It's a bad idea to have that plant (and pretty much any other plant) in a pot without drainage holes. Soil needs to be aerated and excess water needs to be able to drain away. With salt build up the soil needs to be flushed with a lot of water some times. You risk the rot going up the aerial roots as well and the plant not being able to keep ahead of it. The clay in the bottom of the pot may have settled out of the soil over the years, there might have been more soil placed in the pot as organic matter rotted and the soil level dropped. I think your first step should be to clean up the existing rot and repot the plant into fast draining soil in a pot with drain holes.

None of my other plants are in pots without drainage holes...i suppose the only reason this one is, is because I got it that way, and it is over-potted. I am afraid it will be such a chore to take such a big plant and repot it, especially into a smaller pot!

Still, I have been meaning to do it. Probably should now, while the pots are on sale...

The plant has to be staked because it leans. I guess I know why now. When I repot it, can I bury the stem, do you think? At least past the point of rot? Or will it rot more? I have never dealt with anything like this.

Leave the stem out of the mix completely. The aerials will take care of it's needs.

In it's native environment,this plant has been known to hoist itself into the canopy of trees with them(the aerial roots),leaving the ground completely.

Any ideas how to secure it? Doesnt it need the main stem for support? It is over 2 feet tall

Right now it is just leaning on a stake, as you can see.

Laura,
You have received very good advice from great people who know what they are talking about.
How lucky you are!
Good Luck.

Thanks, butterfly. The philo has been repotted in a smaller pot with drainage holes. Not as small as I would have preferred, but it was all I had on hand. It didnt grow for a long while after so I take that as a sign of root growth.

Seems I lost touch with this thread(sorry about that)...any updates?

Yes. I did pot it into an even smaller pot. It is in a 12 inch now, where it was initially in a 24 inch. It didnt grow for a while, and when it did finally start to grow, the leaves were much bigger. An excellent sign of root health.

I ended up burying the trunk partially, as it needed the stability.

The point of growth on the side sent a root down into the medium, so I disconnected it from the parent plant. I should have two healthy plants in the pot once that one takes off.

The second one must look adorable on it's own.

Didn't happen to take any pics along the way,did you?

Wonder if the buried part will find a way to root itself rather than continue rotting...certainly hope so. I suspect it's possible if a healthy "eye" is stimulated to kick one out. They throw out aerials so I can't imagine why not.

I'm guessing the stake isn't in the picture anymore,or do you still need it? At one point I nearly suggested attaching it to a little trellis or something and let the roots just weave around in it as they developed.

Also, the rot was old and dry when I noticed it. So I dont think it will progress. Especially now that the soil is aerated and the potting mix does not stay wet all the time.

Did the one that got cut back put on any new growth,and if so was it just one new growth-point or two or more? Just a curiosity. :)

By the way,thanks for the update...lookin good!

Im not sure which one you are referring to?

The one that was accidentally broken off a few months ago.

Not the cutting that you successfully rooted but the host plant that it came from.

The one that was broken off IS the cutting that was rooted, and it came from the parent plant that is pictured.

It has put on a lot of new growth. At least 4 new leaves, from 2 initially.

Ah okay,...I get it now. For a minute there,I thought perhaps there was an entirely different plant you'd been working with as well.

My bad! :)

Great job! It looks really happy and healthy in front of that big window. Pretty soon you will be able to put the whole family back together in one pot, then you have a nice specimen.

Hi all,

I now have the same problem. My plant is 27+ years old. It started as a small house plant and is now two trees. :) ...but the stem in one started weakening a few months ago. Now, I suppose it's rotted. From what I've read, I should clean the rot - how is this done? ...and then repot it in a pot that drains? I'm wondering why did @laura repot it into a smaller pot....

Help?!

Thanks in advance for any assistance you can give.

I'll give the sm pot question a try: Generally, a smaller pot allows the roots to more uniformly fill the pot and thus suck the water out of all parts of the pot at about the same rate. So you won't have parts of the soil that are dry and other parts that are still wet...just ripe for mold/rot. A poster on here named Russ has mentioned this before, and he has maybe dozens(?) of Aroids.

Here on the central east coast we've had an all time record rainfall total for the year. That has added to indoor humidity as well. As for the rot this year as opposed to other yrs: Depending on where you live, higher humidity than ever before could have helped the rot to prosper.

I had an Elephant Ear get 2 deep rot areas on it's trunk/corm when storing it indoors for the winter. I scraped the rot out with a metal teaspoon and its handle tip. I felt terrible doing it because I didn't know what the outcome would be but I didn't want to do nothing. Only the softer areas were easy to scrape out so I only scraped those. Then I rinsed it with water, placed it next to a fan, and a couple days later when completely dry I sprayed copper fungicide on it. In my case I then stored it for a few months in a sm bag of peat moss - but in your case it would be re-potted. That was 12 mos ago, It did great over the summer when planted and produced a couple pups.

Does the tree philodendron go dormant?