too much water vs grow in the water?

I have this dumb cane which when I first got it, I just put it in a cup of plain water, and put it under a lamp, it actually grew really well with a lot of roots in the water.

Then one day I transferred it to a pot, now it is almost dead due to too much water or whatever the reason maybe.

So my question is, how come it can grow in the water, but not when there is too much water in the soil?

The roots grow somewhat differently in water than they do in soil, so when you try to transplant from water into soil you can sometimes run into problems. I've never tried moving something from water into soil so hopefully someone else will know what the tricks are to be successful.

Sounds like maybe you're watering it too much.

I think your only hope is to stop watering it until the soil is dry and continue to do that. When a plant is growing in water, the roots are extremely fine. In soil, the roots are tougher. Your plant is likely in transition from the very fine roots it developed in the water to more substantial roots suitable for soil. It may make it and it may not. I have no idea why people insist on putting coleus and other plants in water instead of putting them directly in soil. If someone is into hydroponics, great, but they don't move plants back and forth from water to soil. Unless you intend to LEAVE the plant in water, it is always best to root it in a planting mix.

Youngman, when your plant was rooting in the water, it also had some oxygen/air around the roots, now you have planted it into soil, the roots will be having a tough time trying to get air and moisure from the potting mix, plus nutrients, because it rooted well in water dont mean it is a water plant, you can root lots of plants this way but they need ordinary growing conditions once they are in soil, water plants are different in as much as some want just moist soil, others like wet boggy soil, others want wet soil but not with the roots under water, these type of plants get their nutrients from the other stuff that in in the stream, pond or lake, so they are a different bread of plants all together, your cane will want watered as and when the soil needs it, but not sitting in waterlogged soil. hope this makes some sense to you. good luck. WeeNel.

The reason that I tried to grow it in water, it is because i was traveling at that time. So it would be hard to take that dumb cane with me all the time in a pot. And it actually survived for a few years until last winter when I tried to give it a little more sun by putting it outside under direct sunlight. It struggled for a long time, now it is almost dead.

Anyway, interesting answers, I didn't know that plants need air in the soil before.

My mom always started things in water, and then transplanted them to soil--perhaps not a great idea, but if you're wondering why someone would do that--I would because my mom did (until I figured out it didn't work, anyway...)

how's that for a not very good reason? ;-)

That was the way it was done a generation or two ago. That was the accepted advice at the time.

Ravenlyn, you made me laugh with your comment about your Mum, when my kids were small and I was asking them to tidy away their toys because it was bath time, they always said, "why do we have to tidy away the toys" my reply was always "because I'm your mother and I told you so" so no other explanations required, ha, ha, ha. WeeNel.