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tbee89

Cordyline Kiwi plant help!

4 years ago

So I was gifted a Cordyline Kiwi plant that unfortunately seems to not be doing well :(


I am unsure if this is due to it not being kept in incorrect conditions or if it is possibly sick?


any thoughts / advise would be greatly appriecated! 🌱







Comments (2)

  • 4 years ago

    it looks like the media is so dry.. its shrunken from the side of the pot ... and that probably isnt good ... it needs a good soak ... and i mean that literally .. soak the whole pot in a pan of water.. until ALL the media is moistened... and then note how heavy the pot is.. and dont water again .. until the pot loses half its water weight ...


    it also appears you have mineral buildup on the surface of the media... so a repot with new media is probably called for.. in the future ...


    your plant is severely stressed.. start watering it properly.. and give it a few months to recover .. and then .. and only them.. consider re-stressing it with a repot ...


    ken

  • 4 years ago

    Not enough information to diagnose what afflicts the plant. How long have you had the plant? On average, how long between waterings? When you water, are you making sure the entire soil mass is soaked? Have you fertilized it? If yes, describe what you used and how you went about it. Flushing the soil when you water and allowing the medium to dry down to nearly dry will fix the mineral deposits on the soil's surface - no need to repot.

    It's best to use a 'tell' to 'tell you when it's time to water. Proper moisture management is an essential part of keeping your plants at a high level of vitality.

    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