slurpee
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indoor plant dying

Hello everyone. I garden sometimes with my mom and we have a plant (haven't identified yet) inside that keeps loosing leaves. Some of them turn brown while some remain green on the same stem. We don't know what the problem is. It has a large container, is watered adequately, and gets sunlight every day. Does anyone know if this is a disease or something else?
Thanks
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rainbowgardener
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It is a schefflera or umbrella tree and it is looking very sad. It should look more like this:

Image
https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/x/scheffle ... 735459.jpg

Yours is pale and yellowed and sparse, not nearly as leafy as it should be. The yellow leaves with the brown markings could be diseased, but I'm thinking it may be starting to get diseased now because it is in a weakened condition, which makes it vulnerable.

You said watered adequately, what does that mean? How do you water and how often? It could be over watered, which would also mean that nutrients are being flushed out of the container. You didn't mention fertilizing. They are heavy feeders. Have you been fertilizing it? How long has it been in that pot and have you ever re-potted it? They also benefit greatly from daily misting.

(Incidentally, welcome to the forum :) ! Hope we can be helpful to you. It always helps to tell us where you are. Hardly any garden questions, even indoor ones, can be answered without reference, to location, climate, ambient temps, etc. )

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ElizabethB
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Slurpee - Welcome to the forum.

It looks like the pot you plant is in is an insert in the ornamental pot. When you water - do you remove the insert and allow it to drain completely after watering? Is there water in the ornamental pot? If you water with the plant in the ornamental pot or water has collected in it that is part of your issue.

Try repotting your plant. Get a larger pot - one size up- with good drainage. Gently remove your plant. Inspect the soil. If it is wet and has an odor very gently rinse the soil off of the roots. Inspect the roots. If the roots are wrapped around the root ball gently loosen them. If the roots are mushy - root rot - trim them.

Re-pot in fresh soil. If you insert the plant pot in an ornamental pot make sure to remove it when you water. Allow it to drain completely before returning it to the ornamental pot. Never allow water to collect. Give the roots time to recover before feeding - 6 to 8 weeks. You may want to try a slow release fertilizer. Do read and follow the package directions for application.

As RBG pointed out it may have become diseased due to it's weakened condition. Hope fully you can salvage the plant.

Good luck

BTW - let the soil dry between watering. Make sure it is getting the correct light - bright, indirect sunlight. Avoid drafts from A/C or heater vents.

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rainbowgardener
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Good eye, Elizabeth! I hadn't spotted that about the cache pot. You may just have nailed it!

slurpee
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Thanks for responding. I answered some ?s below but we usually repot the plant often (as in 2-3x a year, I think). Do you guys know if it's best to try repotting a healthier plant or try and save this one?

RGB:
We water ~3 cups (2-3X a week)

We actually just refertizilied the pot - using miraclegro (idk which one it was) - since my mom didnt like the previous one.

We live in Charlotte, NC. It is hot right now but the plant is not near any vents. Also there is little to no humidity in the house if that helps somehow.

Elizabeth:
Good eye on the pot inserted into the big one. I have not chrcked if water accumulates into external pot after watering. I'm considering adding rot resistant wood on the bottom so water can pool into the external one.
We havent considered potting te plant into the big external pot since it would take a whole bag of fertiziler, which is why mom put an insert into the big pot in the first place.

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ElizabethB
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Slurpee - no do not put stuff in the bottom of the external pot and let water sit. Remove the plant from the decorative pot for watering. Allow the soil to dry between watering. When you water - water thoroughly and let all of the excess water drain before returning it to the holder. You are definitely over watering. You need to change the soil and trim soggy roots even if you repot in the same pot it is in. Wash the pot before repotting. The pot is not huge so you will only need a small bag of all purpose potting soil - no more than 1 cubic foot (less but just keep the excess for later) Don't plant in the decorative pot - it has no drainage.

Re-pot - replace soggy soil and trim soggy roots
water only when dry and allow to drain
no fertilizer until the plant has recovered - Schefflera do not need a lot of fertilizer - once a year is plenty
If lack of humidity is an issue mist daily

Sorry about repeating myself but you seemed to have missed the point the first go round - you are drowning your plant! :( It needs ICU care. Even then it may die. :cry:

Good luck

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rainbowgardener
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Use more water, but less often. My houseplants get watered twice a month, but they are watered very thoroughly so that all the soil in the pot is moistened. Pour water through until it is running out the drain holes, let it drain (NOT in the cache pot) and then do it again. Let it drain and only when no more water is coming out, put it back in the cache pot.



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