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Tue, Jan 15, 08 at 14:01
| I bought my bonsai tree for my office almost two years ago. Can't remember what kind I have, looks like it's possibly a money tree, but she did just fine with the flourescent lights. Then I switched offices. Within two months, she had wilted so badly and all her leaves fell off! Now I have a wonderfully artistic looking stick in a pot. There is what looks like mold starting around the roots that come out of the soil. I have gravel at the bottom of her pot and when I lift her out a bit, the gravel looks clean still and her soil is still moist but not soaked. I don't know what to do with her short of un-potting her and giving her new soil, but I'm not good at gardening and didn't know if this would finish her off completely. This is the longest I have ever been able to keep a plant alive, so I'm not ready to give up on her yet! |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| Well, if you have a 'money tree', it's really a Dracaena, and not a bonsai, so that's another story (maybe the house plant forum would be the place to go for help). If it's another kind of tree, it's really important to know what it is before giving advice, but you haven't said what the lighting is like in the new office, so again it's hard to comment. If you have no leaves on it, and mold, it's probably been watered too often and has soggy soil, and that is probably full of water-hogging peat, rather than fast draining grit. You need to try a house plant fungicide for the mold, lay off the water, let us know about the light (or improve it), and learn to repot - it's not rocket science, but a) the pot needs a good sized drain hole covering with plastic mesh (from a craft store, used for needlework), and no gravel in the bottom, though lots of perlite in the soil and some small size aquarium gravel will help drainage. Don't leave it sit in its own water though, drain it in a sink first. |
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| Dracaena are commonly called "Lucky Bamboo" - whereas the term "money tree" usually refers to Pachira aquatica - Find some pics here - Is it the braided type, or a single trunk? Lucy's advice is sound no matter what the plant is. If you have had this plant for 2 years, and can now lift the plant out of the pot, it is probably severely root-bound and should be repotted asap. If you are anxious about it - get someone to do it for you. |
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| Sorry, you're right about the names. |
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