Dying House Plant - Ask Extension
Can you help me with this house plant? The leaves are slowly dying. At first it seemed like the roots weren’t reaching to moist soil (the first al...
Knowledgebase
Dying House Plant #789473
Asked May 05, 2022, 4:03 PM EDT
Can you help me with this house plant? The leaves are slowly dying. At first it seemed like the roots weren’t reaching to moist soil (the first all around the roots were really dry) so I watered the soil in a pot that has drainage propped within a larger pot. I cut off the one wilted leaf. However, the plant still doesn’t look great. Do you have any suggestions?
Prince George's County Maryland
Expert Response
This appears to be either a Dieffenbachia (also called Dumb Cane) or Aglaonema (also called Chinese Evergreen). They are related to each other and can have similar foliage, so it's hard to tell them apart with this little growth left. They require similar care, however.
Given how weakened the plant is with one remaining leaf, it's probably simpler to replace the plant instead of trying to rehabilitate it. Both of the above species are not very tolerant of soggy soil, so accidental overwatering is a possibility. Moisture meters are sometimes unreliable when it comes to determining when a potted plant needs water. Drought stress is another possibility if it was underwatered for a time, though it's easier for a plant to recover from this than from overwatering.
Does its pot have drain holes? It sounds like you're saying it does, but we aren't certain. If so, does it sit inside this larger pot or on top of a saucer that collects the drained water? When this happens, the soil in the bottom of the pot's drain holes can reabsorb some of that extra drained water and this oversaturation can effectively suffocate roots. If you're saying you've propped-up the plant so it doesn't touch this collected water, then this may not be an issue.
When the plant is watered, it is given a thorough drenching? Potted plants should be watered well enough so that the excess freely drains out of the bottom of the pot. This way, you know all of the soil has been moistened so no pockets of dry roots remain. Instead of the meter, try testing the soil moisture by touch. We suggest feeling the soil about a full finger's depth down into the pot and watering when it's fairly dry to the touch at that depth. Then, let the soil "breathe" and dry out a bit before watering again. As a very rough guess, because drying rate depends on a variety of factors, we'd estimate a pot this size may need watering once a week; probably even less now that it has hardly any foliage.
When you mention that the leaves were slowly dying, what symptoms did they exhibit? (For the future, it helps to try to diagnose a plant when symptoms first appear, because intervention may not be possible after a condition stresses a plant for too long.) Were entire leaves yellowing and then browning, or just the leaf tips turning brown and dry? Were the youngest leaves at the top of the stem dying first, or were the lower, older leaves near the base of the stem dying first? These patterns can help determine which conditions may have been bothering the plant: too much water, too little water, humidity that's too low, or water quality that the plant is sensitive to.
For now, if you wish to keep the plant, just give it time to see if it recovers. The growth of new foliage may be slow. Keep monitoring it for watering needs and give it in moderate light (within a few feet of a sunny window or directly in front of a more shaded or eastern/northern-facing window). If it recovers, you may want to repot it into one pot size larger (perhaps 1-2" wider in diameter) if you find the roots have started to circle around the inside of the pot. When repotting, try to remove most of the old soil and replace it with fresh potting mix, because over time, aging potting soil tends to dry out too slowly. Additionally, many tropical houseplants are less stressed when grown outdoors during the summer months, where they can enjoy better airflow and high humidity. In this case, you would put this plant in shade because direct sunlight outdoors would be too intense, and bring it inside when overnight temperatures are around the mid-50s or cooler. (Given our current temperatures, you may want to wait until late May.)
Miri
Given how weakened the plant is with one remaining leaf, it's probably simpler to replace the plant instead of trying to rehabilitate it. Both of the above species are not very tolerant of soggy soil, so accidental overwatering is a possibility. Moisture meters are sometimes unreliable when it comes to determining when a potted plant needs water. Drought stress is another possibility if it was underwatered for a time, though it's easier for a plant to recover from this than from overwatering.
Does its pot have drain holes? It sounds like you're saying it does, but we aren't certain. If so, does it sit inside this larger pot or on top of a saucer that collects the drained water? When this happens, the soil in the bottom of the pot's drain holes can reabsorb some of that extra drained water and this oversaturation can effectively suffocate roots. If you're saying you've propped-up the plant so it doesn't touch this collected water, then this may not be an issue.
When the plant is watered, it is given a thorough drenching? Potted plants should be watered well enough so that the excess freely drains out of the bottom of the pot. This way, you know all of the soil has been moistened so no pockets of dry roots remain. Instead of the meter, try testing the soil moisture by touch. We suggest feeling the soil about a full finger's depth down into the pot and watering when it's fairly dry to the touch at that depth. Then, let the soil "breathe" and dry out a bit before watering again. As a very rough guess, because drying rate depends on a variety of factors, we'd estimate a pot this size may need watering once a week; probably even less now that it has hardly any foliage.
When you mention that the leaves were slowly dying, what symptoms did they exhibit? (For the future, it helps to try to diagnose a plant when symptoms first appear, because intervention may not be possible after a condition stresses a plant for too long.) Were entire leaves yellowing and then browning, or just the leaf tips turning brown and dry? Were the youngest leaves at the top of the stem dying first, or were the lower, older leaves near the base of the stem dying first? These patterns can help determine which conditions may have been bothering the plant: too much water, too little water, humidity that's too low, or water quality that the plant is sensitive to.
For now, if you wish to keep the plant, just give it time to see if it recovers. The growth of new foliage may be slow. Keep monitoring it for watering needs and give it in moderate light (within a few feet of a sunny window or directly in front of a more shaded or eastern/northern-facing window). If it recovers, you may want to repot it into one pot size larger (perhaps 1-2" wider in diameter) if you find the roots have started to circle around the inside of the pot. When repotting, try to remove most of the old soil and replace it with fresh potting mix, because over time, aging potting soil tends to dry out too slowly. Additionally, many tropical houseplants are less stressed when grown outdoors during the summer months, where they can enjoy better airflow and high humidity. In this case, you would put this plant in shade because direct sunlight outdoors would be too intense, and bring it inside when overnight temperatures are around the mid-50s or cooler. (Given our current temperatures, you may want to wait until late May.)
Miri
