The selection is generally crap and you need to repot them basically right away, but they're often hardy little plants. My two oldest house plants came from a supermarket. They have thrived on neglect. They were my training wheels for the fancier plants I have now.
posted by mskyle at 1:25 PM on June 17, 2019 [3 favorites]
I've become a fairly successful houseplant-grower (though I don't have any really tricky plants or anything with flowers) mostly through trial and error but talking to people at the nurseries where I buy my plants has been really helpful. Also I got myself on a watering schedule. I water all my plants on (or around) Sundays, and I very rarely water them any other day. And I make sure their saucers are dry within an hour or two of when I water them. They seem cool with it! Some of them get pretty dry by Sunday, but no one has lost any leaves yet. If they seem too damp, I let them go until the next week. In my totally amateur understanding, the early visible consequences of overwatering (rotting roots) are much worse than the early visible consequences of underwatering (drooping and/or falling leaves). Most plants have some way of dealing with drought; ability to deal with prolonged flood conditions is much rarer. So you're almost always better off watering less.
Finally, this might be sacrilege (especially considering that I say that people at nurseries are really helpful), but I've also had really good luck with shitty supermarket plants. If a plant can survive a few weeks being half-assedly watered by bored teens in a windowless box store, it can probably handle whatever I'm going to throw at it. The selection is generally crap and you need to repot them basically right away, but they're often hardy little plants. My two oldest house plants came from a supermarket. They have thrived on neglect. They were my training wheels for the fancier plants I have now.
posted by mskyle at 1:25 PM on June 17, 2019 [3 favorites]
Have you re-potted it? Sometimes the pots they have for plants in nurseries are a little too small and a plant could do with a little bit more elbow room. Not anything enormous, just like the next size up.
Instead of looking at the "how to fix my plant" sites, I tend to check out specific care instructions for each specific plant. I found this for prayer plants; It looks like they like "bright, indirect sunlight", so a table next to a window is best; not right IN the window, but next to it, is how the staff at my local botanic garden described that to me. It also likes soil that drains well - and you can DIY that by getting a regular bag of potting soil from a garden store, but also a bag of sand (like cactus sand, which they should have too). Then mix that together in a ratio of five to one (five scoops of the potting soil, one of the sand).
So I would try repotting it into that DIY mix of soil and then putting it on a table next to the window, and following the other advice on that link. If you're worried about having extra DIY potting mix, that blend also works really good for the herbs rosemary, sage, and oregano, all of whom like to be right IN a windowsill. And since a prayer plant likes it humid, having more plant buddies could help it out too.
Good luck!
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:32 PM on June 17, 2019
Instead of looking at the "how to fix my plant" sites, I tend to check out specific care instructions for each specific plant. I found this for prayer plants; It looks like they like "bright, indirect sunlight", so a table next to a window is best; not right IN the window, but next to it, is how the staff at my local botanic garden described that to me. It also likes soil that drains well - and you can DIY that by getting a regular bag of potting soil from a garden store, but also a bag of sand (like cactus sand, which they should have too). Then mix that together in a ratio of five to one (five scoops of the potting soil, one of the sand).
So I would try repotting it into that DIY mix of soil and then putting it on a table next to the window, and following the other advice on that link. If you're worried about having extra DIY potting mix, that blend also works really good for the herbs rosemary, sage, and oregano, all of whom like to be right IN a windowsill. And since a prayer plant likes it humid, having more plant buddies could help it out too.
Good luck!
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:32 PM on June 17, 2019
I have a couple of prayer plants, including one I replaced after it was cruelly murdered by fungus gnats. Despite the assurances of the plant store that they do fine in low light, I found that they were really only happy when placed directly on the windowsill (although our windowsill doesn't really get direct light because it faces a wall and our upstairs neighbors have a balcony that blocks overhead light into our apartment). This both gives them plenty of light and helps dry out their soil. Now mine are even putting up little purple flowers and everything.
They are still getting the occasional yellow leaf even when flourishing, however. I think that's just a thing that they do.
My techniques with plants are: experiment, buy hardier plants, and don't get too attached. Oh, and make sure they don't have bug infestations.
posted by phoenixy at 1:44 PM on June 17, 2019
They are still getting the occasional yellow leaf even when flourishing, however. I think that's just a thing that they do.
My techniques with plants are: experiment, buy hardier plants, and don't get too attached. Oh, and make sure they don't have bug infestations.
posted by phoenixy at 1:44 PM on June 17, 2019
Response by poster: How often have you been watering it, and how long did you wait to see if the soil would dry out?
I hardly water it at all - probably closer to once a month than once a week. I keep checking the soil to see if it's dry, but it's perpetually damp/wet. There's never standing water.
It's already been repotted in a draining pot with fresh potting mix.
I've also had really good luck with shitty supermarket plants.
Supermarkets where I am don't have many houseplants at all, sadly, and I have to stick to safe-for-cats varieties, so it's not an option.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 1:46 PM on June 17, 2019
I hardly water it at all - probably closer to once a month than once a week. I keep checking the soil to see if it's dry, but it's perpetually damp/wet. There's never standing water.
It's already been repotted in a draining pot with fresh potting mix.
I've also had really good luck with shitty supermarket plants.
Supermarkets where I am don't have many houseplants at all, sadly, and I have to stick to safe-for-cats varieties, so it's not an option.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 1:46 PM on June 17, 2019
This type of plant does best in bright indirect light, so putting it near to the south facing window, but not directly in a sunbeam would probably be good. (Think a foot or two from the window opening, along the wall maybe, or in front of that window but with a sheer curtain.)
You say the soil is still wet a month later? Like sopping wet or moist? It could be that when you're watering it, you're giving it too much water. It shouldn't be sopping wet, but it should always be damp.
Have you fertilized it at all?
I'd try different light and a lighter hand with the watering first. If it doesn't improve in about a month, then I'd try giving it a little fertilizer.
posted by purple_bird at 2:13 PM on June 17, 2019
You say the soil is still wet a month later? Like sopping wet or moist? It could be that when you're watering it, you're giving it too much water. It shouldn't be sopping wet, but it should always be damp.
Have you fertilized it at all?
I'd try different light and a lighter hand with the watering first. If it doesn't improve in about a month, then I'd try giving it a little fertilizer.
posted by purple_bird at 2:13 PM on June 17, 2019
Practice, practice, practice, plus a little bit of research and a little talking to people with more experience. In my own case, I decided what kind of care I could reasonably offer, bought one of everything, and specialize in the survivors, rather than choosing plants I wanted to grow and contorting myself to meet their precise needs. Some people like the challenge of the latter, though.
On prayer plants (Maranta leuconeura cvv.), some occasional yellow leaves are normal; lots of bright yellow leaves all the time usually means too wet. (Leaves on plants that are too dry will also be yellow, but it's a duller yellow, and often the tips or margins will shrivel, turn tan, and die shortly after.)
Ways for a prayer plant to remain too wet despite not being watered much/frequently:
1) Cold indoor temperatures, high humidity, low light, or some combination thereof (reduced growth, reduced evaporation)
2) No drainage hole in pot (water accumulates at the bottom of the pot, even as the top of the soil dries out)
3) Pot is too deep (Marantas have fairly shallow root systems; whatever soil's below that retains moisture forever and can lead to root rot, which makes it harder for roots to take up water, which slows the amount of water that can be taken up, which leads to even more wet soil without roots, etc.)
4) Peat-heavy soil mix (Miracle Gro is a common offender, but probably not the only brand that does this: commercial growers also use peat-heavy mixes, so that's probably what anything you buy in the store is going to have; the reason is that peat is cheap compared to the other options), or heavy soil mixes in general. (Foxfarm soils are often bad this way, and are more suitable for outdoor container gardening than indoor, in my opinion, though some people do make them work somehow.)
5) Overpotting (pot is too large for the root ball; this is the same problem as #3, with the excess wet soil in a different location)
Your water source is almost certainly not the problem. You've already said lack of drainage definitely isn't the problem, and high humidity might be. No matter the size of the plant above the soil, the roots aren't going to go much deeper than about 4 inches / 10 cm, and you don't need a pot that's any wider than two inches more than the actual diameter of the root ball. If you can increase the heat and light slightly, that will encourage faster growth, and faster water usage.
posted by Spathe Cadet at 2:25 PM on June 17, 2019 [3 favorites]
On prayer plants (Maranta leuconeura cvv.), some occasional yellow leaves are normal; lots of bright yellow leaves all the time usually means too wet. (Leaves on plants that are too dry will also be yellow, but it's a duller yellow, and often the tips or margins will shrivel, turn tan, and die shortly after.)
Ways for a prayer plant to remain too wet despite not being watered much/frequently:
1) Cold indoor temperatures, high humidity, low light, or some combination thereof (reduced growth, reduced evaporation)
2) No drainage hole in pot (water accumulates at the bottom of the pot, even as the top of the soil dries out)
3) Pot is too deep (Marantas have fairly shallow root systems; whatever soil's below that retains moisture forever and can lead to root rot, which makes it harder for roots to take up water, which slows the amount of water that can be taken up, which leads to even more wet soil without roots, etc.)
4) Peat-heavy soil mix (Miracle Gro is a common offender, but probably not the only brand that does this: commercial growers also use peat-heavy mixes, so that's probably what anything you buy in the store is going to have; the reason is that peat is cheap compared to the other options), or heavy soil mixes in general. (Foxfarm soils are often bad this way, and are more suitable for outdoor container gardening than indoor, in my opinion, though some people do make them work somehow.)
5) Overpotting (pot is too large for the root ball; this is the same problem as #3, with the excess wet soil in a different location)
Your water source is almost certainly not the problem. You've already said lack of drainage definitely isn't the problem, and high humidity might be. No matter the size of the plant above the soil, the roots aren't going to go much deeper than about 4 inches / 10 cm, and you don't need a pot that's any wider than two inches more than the actual diameter of the root ball. If you can increase the heat and light slightly, that will encourage faster growth, and faster water usage.
posted by Spathe Cadet at 2:25 PM on June 17, 2019 [3 favorites]
Response by poster: What's the alternative to regular potting mix? I have some sandy succulent potting mix I could mix with, following the other recommendation above - is that also what you're talking about?
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 2:52 PM on June 17, 2019
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 2:52 PM on June 17, 2019
Once a month is most certainly not enough. I bet it's not getting enough water. What do you mean when you say the soil isn't dry? Is it pulling away from the sides of the pot? I would try watering it a small amount once a week and see if it perks up. That's such a simple thing to do... I would do that before re-planting, getting distilled water, etc.
I generally water my plants once a week, on Sundays, including my prayer plant, which is thriving.
I'd give it some more water at first. Poor thing is likely very thirsty.
posted by bluedaisy at 4:08 PM on June 17, 2019 [1 favorite]
I generally water my plants once a week, on Sundays, including my prayer plant, which is thriving.
I'd give it some more water at first. Poor thing is likely very thirsty.
posted by bluedaisy at 4:08 PM on June 17, 2019 [1 favorite]
The potting mix I use for most plants is about 45% composted bark and 45% peat, with the rest being perlite, limestone, wetting agents, and a couple other things. Most bagged soils will give you some indication of what's in them and in what proportions, though I'm not sure they're legally required to do so -- aim for something that has some peat, but isn't mostly peat. If everything is very peaty, sometimes peaty soils can be salvaged by cutting them with something else -- for this particular problem, I'd reach for the perlite first.
To be honest, I wouldn't expect a Maranta to object all that much to peaty or water-retentive soil in the first place; they tend to like it on the damp side anyway (native to Brazilian rainforests), so I'm not sure what's going on with your plant; I agree that once a month seems like it shouldn't be enough water.
Indoor climates are all different from one another -- what kind of pot you prefer, whether you like to water a little bit every day or soak the hell out of the plant occasionally, where your thermostat is set, what brand of potting soil you use, etc. -- so my experience may not be relevant to your home. (Hence practice, practice, practice.)
(I bought a small Maranta about a month ago that I think had zero roots; I think the greenhouse where I bought it had just stuck a cutting into potting soil and was waiting for it to root, and didn't tell me that. So mine has only been watered once in the last month, but it's at floor level, so it's cold, and it may not have anything to take water up with. Have you pulled yours out of the pot to look at the roots? If only to confirm that there are some?)
posted by Spathe Cadet at 5:47 PM on June 17, 2019
To be honest, I wouldn't expect a Maranta to object all that much to peaty or water-retentive soil in the first place; they tend to like it on the damp side anyway (native to Brazilian rainforests), so I'm not sure what's going on with your plant; I agree that once a month seems like it shouldn't be enough water.
Indoor climates are all different from one another -- what kind of pot you prefer, whether you like to water a little bit every day or soak the hell out of the plant occasionally, where your thermostat is set, what brand of potting soil you use, etc. -- so my experience may not be relevant to your home. (Hence practice, practice, practice.)
(I bought a small Maranta about a month ago that I think had zero roots; I think the greenhouse where I bought it had just stuck a cutting into potting soil and was waiting for it to root, and didn't tell me that. So mine has only been watered once in the last month, but it's at floor level, so it's cold, and it may not have anything to take water up with. Have you pulled yours out of the pot to look at the roots? If only to confirm that there are some?)
posted by Spathe Cadet at 5:47 PM on June 17, 2019
Response by poster: >What do you mean when you say the soil isn't dry? Is it pulling away from the sides of the pot?
No, the soil is damp, as in, I can stick my finger into it and wet/damp soil sticks to it. The plant is also not wilting. Other than the yellow leaves, it looks healthy. My concern is that the leaves are turning yellow faster than it's putting out new leaves.
>Have you pulled yours out of the pot to look at the roots? If only to confirm that there are some?)
I checked when I repotted it, it had roots but they weren't very developed. No root ball yet. That might be part of the mystery of why it's not taking up much water!
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 9:29 AM on June 18, 2019
No, the soil is damp, as in, I can stick my finger into it and wet/damp soil sticks to it. The plant is also not wilting. Other than the yellow leaves, it looks healthy. My concern is that the leaves are turning yellow faster than it's putting out new leaves.
>Have you pulled yours out of the pot to look at the roots? If only to confirm that there are some?)
I checked when I repotted it, it had roots but they weren't very developed. No root ball yet. That might be part of the mystery of why it's not taking up much water!
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 9:29 AM on June 18, 2019
I checked when I repotted it, it had roots but they weren't very developed. No root ball yet. That might be part of the mystery of why it's not taking up much water!
I'm no expert as noted above, but I wonder if the soil might be too compact for the plant to easily put out more roots?
posted by showbiz_liz at 10:17 AM on June 18, 2019
I'm no expert as noted above, but I wonder if the soil might be too compact for the plant to easily put out more roots?
posted by showbiz_liz at 10:17 AM on June 18, 2019
My calathea was doing something similar. On the advice of a friend, I started watering with filtered water (we just happen to have a water filter in the bathroom where it lives). Since then it's done a complete 180 and is thriving. I live in Houston, we have notoriously hard tap water and apparently, these plants do not like that.
posted by Brittanie at 2:18 PM on June 18, 2019
posted by Brittanie at 2:18 PM on June 18, 2019
Response by poster: Thanks for the advice everyone!
I think I'm going to try getting it more light first, and if it still keeps yellowing, I'll try some of the suggestions about changing the pot size and soil. And then I'll try filtered water. (If it doesn't dry out more quickly to start with, filtering the water will be kind of moot since I'm giving it so little to start with.)
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 2:31 PM on June 19, 2019
I think I'm going to try getting it more light first, and if it still keeps yellowing, I'll try some of the suggestions about changing the pot size and soil. And then I'll try filtered water. (If it doesn't dry out more quickly to start with, filtering the water will be kind of moot since I'm giving it so little to start with.)
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 2:31 PM on June 19, 2019
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by pinochiette at 12:57 PM on June 17, 2019 [1 favorite]