can you please advise waht this plant is and what have i done so wrong to make it look like this? when i bought it a few months back it was healthy and thriving well. it was position on my landing. the leaves started to wilt and go brown so i moved it and gave it less water. have i killed this plant off?
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Hi Monkey, it looks like you have either over watered, not watered enough or the plant is in too hot and dry an atmosphere, the leaves look a bit parched and are falling through lack of water and moisture in the room, the best way to test for watering needs is, stick your finger into the soil, if it feels dry, the plant requires water, if moist, then wait a while before watering, also have you fed this plant, it is rather a large foliage plant to be in a smallish pot, that causes the roots to use up all the good soil and the plant gets starved of nutrients it needs to make new leaves and stay green, if it has been in the same pot for a few years, then maybe it just needs the soil around the roots refreshed and add a liquid feed when you give some water, about half dose will be enough till it picks up and starts to grow again, but I think after you re pot it, the yellow leaves will need cut off down to the base. hope this helps you out a bit. good luck. WeeNel.
Hey Monkey, it looks like you either have a dumcane (dieffenbachia) or a chinese evergreen (Aglaonema) but I can't be positive with that picture. but in either case it looks like it has root rot or some bacteria on the roots whidh both are very susceptible to either condition usaly from over watering. It doesn't look quite right for dry or hot atmosphere but I do agree with WeeNel that you should repot it and when you do this if you see any rot try to cut it off. After it is potted wait a few months before you fertilize it becuase it needs to get esablished in its new pot and to much stress can set it back severly or comepletly kill it. Somthing that I would do when I was repotting would be to take one of the stacks that have the most leaves gone and make leaf bud cutings and start a few new plants that way if for some reason unknown the plant completly dies you will still have a plant hopfuly this helps a little.
I think you have a Calathea (possibly C. zebrina?), and I agree that it was either over or underwatered - strange, but true, the symptoms are often the same.
It looks more like overwatering to me, by the way the leaves have yellowed at the base (where the stem and leaf meet).
You stated that you had it on 'your landing'...what kind of lighting was it receiving there?
I ask because I wonder if it were receiving enough light as well.
Nan, I wholeheartedly agree with you that this is a Calathea.
They really require a lot of humidity, but not excessive water.
A totally unprofessional way for a beginner to test and see if it is, indeed, a Calathea-would be to try pinch off, or pull off a dying leaf.
It's almost impossible to do, without ripping the plant out of the pot.
Sasha
