Ok. Here's my problem! If any one has any tips please help me out - My father-in-law (who died of lung cancer about 4 yrs ago) gave me this beautiful philodendron for mother's day about 2 months before he died. This one day last summer my husband (darling that he is ) thought the plant looked like it needed a little sun...

Needless to say I have cooed and loved and nurtured several baby cuttings into some decent sized small plants. The initial leaves were big and shiny green and nice and thick. Now there is this white appearing "dust" on the top of the soil and the newest baby leaves are a more browny-green and significantly smaller. I water them gently every day. and the little pot they are in are (I don't think) too small.

I don't want them to die! Please help. I have 3 of them that seem to be having trouble...

Thanks!!!

I agree that overwatering and too much sun might be a problem. Mine seem happiest in low sun areas. Are you sure that the white deposit on top of the soil isn't just a lime deposit from your water supply? Have you been giving them plant food? Might be they need it, or need less if you have been feeding them. I have one philodendron that has the oddest habit--every year in late winter it starts losing alternate leaves. Every other one turns yellow and falls off. The rest of the leaves are very healthy. None of my others do this, so it seems to be a fluke for just this plant. So, you're not alone--even an extremely hardy plant can have problems!

I have several philo's now ....but years ago I did the same thing and toasted one...I cut all the poor, pathetic stems off and kept watering the plant as usual....low and behold that philo came back thicker than ever.

Wow you guys water every other day????
I water my houseplants probably once a week....and it is toasty warm in this house....when they just start to look stressed I fill the sink with water and set the whole pot in all the way to the top soil level...let it sit for about an hour...(okay sometimes I forget and they sit there for a couple hours ) then let them drain in the drain rack for about 1/2 hr. and place back on their plastic drain pans. For bigger plants that I can barely lift I heave them into a big metal washbasin and fill as much as possible with water....they will sit for probably 2 hours or more til the water wicks its way to the top and the soil is moist....then when its time to drain....I strain to pull them up far enough to place cups underneath and let them drain ....then place back into their drip pans....for the really, really heavy ones....well they get the water can once a week....but poured very slowly to soak up the moisture and then let the dripping go into the drip pan. After getting fungus gnats I really changed my water schedule.
Am I the only one who waters like this????


* * * *

Well i have tropical plants, and most of them need to be kept wet. So i water them every day. Mostly, i don't really have a set watering schedual. I go up stairs, and if something looks like it needs to be watered, then i water it. But ya ^.^ I water my ficus probably once every two weeks or so lol.

~Phoebe

* * * *
Nako's Webshots!