Supposedly these plants don't like to be moved or have their environment changed. Has anything like that happened? Has it had any cold drafts or is it near a heater? I grew one for a number of yrs. & currently grow other Polyscias (see my nearby thread "Have you met Polyscias crispata?")

Pix would help, we really need to see the plant pls., the pot & even the soil when possible. Don't mean to be diffiicult, it's just that all these factors (& more) influence the health of the plant.

Clarify pls drooping branches or dropping off branches? You seem to mention both. Either could speak to drainage problems. What kind of pot, mix? Could the soil have hardened off, or become hard to the touch (which would impede water take-up)?

Thank you for you reply,

The plant doesn't move, it has it's own place in the living. But when i water the plant i have to remove it from the cachepot and water it in my balcony, when the extra water has gone i put it again in the cachepot.

About cold drafts, the plant is in the living and the living is between my kitchen where my balcony is and the bedroom. What i do often is open the balcony door and the bedroom window to ventilate the appartment. Now since the living and the plant is in between i don't know if it affect it.

The living has two heaters and the plant is near one of them but i never open that one that is close to the plant.

The branches are dropping completely, i mean we can see that the branche open up from it's base to detach from its support and then fall down to the floor.

When i buy the plant it was on a small pot and i put the plant directly on a bit larger one and add +-3cm clay pebble in the pot bottom. I also drill some 3mm holes all around the pot thinking it would be good for the soil aeration.

Also i made a system were the plant have some big plastic plates filled with clay pebble and water near them to keep a constant humidity around.

The soil doesn't seems to have hardened for me, even after a week and more the soil is still a little bit wet and fresh.

Note that it's my first plant, never had one before. I don't know why this happend because the plant look nice and healthy and it even have some news grows on certain trunk and branches so it's very strange.

Tomorrow i'll take various pictures and i'll post them.

Thanks for reading and your attention.

You gave an indicator about the soil. What sort of soil are you using? A week + may be a bit too long for the soil to stay moist. What is probably happening is you are drowning the plant. I would like to see a picture of the soil. When you say 'dropping' does that mean the stems are detaching completely, or does it mean that they are sagging? There are two reasons that come to mind this could happen, one under-watering, the plant is saying it is thirsty. Second over watering, the roots are so saturated that they stop absorbing water thus also causing the plant to not get enough water. One is an easy fix the other may tale a complete unpot and new soil.

Sadly the pebbles at the bottom of the pot don't help. If you've heard they do that's unfortunate, I've heard it yrs ago as well, seems a popular bit of minformation. The fact that they are clay balls means they're holding on to moisture too long (clay is porous & absorbent).

Plants need to dry out a bit btwn waterings in order for the roots to get air. The clay balls combined w/ pebble trays nearby could be keeping things too wet. I'd take away the pebble trays, take a long stick or knife, even a pencil & insert as far down in the soil as possible. If you've baked cakes, this is like testing a cake for doneness. When removed from the soil, if the knife or chopstick has soil on it, there's still moisture (likely the case). If it comes out clean & dry then it's dry. I agree w/ Mentha & think the roots may be drowning. You making more holes in the bottom sounds ike a good idea, but I think it's conflcting w/ the clay balls.

If mine, I'd consider unpotting & remove those clay balls from the bottom of the pot. You haven't said what part of the country (or word) you live in. Is it cold on the balcony where you take this to water it?

Thank you for replies,

Mentha,

For the soil a buy a bag for indoor plants from one of my local store, i think it's from the brand DCM but not sure. I'll take a pic of the bag as well.

The stems are detaching completely. Before watering what i do usually is put a long thin wooden skewer from top to the pot bottom, leave it for like 15 min and remove it. If the skewer is almost dry i water the plant, if not, i leave it.

In this way i water the plant every 2 weeks i think and sometimes it even last longer. I was indeed suprised that sometimes after more than a week the wooden skewer was still a little bit wet sometimes.

Maybe as you both mention there should be too much humidity with those clay pebble in the bottom of the pot and on the plates around.

Stella,

Unfortunately before i buy the plant i tryed to get many information as i could get and i read or hear often here and there that keeping some clay pebble inside the pot was good to keep a reserve of humidity and also to keep some air in the bottom of it.

About the stick test, as i wrote above i did this to see if i need to water or not the plant. But if i'm not mistaken myself i think that the stick is usually dry when i have to water it.

Now there is two days since a water the plant so make the stick test won't show anything because the soil would be obviously still wet.

The small +-3mm holes i did wasn't on the bottom of the pot but all around the sides of the pot.

Also i live in Brussels, Belgium. Definitively not the hotest part of the world. The usual temperature in my living is around 18° and rarely use any heater there because i'm almost never in my living room.

Actually to be honest i put just once my plant in the balcony for watering and it was last time, so since two days. The temperature outside was 15° celsius. Otherwise when i watering the plant i do it in my kitchen and then replace it in my living room.

So pitcures are coming, i'll take various ones and include the soil bag i used as well.

Thanks for reading and for your attention.

Update - The pictures :

Sidenote, i notice something that i didn't before taking those pictures. The trunk base seems to have some limestone i think. Since here in Brussels our water is very hard i wouldn't be suprised. I water the plant with tap water that i keep in a 5 litre watering can for several days to let the chlorine evaporate because our water in Brussels contains also chlorine.

Also this is the soil i used to mix when i move the plant to a larger pot

http://www.dcm-info.be/fr/hobby/produits/terreaux/dcm-ecoterra-plantes-dappartement/

Since i can't find the same page in english i made a traduction for you from google translate :

- Quality compost composition suitable for potting and repotting of all green and flowering house plants
- Contains lava and coconut fibers for sustainable aerated structure, a better distribution of water and healthy roots
- Contains sufficient fertilizer for balanced growth for 100 days

Last note : In the bottom of the cachepot i have another small plate with clay pebbles with a bit of water were the plant pot is sitting.

The pictures :

I have grown many plant in a Hydroton/soil mix and my plants were much happier. The only reason why I haven't recently is I am too lazy to go out and find some and I didn't like the look of the large clay pellets in the soil. Look at Tapla's soil threads, a lot of his mixes had Turface MVP which is a smaller clay pellet than Hydroton.

Ok the soil looks way too dense. It needs a lot of work to make it acceptable for any houseplant. The lava is a good idea, but there are much better additives than that to put in a soil mix. If you have that much Hydroton have you considered growing it semi hydro in the Hydroton? The plant would probably do much better. I would also consider opening the blinds so it can get a bit more light.

Hello,

My plant continue to collapse :( this happend this morning.. ( see picture below )

Please, should i remove the clay pebbles from the bottom of the pot ? Also should i repot the plant ? I know it isn't the ideal period to do that i guess but i don't see any other option.

Mentha, about the store they aren't close, the way i incline them let light direct to the plant. With that inclinaison the plant get the most light.

Please, any advise about my plant situation would be welcome.

Those are leaves not stems. Here is a link to a GW thread I started years ago on them. There is a lot of information here. They tend to be very finicky about their watering and any offense and they begin losing leaves. I hope this can help more than I can since I probably lost the plant do to erring on the side of caution.

Hello Mentha,

I tought that those were more branches than leaves, sorry.

I'll ready carefully your thread. But you agree to say that those leaves drops aren't normal right ?

Also would you recommend me to repot the plant and see if there is any moisture and also remove those clay pebbles as stella suggest ?

The clay pellets are not harming anything as long as they are not directly under the pot. I would also wait until closer to spring to repot it. They do not like their roots touched much, and now is not the best time to be messing with them since you don't want to encourage more growth until it can sustain it. Just let it dry out until almost dry then water. Keep a wooden stick and push it in the soil, if it comes out dry, water, if it comes out darker or with soil attached, wait longer. Let the water run off and drain any cache pots or trays. When you do repot, repot into clay. This will help the soil dry out faster and give better circulation to the roots.

You said " The clay pellets are not harming anything as long as they are not directly under the pot."

When you say under the pot you mean a clay tray were the pot sit on or the clay inside in the bottom of the pot ?

under the pot, not in the pot.

I have a clay tray under the pot, so you advise me to remove it ? Also why this is not recommended ?

Because if the roots are never given a change to dry they can't get oxygen & will likely die. As Mentha said earlier, it's sort of drowning.

Maybe I misunderstood, but I thought you said they were clay balls at the bottom INSIDE the pot (below the mix) as well which would make it more unlikely to ever dry out.

Hi lmontestella,

You didn't misunderstood, there is clay balls inside the pot below the soil and there is a clay tray were the pot sit on.

So should i try to remove the clay balls from inside below the soil and the clay tray as well ?