Hi Richard,

Your plant looks like it has suffered 'root trauma'.
'Root trauma' can be caused by several factors.

Here's what you need to check:

1.) Did you damage some of the plant's roots during the 'root massaging' and transferring to a bigger pot?

If you damaged some of the roots (especially if you forcefully pulled the plant out from the pot, cutting off many of its fine roots), the plant will show drooping of the new leaves and buds at the tips. It will take sometime for the plant to recover from the root trauma and there is nothing more you can do than wait for it to recover and give it the best care it needs.

You need to avoid fertilizing a 'stressed' plant like this. Also, avoid direct sun on the plant while it is still recovering from the root trauma. Water as needed.

2.) An underwatered plant placed in a full sun environment can also cause 'root trauma'. Dehydration kills the finest and smallest roots first so your plant could be suffering from 'lack of water'.

Did you change the plant's location (like from shady to full sun)? Did you adjust watering frequency correspondingly? These are the things you need to look out for.

Here's a trick to know if the plant needs water or not. Check on soil moisture by poking your finger deep into the soil. If the soil feels dry or almost dry, then the plant badly needs water. Otherwise, if the soil is wet or very moist, you do not need to water.

If there is no watering problem then the stress is probably caused by change of environmental conditions especially if the plant is moved from a shady to a more sunny environment, from a cooler to hotter environment, or from a high humidity to a lower humidity environment. If this is the case, the plant should be able to adjust if you make the move to the different environment more gradual or if you move it to a more appropriate environment.

3.) When you repotted the plant to a larger pot, did you keep the plant's ROOT BALL at the SAME SOIL DEPTH (or SLIGHTLY HIGHER) like in the original pot, or did you bury the root ball of the plant MUCH DEEPER into the soil?

If you buried the plant's root ball too deep, it can cause suffocation and death of some or all of the plant's roots. The plant CAN DIE if this error is not corrected. This error can get worse with overwatering. (The root ball can suffocate by being buried too deep and too much water can further hasten the suffocation and root rotting.) You need to correct the error by raising the plant's root ball to the original or higher level if you suspect it to be the cause.

tropical