I probably just killed my plants

17 years ago

This is going to be long and for that I apologize in advance. If you read all this and can help me, I would greatly appreciate it!

Problem 1-

I posted a few weeks ago about my new plants that I aquired after my father-in-law passed away. The only plant I owned prior to this is an ivy, so I'm learning as I go. I think my Dieffenbachia has a bacteria infection in it's stem. When the funeral home brought it to us, they set it on top of a freezer and the wind knocked it off causing one of the main stems to break off. It healed over like a scab, so I didn't do anything to it. I repotted all the plants because they were severely root bound in their pots after I posted for information. A couple of days ago, I noticed that the stem below where it broke, is now soft and slimy. I didn't do anything to it immediately because I didn't know what it was. After looking online the past couple of days, I'm thinking it's a bacterial infection and isn't easily treated. At first, I had a problem with this plant's leaves turning brown and I thought it was sunburn from putting it on my porch. I cut all of the brown leaves off and it grew new growth and was starting to look as good as when I got it. Now I have this problem and I'm wondering if the two are connected. I've been using a water meter because I'm scared I'm going to over water them. I didn't sterelize it before I put it in the other plants because it never occured to me that I needed to. I check them daily. I even check them all today before I pinpointed the problem. Since this infection is very contagious, did I just infect all my other plants with this meter. What do I do now?

Problem 2-

I also received in the mix of plants 2 cyclamen. At first they were growing very well. Over the past week and half one of them started going down hill quickly. I thought maybe it was root rot because I've been watering them from the top, not the bottom. I've since bought a few books on plants and now know I messed up. Anyway, I decided to take it out of it's pot to examine the roots and I found these tiny shiny bugs on the bulb. If they hadn't shined in the light, I never would have seen them. At this point, it only had 2 leaves left on it. After searching online, I think they are cyclamen mites. I found a site that said to soak it the plant in hot water and it will kill them without hurting the plant. I did this tonight and now I have no leaves at all because they just fell off. I don't however see anymore mites. Do I repot the bulb or is it too late?

I'm now scared I'm going to lose all my plants to either mites or bacterial infections. I'm so sad right now because I wanted to keep these for sentimental reasons.

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Comments (4)

frogs
Original Author
17 years ago
The more I think about it, the more paranoid I get. I was looking at the my monstera plant and it has a few baby leaves that are yellow. Is this from shock from being repotted or could I have spread the infection?
lucy
17 years ago
Yellow leaves usually mean you're watering too often (and BTW watering from above IS correct... something else may be wrong, but not that).
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gabro14
17 years ago
Hi Frogs,

The main advice I want to give you is to try and "avoid" your plants for a bit. Sometimes they thrive on neglect. I think you are so intent on keeping these plants alive because of how important they are to you (I don't blame you), and maybe you're doing too much. Try not to check on the water daily with the meter. I have a meter and I basically know around when my plants are going to need water, and that's when I use the meter...just to double check. You don't want to be poking around in there every day with the meter, I would think that's disturbing to the roots. Since you're having these problems with the infection and the bugs, you should definitely sterilize the meter with some alcohol after each use. Don't worry about the fact that you haven't been doing that...it's not like there's anything you can do at this point except hope for the best. If you can take a cutting of each plant (like a healthy stem), then do that in case something happens to the plants. You can root the cuttings and make new healthy plants.

I think you might be overwatering. Also, do you have drainage holes in your pots? Water from the top, and follow the requirements for each plant (I don't know these plants well, so I'm not sure if they like to be on the dry side or not).

As for the cyclamen, you probably lost that one, but at least you have the other one. But check that one for mites. Hopefully there's something you can do about the infection on the other plant...maybe someone one here will be able to help you with that.

Good luck...I really hope you're plants make it.
Gabi
tanyalee
17 years ago
Just to make this clear, I am NO EXPERT! I am really just a dabbler. However, I think EVERYTHING is worth a shot. Maybe the cyclamen is lost, but maybe not. I have had some plants I thought for sure were goners come back with a fierce vengeance! As long as you have a living bulb, give it a chance. No harm done if it doesn't make it, and just think how thrilled you will be if it does? Just my thoughts on that one! Take care!
I also use some stuff called transplant solution; I think it is from miracle grow. I water it down even more then the bottle says too though. Just to be safe.