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peachy97

String of hearts : stem rot or dried up stem?

5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago

This is a new plant that i bought maybe 3 weeks ago. I noticed that the leaves were curling up and the soil was dry so I decided to water it yesterday. Today I noticed one string’s leaves were all curled up and dry so I checked the roots and I found that the stem had died. Is this caused by underwatering or overwatering? The soil mix very well draining with 50% pumice 40% peat moss and maybe 5% orchid bark and 5% worm compost. I would appreciate your help. Thank you!


Comments (3)

  • 5 years ago

    i dont understand your pic ... i cant tell what seems wrong to you ..


    new leaves often uncurl??????


    could we see a pic of the whole plant ...


    also.. its stressed ... moving from grower.. to seller.. to you in the last month .. adjusting to your house.. light.. humidity.. all the usual variables ... i would give it at least another month to settle down.. before i started worrying about 'new' problems ...


    its stressed not hungry.. fert is not a response ...


    what was your source for this plant.. that they used worm castings in the media???


    forgot to mention shipping as a stress.. and that may in fact be where the stem was damaged ... and unless it is the only stem... i wouldnt worry about it too much at this point ...


    ken

    Peat235 thanked ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
  • 5 years ago

    Sorry if the pic is confusing. So basically I found one strand all dried up and curled in comparison while the others are plump and healthy, So I decided to check the root and found that the stem near the root was all dried up as you can see in the picture ( the pink circle). So I decided to take it out but the roots detached while I was doing it so you cant see the roots in the picture and I can't find it. I was just wondering what might have caused this. This is my plant.


  • 5 years ago

    Since these types of plants are often propagated with multiple cuttings, it's possible that one strand just was never seated well in the soil or never fully developed good roots. So it never got enough water and the roots on that strand dried up. If the rest of the plant is healthy, I wouldn't worry too much about it. You can inspect the other strands at the base of the soil.

    Also, you may still be able to root that piece that came out. Remove the lower set of leaves and stick the strand in a small glass of water or dampened perlite. They develop roots fairly easily. If the leaves on it are still strong, you could propagate using the "butterfly method". This is what I did with the strands someone gave me recently.

    You can google it up. But basically, you cut the strand in pieces between each set of two leaves. Then lay them on top of some dampened soil or perlite and sort of push them down a bit to make contact. Wait. They will eventually start to grow. This was started about two months ago from a single strand that I cut up like that.

    Peat235 thanked popmama (Colorado, USDA z5)