I just got this plant at a yard sale 6 weeks ago. It is about 9' long and started out doing well. Slowly, the leaves are turning yellow and beginning to fall off. I had an other similar plant which I did the same exact thing to and almost killed it.
Does anyone have any idea what I am doing wrong? Also- I don't know what kind of plant it is so it's hard for me to do any research. Any assistance is appreciated-
My first guess in situations like this is overwatering, I think that's probably the #1 cause of houseplant death. I notice you've got a saucer underneath it, and that makes it even easier to overwater the plant (and it's not that hard to do in the first place!). When you water, you can leave the saucer under there for a few minutes to catch excess, but then you should go empty the saucer so that the plant's not standing in water. Also, before you water, you should stick your finger an inch or two down into the soil and see if the soil still feels moist. If it does, then hold off on the watering. The top of the soil can often look dry, but you stick your finger in there a little ways and it's much wetter. If the plant is overwatered, its roots start to rot, so the best thing to do is take it out of the pot and shake as much of the soil off as possible. Cut off any slimy rotten looking roots, then put the plant in a pot with some fresh potting soil. It wouldn't hurt to swish the roots around in some dilute hydrogen peroxide or chamomile tea, or use one of those when you water it, that'll help kill any fungus that's left in the roots.
Looks like Pothos: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/51451/
They like low light situations and not much water at all. You can actually cut it back and you should get new growth. You can also root the stems you cut off. I would take off all those yellow leaves and cut it back. Do not over water this plant. I have been growing the Pothos plant for years and even have some just growing in water! The stems you cut off you can root in water.
Thanks for the responses. I will cut it back and try to find a room with less light and post the results-
dont feel bad i kill catus... and every other plant i touch
Many years ago I couldn't keep any plant alive. I've been "into" house plants and gardening for 40 years now and have many, many plants! I figured out my problem .... I was watering things to death! Literally! Ecrane3 has really good advice in her above post. There are so many times when one of my plants looks bone dry, but when I stick my finger down into the soil it is very moist so I don't water. My plants seem to thrive on neglect anymore ... I only water the ones inside the house about every two weeks.
I also notice that you have plants sitting on the fireplace mantel. In the winter if you are using the fireplace that would not be a good place for them. Since heat rises, they would dry out very quickly.
Good luck with your Devil's Ivy plant. Keep us posted on how it's doing.
A couple of years ago, I seemed to kill everything. Over watering was mostly to blame. Lately though, I have been doing fairly well. I have about 30 houseplants and they have been interesting to watch and nurture. It seems that some plants are better suited to my "management" style and some are not (succulents).
I have already cleaned up the dead leaves and moved it in to one of the rooms least impacted by natural light. I really like the plant and hope it will turn the corner. Any advice if I choose to take a clipping on where I should clip? Also curious on what is recommended for making the transition from a clipping in water to soil? Thanks-
You can clip the stem just about anywhere. Do you see the little nodes/bumps along the stem? That is actually where the new roots form. So, if you want to grow stems and have them put out roots in water, just make sure some of those nodes are in the water. Or, you can just pot them in soil and just cover the nodes with soil. Before long you should see new little leaf shoots emerging.
Down here in Florida we see the Pothos growing outside, climbing up trees. The higher it climbs the larger the leaves get and the larger they get the leaves begin to split ... don't know the purpose of this unless it has something to do with letting light get to the stem. Check out this photo I found while googling:
http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/1137827657042496162qOIwWj
Well, I think I got you all beat! I managed to kill an artificial tree once! LOL! I put it on my porch because the cat thought the basket was a litterbox. After a couple of weeks on the porch, the leaves curled up as if the tree were dead.
Thank goodness my thumb has turned green in my "old age"!
:) **** Big Grin *****
It looks like a marble queen or golden pothos, and I think those can take some sunlight since they are variegated...I think it makes the variegation more pronounced. I have marble queen that I have outside right now. It gets maybe an hour or two of direct sunlight during the morning and has probably tripled in size since I put it out this spring and the variegation is much more pronounced. During the winter I had it inside where it got hardly any light, and it was all green....once I put it outside I have leaves that are almost completely white. You can take cuttings anywhere and root them in soil or water. I had some in vases of water this winter and it was pretty. They root extremely easily...and if I haven't killed mine yet, you won't either! ;) I bet you have been overwatering...I do that too....I've also been known to over-fertilize...all with good intentions. Hopefully I won't do that again! Good luck!
Kristie
I have 2 Golden Pothos plants and they both started to die until I moved them to a room where they have direct sunlight. Now they seem to grow a new leaf everyday. Some of the vines actually are like 1/2 inch think and the longest vine is about 45-50 feet. I have it going up the wall, all around the room, and across my ceiling. I absolutly love them. I recently had a bunch of leaves fall off but I think I was overwatering and thanks to all your posts, now I know not to overwater. Just wanted to say thanks:)
Yup, Pothos! Let it dry out between waterings. Bright light, no sun. I'd cut it back at the top of the yellowing.
I would bet it hasn't been repotted in ages. Keep something alive until spring then I would discard the original base and make rootings from the leafy parts. ( I've been through this.) When I researched I found that the commercial way is to root each nice leaf with its section of stem. I did that and got several nice sprouts started that all went into one pot and by the fall I had a much nicer plant.
