The plants I lost died out from the center. I thought perhaps the mass was holding too much moisture to those center roots.

ive been watering this plant by turning upside down into a bucket. Only submerging the leaves, pull it out, give it a shake and set it back on its shelf.

If it is too much water reduce the frequency...Or you could crack the original pot then do the pot in pot trick...

Sheila, the advice that might be applicable comes from a nursery in Queensland, Australia and is "water in the morning and the plants must be dry by nightfall".

Looked up the Climate for Texas USA and it a "place of extremes" and it seems to vary a lot as you go north from the Gulf.

Yes, I too was thinking about carefully breaking the pot. I have a very small wooden basket will probably put broken pot/plant into the basket.

Arthur, I'm about 60 mi north of the coast and yes our weather moves quickly from one extreme to another. Recently we've been having incredible rains and being ranchers we welcome them. Our land has NEVER been this lush and green, not even in springtime.

I think if you put the broken one in a larger clay pot with about 1 inch space or more between the old pot and the rim of the new pot will be optimum. Tolumnia seem to like the terra cotta. also in a wooden basket the void might be too large without a pot in pot.

I broke the thumb pot. Put the plant with several pottery pieces attached into a 4" basket lined with more broken pottery pieces. Hopefully it will be happy in its new home!