Please help my sick plant

11 years ago

Hello Everyone,

I'm gonna try and do this one more time, for some reason my posts don't wanna be here, they just dissapear...weird....

So on the 1st of October I bought a really nice sized Senecio macroglossus, "Rubber Ivy" (I made a post earlier this month about the white stuff on the leaves, and how to wash it off)...anyways...About a week or so after buying the plant, I noticed that it was very quickly getting bad looking. The leaves where wilting very quickly. I noticed that the soil was VERY soaked, and I never watered it since buying it, so it got overwatered at the nursery before I bought it...

So I took it out of the pot and noticed that the roots looked fine but it hardly any roots for the huge pot it was in, and the soil was just very wrong for this plant (or any plant I can think of) and I repotted it it into much, much smaller pots, but I didn't have any perlite, so I just used plain cactus soil for the time being.

Well yesterday, I noticed that it was still wilting, so I went and got some perlite finally, and made a mixture with mostly perlite and a little cactus soil and vermiculite. So I unpotted the plant and saw that the roots where very dead and mushy this time

So I cut off alot of the roots, actually most of it, and repotted it with the better soil, but I also put some rooting hormone on the stem I had to bury to get them to grow some roots. I know this is the wrong time of year, but I'm desperate to save it and figured it was okay for that reason..

Anyways, my question is this: do you think it will be okay?? is there anything else I can do to help save it?? I havent watered it yet,but the mixture was barely moist from rinsing the perlite,so when should I water it next? Any advise would be wonderful...I've already lost ALOT of the plant and I dont wanna lose anymore if possible...

Thank you for reading.

-FPT

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Comments (4)

Polly381
11 years ago
is there any chance you could post a picture? Below is a link of pests that like ivy. Does it look like it might be mealy bugs? Do you have other plants?

Here is a link that might be useful: ivy pests
flowerpottipper
Original Author
11 years ago
No, It doesnt have mealy bugs, just root rot from overwatering....the white stuff on the leaves are from the chemicals/pesticides/ or whatever else the nursery uses that stuck to the leaves when they probably sprayed them (I see this alot in nursery plants). I was able to wash most of it off.

I have ALOT of experience with mealy bugs, I have a bad past with them. Actually last week I was at my mother's house and her sago palm was next to me and I saw that it was covered, literally covered in mealy bugs to the point that you could barely see the plant, I've never seen so many in my life. I told her to just throw it away (it was way beyond saving)and checked her other plants, which I didnt see any but I showed her how to check her other plants daily for them and how to attack them if she sees any...

I just need to know what would be the best course of action on treating this plant after I cut off all the bad roots (which was about all the roots)and repotted it into better soil and put root hormone on the stems I buried since I was hoping the stems above where the bad roots where will root for me. I don't know when I should water it next, or even if you guys think it has a chance of surviving...I really love this plant, and I will do anything to save it...And I know it'll probably look sad til next spring because of losing so many leaves, but I just want it to survive...

Thank you,
-FPT

PS, I dont have batteries for my camera to take pictures and I can't go out to buy any cause I'm really sick at this moment.
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tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
11 years ago
Intensive care: Purchase or make some chopped sphagnum moss (not peat - the whole moss) and buy a bag of floor-dry from a NAPA auto parts store. Screen the fines out of the floor dry and mix the large remains 50/50 with the moist/chopped moss & plant in the mixture, using a dollar store colander, a mesh pond basket, a metal strainer, or similar as the container. Keep the medium damp, in bright light, & at 65-75*. If it's not too far gone, it will respond to this treatment.

While the plant is recovering, you might be thinking about whether or not it's worth the effort to do your best to ensure good root health by learning what a high quality soil is and providing it. You can avoid a LOT of heartache by using a good soil.

Al
flora_uk
11 years ago
This plant is not a true ivy, i.e. Hedera, but a drought- tolerant member of the daisy family. Note the 'drought tolerant' bit. It sounds as if it has been badly over-watered. It is a vine by nature and has a propensity to root at the nodes along the stems. So if yours really has totally rotted roots you should be able to propagate it from stem cuttings.