Care of "Blanket Stitch & Shamrock" plants

The blanket stitch & shamrock plants had larger green leaves when I acquired them from an elderly woman( now deceased).
The leaves are not as rich green or large. I tried putting them in larger pots, but they didn't like it.
How can I get them to look as green & healthy as she had them.
I had them on top of the fridge.

Tight roots can have a considerable effect on leaf size, as can nutrient deficiencies, particularly nitrogen. Lack of (green) vibrancy in the leaves can come as a result of several cultural conditions. Not enough light is one of the primaries, but the list of additional possibilities is long. Over-watering, tight roots, any of several nutritional deficiencies are all possible; along with possible pH issues that can arise as soils age; and insect predation is yet another possibility.

It's not unusual for Oxalis to be telling you it wants a rest. To rest and rejuvenate the plant, let it go dry & die back to the soil line. Put the plant in a cool dark spot to rest for a month or more. Bare root the plant & divide if you wish. Put it in a very fast draining soil you'll keep barely damp until the plant wakes up. When that occurs, fertilize and resume normal watering. (Fertilizers with NPK RATIOS of 3:1:2 are best. 'Ratio' is different than the NPK %s. 24-8-16, 12-4-8, and 9-3-6 are all common 3:1:2 ratios that supply nutrients in the ratio at which plants use them.)

Al

Hi Evelyn you did not say how long the plants have been in their pots, they are on top of the fridge but, how much light or sunlight does the plants get in that position, how often do you water them etc is all a good guide to many problems plant show as being stresses or in poor health for some other reason.
It is not a good idea to re-pot plants into pots that are way bigger than the previous pot, so as a rule I always suggest a new pot size no more than maybe 2 sizes larger, it is better to re-pot every year than every 2-3 years as the roots use up a lot of nutrients from the small amount of soil in pots rather than in the garden where there is plenty room for roots, nutrients, water etc, indoor plants rely on us to cater for their needs and out-door garden bedded plants have nature to help and us growers to just help where nature is failing.

Take into account that every time you are re-potting the plants you are sending little shock waves to the plants, they need time to resettle and make new roots before they want to make top growth, not always the case, sometimes top growth happens right away but most plants take several weeks to resettle.
Don't feed the plants right away after re-potting, let them settle for about a week then slowly add your preferred feed and make it half strength for a couple of weekly feeds, as you see the plants start to pick up then you can increase the strength of feed but, you must not exceed the amount given on the packet / bottle etc. don't have your plants sit in a saucer of water for long periods as this will just cause the roots to rot and this has an effect on the foliage, pour excess water away after maybe an hour or 2.
Another thought is that the top of the fridge might be warm which in turn warms the soil and this has a dehydrating effect on the foliage and the soil so maybe trying to find a better spot for the plants could help, I like to place my indoor plants into a bright lit area but away from hot direct sun through a window, other plants like dappled shaded light as they are used to natural shaded areas in their habitat.
It's really trial and error but when you see things begin to go wrong and you re-pot, feed, prune, water etc, don't expect instant results as a plant has to work to get water from the roots to travel up to the foliage or too much water the plant has to work hard to try shut down the flow of water to prevent the foliage from closing their cells down to prevent them yellowing, just be a bit more patient and I'm sure you will see a big difference.
Your trying all the right things to help save your plants except your expectations of how fast changes work is on overload so relax a bit and like all us gardeners, we have to learn patience ha, ha, ha, just enjoy and good luck. WeeNel.

When we repot, we aren't sending shock waves through the plant, but it does stimulate chemical messengers that circulate throughout the plant that tells the plant to concentrate on replacing any broken or damaged roots. This is actually a good thing because it rejuvenates the plant and causes more vigorous growth. Plants age differently than people. While we age chronologically, plants age ontogenetically, and their age is determined by the number of cell divisions that have occurred. I only mentioned that because tissues nearest the area where the stem/trunk separates into roots are the most vigorous and they retain that vigor for as long as the plant remains viable, which is why 'rejuvenation' pruning above ground rejuvenates the plant, and why cutting back roots close to the trunk does the same.

Many hobby growers erroneously feel it's 'taboo' to mess with roots, but that's very far from the reality. Simply potting up into increasingly larger pots limits a plants ability to grow to the same potential as it would, had the roots been pruned and the plant bare-rooted before it was repotted. There is a distinct difference between potting up and repotting. The former ensures a plant cannot have the opportunity to grow to its potential, and the latter ensures it can, within the limits of other cultural influences. We know that both growth and vitality begin to be negatively affected at about the time the root and soil mass can be lifted from the pot intact, so allowing a plant's roots to become more congested than at that pivotal point is limiting (growth/vitality).

When plants get too much water, they don't have to work hard to shut the flow of water off to the rest of the plant. The excess water in the root zone causes anoxic (airless) conditions that immediately limit root function and metabolism, so roots are unable to move water to the distal parts. When over-watered the plant actually exhibits the same drought response it exhibits when the plant is under-watered, not surprising since in both cases the response is resultant of not enough water reaching the leaves & branch tips of branching plants.

From something I posted on another thread:

Choosing an Appropriate Size Container
How large a container ‘can’ or ‘should’ be, depends on the relationship between the mass of the plant material you are working with and your choice of soil. We often concern ourselves with "over-potting" (using a container that is too large), but "over-potting" is a term that arises from a lack of a basic understanding about the relationship we will look at, which logically determines appropriate container size.

It's often parroted that you should only move up one container size when "potting-up". The reasoning is, that when potting up to a container more than one size larger, the soil will remain wet too long and cause root rot issues, but it is the size/mass of the plant material you are working with, and the physical properties of the soil you choose that determines both the upper & lower limits of appropriate container size - not a formulaic upward progression of container sizes. In many cases, after root pruning a plant, it may even be appropriate to step down a container size or two, but as you will see, that also depends on the physical properties of the soil you choose.

Plants grown in ‘slow’ (slow-draining/water-retentive) soils need to be grown in containers with smaller soil volumes so that the plant can use water quickly, allowing air to return to the soil before root issues beyond impaired root function/metabolism become a limiting factor. We know that the anaerobic (airless) conditions that accompany soggy soils quickly kill fine roots and impair root function/metabolism. We also know smaller soil volumes and the root constriction that accompany them cause plants to both extend branches and gain o/a mass much more slowly - a bane if rapid growth is the goal - a boon if growth restriction and a compact plant are what you have your sights set on.
Conversely, rampant growth can be had by growing in very large containers and in very fast soils where frequent watering and fertilizing is required - so it's not that plants rebel at being potted into very large containers per se, but rather, they rebel at being potted into very large containers with a soil that is too slow and water-retentive. This is a key point.

We know that there is an inverse relationship between soil particle size and the height of the perched water table (PWT) in containers. As particle size increases, the height of the PWT decreases, until at about a particle size of just under 1/8 inch, soils will no longer hold perched water. If there is no perched water, the soil is ALWAYS well aerated, even when the soil is at container capacity (fully saturated).

So, if you aim for a soil (like the gritty mix) composed primarily of particles larger than 1/16", there is no upper limit to container size, other than what you can practically manage. The lower size limit will be determined by the soil volume's ability to allow room for roots to ’run’ and to furnish water enough to sustain the plant between irrigations. Bearing heavily on this ability is the ratio of fine roots to coarse roots. It takes a minimum amount of fine rootage to support the canopy under high water demand. If the container is full of large roots, there may not be room for a sufficient volume of the fine roots that do all the water/nutrient delivery work and the coarse roots, too. You can grow a very large plant in a very small container if the roots have been well managed and the lion's share of the rootage is fine. You can also grow very small plants, even seedlings, in very large containers if the soil is fast (free-draining and well-aerated) enough that the soil holds no, or very little perched water.

I have just offered clear illustration that the oft repeated advice to ‘only pot up one size at a time’, only applies when using heavy, water-retentive soils. Those using well-aerated soils are not bound by the same restrictions.

Al

Thank you so much for your help. I will try and fine another place to keep these plants. Evelyn

Assuming your plant is Oxalis, it's a bulb that will go dormant when there's not enough light, or very cold temps. Pink ones are blooming like crazy in the area now. While growing it appreciates moderate moisture, but while dormant, excess moisture can cause rot. Outside in the sun and humidity would be best, when appropriate where you are.