A picture of the full tree from March (window is west-facing).

Worrying yellow and black discolorations on leaf tips (also from March), with the orchid potting mix visible in the background (plus regrettable top layer of sand).

Now (early June): Improved, thanks to Dyna-Gro Foliage Pro.

Now (early June): A bigger picture of the whole tree, with an elephant ear in the background. (It is also benefiting from the Foliage Pro fertilizer!)

Hello! :-)

How well does the mix and the container itself drain? I think more frequent waterings, and full strength doses of Foliage Pro will help out greatly. Now that my Pachiras are in outdoor shade, I am fertilizing once a week with FP at full strength and watering about twice a week. When watering, I thoroughly flush the mix.

Do you want the tree as tall as it is? You could always chop the taller trunks down, which means that the foliage will be able to get sunlight more easily.

Josh

My money tree was a got to have it purchase. Not knowing
How to care for it when I got it home n noticed one of the trunks
was dead n holo so i plucked it out n repotted for a 3 inch pot
To a 7 inc round 7 inch deep with miracle grow moist control now i hav
What started from buying it as a five trunk braid to 3 braidz
My husband is trying his best to revive it for me. Where did i go wrong?

Hello again this is how my roots look is it to late should
I give up on this guy n buy a new one? Try at 1 more time
I had killing another plant.

lol that was good reading

Omg I'm nearly crying here! Somebody save it! :)

Patricia,
I'd honestly toss those and get a new plant.
The one piece on the far right seems to have a few roots....you might be able to save it, but it will take a long time.

Josh

Dear Josh,

Thanks for replying!

The mix is 2 parts orchid potting mix (mostly bark) and 1 part perlite. It seems to drain much better than the original mix, which seemed to hold moisture (maybe due to peat moss), and which I like to blame for the root rot in the original tree.

The pot came with the tree, and it has one hole at the bottom. There is a layer of pebbles about two inches thick at the bottom of the pot. I haven't watered to the point where water seeps into the saucer -- should I?

I'll definitely try out the increased waterings with full-strength Foliage Pro. I tried yesterday, and it almost seems greener today already!

Pardon this rather obvious question, but how should I apply water to the plant? I have been giving 2-cup installments in a squirt bottle spaced every few hours apart.

I've been misting it every few days, and letting my watering jugs sit full for a few days to get rid of chlorine.

It never occurred to me to trim down the tree, but that's a good idea I should look into.

Do you think I need to repot into a better soil mix?

Thanks for all your input and advice.

Debbie

Hello!

First, no need to continue misting. That won't help at all. I've never misted my Pachira, and they are as lush as any I've seen.

Secondly, the pebbles at the bottom of the pot should be removed. That will actually impede drainage. So, yes, this month would be a perfect time to re-pot the tree, remove the pebbles, and get it into a fresh mix of fine-grade Orchid Mix and Perlite. If lava rock (scoria) is available, some of that would improve the mix even further.

When watering, you should totally saturate the entire volume of the mix, until water is rushing out the drain hole. Pachira love to have their roots flooded, and then quickly drained (so oxygen can return to the root-zone). You could keep a turkey baster with you to remove excess water from the saucer as you pour water/fertilizing liquid into the container.

Josh

Hello again!

Thanks so much for your advice.

Ah, that solves the mystery of how to prevent the wooden floor from getting watered too! That is a wonderfully clever solution. Can the excess fertilizer solution be recycled on other plants?

Would it be too late to do the repotting in July? I have to go away for a month, for reasons out of my control.

It's nice to know that the misting is totally unnecessary. It's funny, from reading these forums, you get everything short of the kitchen sink.

Should I be incorporating neem oil or some other insecticide/fungicide into the care routine?

Well, I'm not the kind of person who has pots on every sill and table. I've just got three (money tree, elephant ear, and aralia), and I want to take extra good care of them. :)

Thank you immensely!

Debbie

There's no need for using an insecticide/fungicide unless you actually have an insect or fungus problem. I never mist my money tree either, and it grows just fine. They don't mind tap water one bit, so you don't really need to leave water sitting out.

There have been times when I've poured leftover fertilized water onto other plants, but I wouldn't advise it. Fertilizer is so cheap and the leftover water contains whatever dissolved minerals from the initial watering. So reusing it would be adding those dissolved minerals to your other plants, which would only complicate things.

Tommy is correct, the recycled water that comes out of the pot (effluent) has a lot of the old salts/minerals that you want to flush from the mix. However, you could certainly dump it amongst outdoor flowers or in the garden.

Father's Day is a very good day to re-pot, and if you can re-pot very early in July, you'll still be able to enjoy some good growth for the two months after. Sooner would be better, of course.

Josh

Thank you Josh and Tommy!

I'll be back June 30, so I will aim to repot before July 4th.

One more weird question: a gardening book I read once said that you should dust the leaves periodically, so they can breathe. (Admittedly, I've done this only, like, once all year.) Is this actually true?

You guys are awesome!

Debbie

I've never dusted the leaves on my money tree. But to be fair, since I primarily grow mine outdoors, I do occasionally spray it down with the water hose sprayer. I do clean the leaves of some of my other plants that have leaves that are more noticeable when they're dirty/dusty.

Same here, Debbie.
I seldom wipe down the leaves, but I do spray them off occasionally...especially during the Summer outdoors. I think that wiping the leaves off every few weeks wouldn't be a bad idea.

Josh