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andrea_elhajj

Dwarf Shefflera leaves turning black/brown and dropping.

5 years ago

I have a large dwarf (hehe) shefflera tree who seems to be dropping a single leaf every 2 or 3 days for several weeks now. Before they drop, they turn a black/brown color. At the same time, this large plant is pushing out new growth like crazy. What's going on? I've attached a few pothos of examples of the fallen leaves.
My research is not telling me the issue... When I bought it, it was severely root bound and hardly had any soil. I repotted it (into a pot not way too much bigger) and gave it fresh soil. I also pruned it. I am careful not to overwater, but the soil seems to stay wet for a while (miracle grow potting mix). How can I save this fella? Overwatering is typically yellow... Is this blight? Underwatering? Thanks for your help.

Comments (2)

  • 5 years ago

    When you need help, it's best to post an image of the plant and pot in profile along with your other shots. Hold the camera even with the middle of the composition and shoot. It gives us a better sense of the relationship between the plant and pot.

    When your grow medium stays wet for an extended interval between waterings, you have a serious problem related to a hand too heavy on the watering can or an inappropriate medium, maybe both. MG products have a reputation for being extremely water-retentive, so it may well be that you cannot water correctly without it resulting in the grow medium staying soggy so long it wrecks root health or severely limits root function. Inappropriate media or watering practices can result in a very significant loss of your plant's potential in terms of growth, vitality (easily more than 75%) no matter how good you think the plant looks. If you're watering when the top inch or two of the soil is dry (or sooner) and the pot is more than 5" or so deep, there is a very high likelihood you're over-watering. You can correct the habit by using a wooden 'tell' to "tell" you when it's time to water.

    Using a 'tell'

    Over-watering saps vitality and is one of the most common plant assassins, so learning to avoid it is worth the small effort. Plants make and store their own energy source – photosynthate - (sugar/glucose). Functioning roots need energy to drive their metabolic processes, and in order to get it, they use oxygen to burn (oxidize) their food. From this, we can see that terrestrial plants need plenty of air (oxygen) in the soil to drive root function. Many off-the-shelf soils hold too much water and not enough air to support the kind of root health most growers would like to see; and, a healthy root system is a prerequisite to a healthy plant.

    Watering in small sips leads to avoid over-watering leads to a residual build-up of dissolved solids (salts) in the soil from tapwater and fertilizer solutions, which limits a plant's ability to absorb water – so watering in sips simply moves us to the other horn of a dilemma. It creates another problem that requires resolution. Better, would be to simply adopt a soil that drains well enough to allow watering to beyond the saturation point, so we're flushing the soil of accumulating dissolved solids whenever we water; this, w/o the plant being forced to pay a tax in the form of reduced vitality, due to prolong periods of soil saturation. Sometimes, though, that's not a course we can immediately steer, which makes controlling how often we water a very important factor.

    In many cases, we can judge whether or not a planting needs watering by hefting the pot. This is especially true if the pot is made from light material, like plastic, but doesn't work (as) well when the pot is made from heavier material, like clay, or when the size/weight of the pot precludes grabbing it with one hand to judge its weight and gauge the need for water.

    Fingers stuck an inch or two into the soil work ok for shallow pots, but not for deep pots. Deep pots might have 3 or more inches of soil that feels totally dry, while the lower several inches of the soil is 100% saturated. Obviously, the lack of oxygen in the root zone situation can wreak havoc with root health and cause the loss of a very notable measure of your plant's potential. Inexpensive watering meters don't even measure moisture levels, they measure electrical conductivity. Clean the tip and insert it into a cup of distilled water and witness the fact it reads 'DRY'.

    One of the most reliable methods of checking a planting's need for water is using a 'tell'. You can use a bamboo skewer in a pinch, but a wooden dowel rod of about 5/16” (75-85mm) would work better. They usually come 48” (120cm) long and can usually be cut in half and serve as a pair. Sharpen all 4 ends in a pencil sharpener and slightly blunt the tip so it's about the diameter of the head on a straight pin. Push the wooden tell deep into the soil. Don't worry, it won't harm the root system. If the plant is quite root-bound, you might need to try several places until you find one where you can push it all the way to the pot's bottom. Leave it a few seconds, then withdraw it and inspect the tip for moisture. For most plantings, withhold water until the tell comes out dry or nearly so. If you see signs of wilting, adjust the interval between waterings so drought stress isn't a recurring issue.

    Al

  • 5 years ago

    boy we are going thru a lot of posts with peeps having problems after using MG media ...


    how long ago was the repotting ... and why cant some random leaf fall be related to such?


    based on its current growth... i would say it currently happy.. and there isnt anything you need do ...


    water when the plant needs water.. let it near dry at root depth before watering again ...


    top down.. or nearly so pix.. of the plant.. are wonky on us interpreting them ...


    ken