My desert rose bloomed beautifully earlier this summer, but it started to lose leaves about a month ago. The plant is on the south side of the house, getting full sun from morning to late afternoon. It looks sickly now, and has stopped blooming. The leaves turn yellow first and then fall off. At this rate, there won't be any leaves left. Can somebody tell me what is wrong with it? Many thanks!
I would tend to suspect too much water--it could be other things but these plants don't need a lot of water, and yellowing leaves that eventually fall off is one of the symptoms of overwatering. Also, does your pot have a drainage hole? Can't tell from the picture obviously but it looks like one of those more decorative pots that often don't have drainage, and that'll be a killer for sure with a plant like this that doesn't like to be too wet (although it's still plenty easy to overwater them even if there is a drainage hole)
The fact that these plants are caudiciform is a dead giveaway that they can easily be overwatered. Caudiciform plants have the capacity to store large amounts of water between rare rains in their native habitats.
I'm sure you like the decorative pot it's in, but it would help if it were in an unglazed terra cotta pot, preferably an "azalea" pot, one that is wider than it is tall. I'd make sure the drainage hole is unobstructed, and not put any kind of saucer under it unless the saucer is completely dry at all times. How often you water it depends on the temperatures and humidity where it sits, but it sounds like it is being overwatered. When it is watered, it should be put in a sink or some place where the water can run freely out the drain hole, and a thorough watering will hold it for quite a while. After a day of draining it can be put back where it belongs.
You didn't mention fertilizer, but plants that are seldom watered require less fertilizer more infrequently than those that are watered often.
Thank you for the advice. No wonder why fungicide and bug sprays have not worked :-( When I first bought the plant, I read about it online. Later on, the only thing I remembered was that it wouldn't survive the winter in Maryland. I started to treat it as a tropical plant by watering it just about everyday. The soil is wet/moist all the time :-) . I should have known from its name that it could not be watered so much :-(
The pot does have a drainage hole, and there is no saucer under it. The pot is very shallow, about 6" deep and 15" in diameter. Our summer temperature this year was between high 80s and mid 90s, but it has cooled down to mid 80s since last week. I have fertilized the plant a couple of time, but not regularly. I might have thrown in a handful of slow release fertilizer.
I will reduce the amount of water, and let the soil dry out between watering. Will get a new pot, maybe the type people use for cacti.
The plant looks pretty sad now, a lot worse than it appeared in the photo. There are still a lot of flower buds, but I don't know if they will open or if they will fall off. Would the leaves grow back? Do I need to cut the branches back? The plant is not big, only about 15" tall. Should I leave it alone and see what happens next spring?
Thanks.
A lot depends on how badly the roots have been damaged--if it's able to recover then it will grow new leaves. Chances are you'll probably lose out on most of the flower buds that are there now, but if it gets healthy again it should make new ones. If the soil is still really wet, you might consider repotting as soon as you can into some drier soil. When you pull it out of the pot, if there are any brown mushy looking roots trim those off since they're rotten (hopefully you still have some healthy looking roots too). Then I like to swish the roots in some dilute hydrogen peroxide (or some people use chamomile tea) which will help kill fungus, then put it into some nice fresh potting mix in a new pot (or if you re-use the old one, I'd make sure to clean it out with bleach or alcohol before putting the plant back in).
Thank you ecrane. I will re-pot it this weekend.
Mine has the same problem and we have had lots of rain. So over watering is diffinately the problem.
I finally had to move it under cover to keep the rain out, but keep the sun in. Very tricky situation, but the good news is it does come back.
