Help with Otocanthus, Please

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DallasDad Murphy, TX(Zone 8a) Apr 17, 2008

I have an Otocanthus 'Little Boy Blue' plant. It's been doing okay for the past six months, but has started dropping bottom leaves. The stems have grown long and spindly, with plenty of new, vigorous growth at top. Leaves nearer the base, however, turn brown and drop off.

I thought perhaps the plant wasn't getting enough water (the dying leaves were kind of crispy/crinkly), so I increased its water a bit. Now the leaves are still dying, but instead of being brown and crispy, they're brown and soggy. The soil is only moderately moist, never dry, never soggy.

What am I doing wrong?

Too much water? Not enough water? Too much light? Not enough light? Too much fert? Not enough fert? I wish these darned things came with readouts on the stem.

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barhea7 (Bre) Sellersville, PA(Zone 7a) Apr 17, 2008

If there is new growth at the top I wouldnt worry. Alot of plants loose their bottom leaves during growth.
good luck!

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ecrane3 Dublin, CA(Zone 9a) Apr 17, 2008

Although Plant Files says these plants do like to be kept moist, brown soggy leaves falling off is a telltale sign of overwatering to me. So I'd back off a bit on the water, maybe try a happy medium between what you were doing initially and what you're doing now and see if that helps. I used to have one of these and I let it dry out somewhat in between waterings and it did fine so I think they can handle being a little more on the dry side than you have them now. Unfortunately I didn't have mine long enough to get a feel for how they grow, lose leaves, etc so I can't help you too much on that. If you could post a picture that would also be helpful--as barhea said plants do sometimes lose their bottom leaves, but depending on how yours is looking it could be there's something else going on that's making it lose more than it ought to normally.

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DallasDad Murphy, TX(Zone 8a) Apr 17, 2008

I'll try to get some photos. I repotted it this morning in a faster-draining mixture. The roots looked fine.

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