Small gardenia in container as gift - what's wrong with it?

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ufpspock Woodridge, IL May 16, 2012

I got a small potted gardenia (8" pot, maybe?) sent to me as a gift from a friend. It seems to have something wrong with it. I thought maybe it was due to some sort of stress encountered during shipping, but I've had it a month and it still is unhappy.

I first noticed that the buds were dropping, but then I looked closer and I saw that there are leaves turning brown and dropping off, too. Some buds look OK right now, but nothing has looked like buds were trying to open at all (and there were some good-sized buds on it when I got it last month).

I haven't watered it in the whole month and the potting medium still feels damp to me.

Does this plant need a bigger pot?
Is it too wet (and if so, what can I do other than just wait for it to dry out...)?
Is there a disease at work here?

I don't have a picture of the whole plant right now, since it's at the office and I just brought home a couple buds to post pictures. If you think a whole plant picture would help, I can get one of those too.

Thanks so much for any ideas!

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ecrane3 Dublin, CA(Zone 9a) May 16, 2012

If you haven't watered it in a month and the soil's still wet, you need soil that drains better. Or...does your pot have a drainage hole? If not you ought to drill some. Also, since it's at the office, is there any chance other people are watering it? Or pouring their extra coffee in it, etc? Even with poor draining soil it seems odd that it would still be wet after a month.

Post #9126702
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ufpspock Woodridge, IL May 17, 2012

I don't think anyone else is doing anything to it. I can certainly try re-potting it to some drier medium.

But do the photos look consistent with water-logged roots? Or is something else going on?

Post #9127654
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ecrane3 Dublin, CA(Zone 9a) May 17, 2012

There seems to be some white stuff in your pictures that could be related to an insect issue, but buds/leaves turning yellow/brown and falling off is consistent with overwatering and the fact that it's been a month and the soil still feels damp seems like you've got some sort of drainage issue going on. But there certainly could be other problems on top of that. It would be nice if you could get some pictures of the whole plant (including the pot so that someone can comment on whether or not the pot is the right size as you asked in your original post--that's impossible to say without seeing it).

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