how many holes for good drainage at the bottom of the pot? What kind of soil? roxanne

Hi, since you have had them for 9 years already (and haven't had this problem before), I am pretty sure you didn't make a newby mistake. One of the leaves looks almost burned - could they have received too much or intense sun?. That still wouldn't explain the consistently moist soil, though...
Sorry I'm not able to really help you. Good luck and keep us updated,
Iso

So I just looked at the bottom of the pots, and there actually aren't ANY drainage holes!

There was a time a few years back when I was out-of-state for about 8 months. My mother was taking care of the plants while I was away and she wound up repotting them. I never even thought, or had any reason, to look at the bottoms of the pots.

As far as I know, it's cactus soil.

They haven't been exposed to any intense sun ot heat. They've actually been in my apartment for the last 2 or 3 weeks. The only thing I've changed in the past few months was the way I water them. I used to give them 1 cup or so of water every week. A few months back, I switched to giving them 1.5 - 2 quarts of a water/Foliage-Pro mix every two weeks. Seeing that the pot isn't draining, it's all making sense now.

I guess that with 1 cup/week, the water was staying near the top of the soil, and anything that wasn't sipped up by the plant easily evaporated. But now, giving it much more water at a time, more of the soil is becoming saturated, and the water at the bottom of the pot is basically just sitting in the soil. There's one plug in the center of the bottom of each pot, but it wasn't removed.

They're fiberglass pots, so I'll drill a few holes in the bottom of each. They're 9-inch pots that taper down to about 5 inches at the bottom.

How many holes would you recommend? Since the water at the bottom of the pot could have potentially been sitting there for a long time, should I just take the time to repot them? Also, what do you think about the watering schedule they're on? Too much?

Thanks for the responses so far, I always just assumed these pots had drainage!

That's too bad that they were repotted into pots with out drainage. If it were me I would repot. If you don't know what the roots look like now, it will give you the chance to see if there is any rotten or rotted roots.

I like my pots to have 4 or 5 drainage holes, but if the pot has one big hole in the center of the bottom of the pot, you may be okay with that. One thing you can do is fill the pot with your mix, and water it. See how long it takes for the water to drain out. If it drains fast enough, you should be good to go.

I have learned that buying good quality soil mix isn't really necessary. I did that with the first big box of cuttings I received. Now, no matter what mix I buy, I just do a 50/50 perlite to soil. I have found it works well for me.

Good luck and keep us posted!

Andrew

Draining the soil and then repotting is a good idea. You will probably find some root damage but IMO its recoverable. I would remove as much soil and dead roots as you can without completely destroying the root ball. Then repot into a new container or sterilized current container with fresh soil. I put as many drain holes as I can without destroying the structural integrity of the container. Also a good idea to remove any water which drains into the saucer so it doesn't wick back into the soil. I would let it dry out and not water for about a month. Then perhaps a very light water (1/2 cup at best, no fertilizer until May) or if it's fully dormant then no water is needed until maybe December/January.

You can also remove those damaged leaves. They are no longer of use. good luck

Great advise....

Laura

I would also stake once you remove old wet soil , remove dead roots and then pot up into a fast draining mix.

It will be in shock, but recoverable if you fix the problem now...

All great advise, but I wanted to add to stake the tree so it will be stable after all of the changes. Put it in the sunny window or even give bottom heat to give it some help to rebound from the decline it was in.

If you are in a sunny hot location, then I would keep it in semi shade, but bottom heat to recover. If you are in a colder location, then I would do the sunny window with seedling heat mat

A few drops of B-1 in your water will also help from the shock...

Good luck!!

Laura

So I repotted one of the plants because I ran out of soil. I didn't realize the root ball was so small. Is this normal for a plant this size? I was expecting more, since the roots were coming through the top of the soil.

Another picture.