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Philodendron advice needed

10 years ago

I got this philodendron selloum (that's what it is, right?) a couple months ago at the beginning of the summer. It appeared to be rootbound so I immediently took it out of its nursery pot and potted it up to this plastic container. It was that much bigger, only about two inches larger at most. I made the mistake of not removing the soil from the roots.

Adter the first time I watered I lost a leaf to what I assumed was rot. The soil looked very wet and was still looking bad a week later. I may have lost another leaf too, so I figured I did something wrong. And after some research I decided I needed to take the plant out and bare root it. I cut away any roots that looked rotted (most were okay though) and I let the plant dry out outside in the shade a bit.

I repotted it with cactus and succulent mix with added perlite. And didn't water it for a while. It was doing well baby leaves popped up from the bottom and a few new shoots came up too.

I watered it the other day when the pot had almost completely dried out. A day later a larger leaf had collapsed and looked rotted at the base.

Should I be concerned?

The baby leaves. Taken about a month ago, they're about double in size now.

Thanks in advanced for any advice!

Comments (6)

  • 10 years ago

    I'll also add, I thought I might had had it in too big of a pot so I got what I thought was a slightly smaller terracotta pot today. But when I got home it turns out it was basically the same size. I know terracotta is preferable because it is permeable. But I don't want to repot it in a pot that is too large not fixing the problem, if that is in fact something of concern.

  • 10 years ago

    I am no expert, but I do have a question. When you water it, do you water it in the sink? Is the water coming out the bottom okay? I've had times in the past when my mix was okay, but something went wrong in the pot and blocked the drainhole. So I would stick a finger up the drain hole and try to dislodge what was blocking. (Once, this happened just from me using 2 layers of that drywall net stuff, instead of one. Also, newspaper has caused problems for me. There are lots of ways to be wrong, ime. ; ) I always seem to find new ones!)

    Because your mix sounded fine to me. If you stick around here, you will probably start putting everything in what we call 5-1-1... but I would hope that something that is sold as cactus mix shouldn't be too heavy.

    And you're obviously trying not to over-water, which is what most people do wrong. So, if it's not a drainage issue, I'm stumped. Plus, frankly, your plant looks pretty wonderful!

  • 10 years ago

    If the soil isn't going to cause the roots to suffocate and rot, letting it dry out isn't necessary, especially when the plant in question is one that needs to stay moist - like a Philodendron. Getting too dry would cause older leaves to be discarded.

  • 10 years ago

    Need2SeeGreen, I've been a lurker for a while so I've read a lot about the 5-1-1 and gritty mix. I actually have the some 5-1-1 mixed up now but I potted this plant before I had that. I'll definitely check the drainage hole for a blockage. I did water it in the sink and I think the water was draining out but I'm not positive. It's a pretty cheap plastic pot and the drainage holes are pretty small so it may be the pot. So maybe I need to repot to something better? I'm just not sure if the pot is too large.

    Tiffany, did you mean by "Getting too dry would cause older leaves to be discarded." The reason I was letting it dry out was be said it seems like I had over watered it in the beginning. There were gnats in the solid for a bit.

    Every time I water one leaf falls from rot, are you saying that could be because it dried out too much before?

  • 10 years ago

    I would listen to Tiffany, I don't have special philodendron knowledge. Maybe try to take a picture of the next leaf that falls, or is about to? Sorry I can't help.

  • 10 years ago

    No worries. I appreciate you trying!