Dying polka dot plant, help?!

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phoebes13 Regina, Canada Jan 05, 2015

I bought a new polka dot plant about 2 months ago, it stated to keep it in moderate light and moist. I transplanted into a new pot with good drainage and a regular miracle grow houseplant potting soil.
It's in a south facing with filtered sun (but we haven't been getting much of that since winter started), and keeping it moist.
Still it begun slowly been dropping leaves and has now dropped nearly all its leaves (turning black and falling off), except for a handful of new leaves coming at the very tip of the stem that look really healthy!
Any ideas on how to save it? Would putting a glass dome over top help at this point? Thanks!

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Diana_K Contra Costa County, CA(Zone 9b) Jan 05, 2015

The polka dot plant (Hypoestes phyllostachya) is a pretty forgiving plant. I generally keep them in bright light, and occasionally forget to water them, and they are fine.

Your leaves that are falling off:
Are they soft or mushy? Or are they crisp?
Soft suggests over watering, not letting the soil dry enough between watering.
Crisp suggests going too dry between watering.

A new pot sounds hopeful, they can grow quite fast. Drainage is important. Miracle Grow might hold a bit more water than they want, but has reasonable fertilizer.

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phoebes13 Regina, Canada Jan 05, 2015

They're crisp. I was going to try one of those glass watering bulbs, maybe that would help regulate how much water it's getting. I'm surprised as yes I did think they were pretty forgiving! Thanks :)

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purpleinopp Opp, AL(Zone 8b) Jan 06, 2015

These plants discard the older stems in the winter, and new basal growth will take over.

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