Hello there fellow plant people, this is my cherished and extremely sentimental Lambs Ear plant, it was thriving once and then I had to leave it in care of someone else and the season changed from winter to summer before I could return to it.
I live in Perth western Australia and we do get some humid days in the midst of summer but mostly 30-35 degree celsius average day in the middle of summer with low to medium humidity.
When I came back to it, it was in very poor condition and I unfortunately pulled heaps of the dead leaves off before I took it to my local bunnings and they said to cut off not pull off leaves. So I cut off with small scissors a lot of the dead and dying leaves, which lead to the first photo.
Over the next week I cut off any leaves that went brown or yellow which led to the next photo where it is now.
I tried to cover the center of the plant with soil as it seemed some of the stems were going brownish on the outside, which I think happened from leaving it in the sun after watering it the night before.
I didn't give it too much water, probably 200-400ml'ish of water and it's a very good drainage pot.
I read something in a forum about cutting it near the base to make it sprout two new shoots? But I'm nervous to hack away at my baby.
So I thought it was time to hit the forums and get some more experienced advice as this plant means a lot to me.
I like the sound of cutting it back to sprout new shoots but I don't know how to go about it, or if that's the best thing to do from where it is now to back to good health, I even considered getting a inside UV light and doing some funky hydronics setup or something to stimulate winter for it...
Please help :'(
-
applestar
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- Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)
Is this Stachys? I’m sorry to say that doesn’t look good.
I have some growing outside in the ground, and truth-to-tell, to me, they have been indestructible.
Based on they way mine behaves, I would guess the following—
* They are extremely drought tolerant and loves a lot of light/sun, and at least the ones I have are also winter hardy to negative single digits °F
* What they don’t like are water on their leaves - soak right up and then takes long time to dry- including heavy rainfall and high humidity. They ca get powdery mildew then (although the naturally silvery foliage makes it difficult to see the signs) and leaves turn brown and mushy or dried up.
— I honestly don’t know if yours can be saved, but I would treat for fu gal disease with lime. I think they prefer alkaline soil that doesn’t have too much fertilizer.
— My usual method for seriously affected furry leaves plants is to just dust them with straight ground/powdered dolomitic lime. Having an oscillating fan on a timer blowing on those stems might help too.
— It would probably help to water from the bottom rather than top u til the stems show signs of healing and turning around. With the size of the container you have, I would plunge in a tub of water that comes up to about 1/3 way up, let soak up for about 20~30 minutes, then allow to drain completely. Don’t let sit in water for longer.
— Heft this thoroughly watered container to get the feel for the weight, then don’t water again until it feels lighter.
— Are you keeping this plant inside the house? I recommend strong artificial supplemental light or filtered direct sunlight for at least 8 hrs.
* Another thought — They are also subject to red spider mites. Have you checked them for signs of infestation?
I have some growing outside in the ground, and truth-to-tell, to me, they have been indestructible.
Based on they way mine behaves, I would guess the following—
* They are extremely drought tolerant and loves a lot of light/sun, and at least the ones I have are also winter hardy to negative single digits °F
* What they don’t like are water on their leaves - soak right up and then takes long time to dry- including heavy rainfall and high humidity. They ca get powdery mildew then (although the naturally silvery foliage makes it difficult to see the signs) and leaves turn brown and mushy or dried up.
— I honestly don’t know if yours can be saved, but I would treat for fu gal disease with lime. I think they prefer alkaline soil that doesn’t have too much fertilizer.
— My usual method for seriously affected furry leaves plants is to just dust them with straight ground/powdered dolomitic lime. Having an oscillating fan on a timer blowing on those stems might help too.
— It would probably help to water from the bottom rather than top u til the stems show signs of healing and turning around. With the size of the container you have, I would plunge in a tub of water that comes up to about 1/3 way up, let soak up for about 20~30 minutes, then allow to drain completely. Don’t let sit in water for longer.
— Heft this thoroughly watered container to get the feel for the weight, then don’t water again until it feels lighter.
— Are you keeping this plant inside the house? I recommend strong artificial supplemental light or filtered direct sunlight for at least 8 hrs.
* Another thought — They are also subject to red spider mites. Have you checked them for signs of infestation?