Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
elkay_gw

Did you lose any plants this year?

elkay_gw
11 years ago

I lost two. The maranta I bought early in the year could not recover after I let it dry out just a little too much.

I also bought three sinningas from the Violet Barn about 6 mos ago - one started going down hill from the moment I got it and bit the dust. One is thriving and the other seems to be in suspended animation...doesn't grow, doesn't decline. Weird.

Also, tried to propagate an african violet by a leaf cutting and while the leaf is still alive, there's no baby in 5 months. I thought they usually would show a new plant in 6 weeks or so. (?)

Comments (12)

  • birdsnblooms
    11 years ago

    Hi Elkay,

    I lost some plants due to cold.

    A few Hoyas, one favorite, 'H. Macrophylla variegata.'

    A Coffee Tree, 'arabica I was able to keep more than 10-yrs..they normally died within a year's time.'
    Don't know if it's dead, but foliage yellowed about 90%.

    Several succulents have frost-bitten leaves, but trunks/stems are flexiable, so thankfully, not dead.
    Jades cannot take too many 30F degree nights.

    Elkay..Did you place your AV leaf in plastic? Humidity should help stimulate growth.

    Most say warmth helps, too, but one year, I placed about 20 AV leaves in a plastic reptile tank. Because of space, I set in our back room which was very cold during winter. Watered once. A few months later, I remembered the leaves and went to look..each leaf was packed w/babies.

    However, I'm NOT suggesting to keep your leaf in a cold room, but plastic is a good idea. Should help...Toni

  • meyermike_1micha
    11 years ago

    Hi Elkay and Toni:-)

    Yes, I lost a Coleus do to my stupidity and a few jades I was not interested in due to frost. I also lost a yellow gardenia which I forgot to pot into a much better mix. 3 out of almost 200 I guess is too much for me.

    But as the saying goes, "now I have room for more"..lol

    Mike

  • amccour
    11 years ago

    Clivia - Heatwave following 2012 Midwest derecho.
    Begonia partita - Heatwave following 2012 Midwest derecho.
    Pletranthrus ernstii - Heatwave following 2012 Midwest derecho.
    NOID Sedum - Heatwave following 2012 Midwest derecho.
    Senecio - Rotted; possibly due to heatwave following 2012 Midwest derecho.
    NOID Crassula - Heatwave following 2012 Midwest derecho.
    Staghorn Fern - Heatwave following 2012 Midwest derecho; was in bad shape prior.
    Various pelargoniums - Heatwave following 2012 Midwest derecho.

    Polyscias fruticosa - 6-week-long business trip; no watering.
    Cane begonia - 6-week-long business trip; no watering.

    Glottiphylum - Rot. No idea what happened.

    NOID Euphorbia - Got depressed and quit taking care of things.
    Fern - Got depressed and quit taking care of things.

    Podocarp - Quit taking care of it because I was tired of the scale infestation.

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    11 years ago

    I put a spider plant in my compost because I was sick of the terrible appearance. It was much happier there until I buried it under other stuff. LOL!

    This beautiful variegated ivy that was here when I moved in - this spring I unpotted and divided it, kept some and gave to 2 other people. Mine promptly died but the others are doing well at their new homes.

    Some cane Begonia pieces I thought I'd propagated were just taking a long time to die.

    Beautiful Alocasia "African mask" has stopped growing leaves but the bulb still seems firm and greenish at the top. It's just a pot with the tip of a bulb showing in the middle. I don't know what this thing wants, and I may have went too far trying to not water it too often. It was looking great, loving lots of sun, then suddenly, within 2 weeks, all 6-7 leaves died off. Never kept one of these alive more than a few months, I should have passed this thing by but did enjoy the leaves while they lasted.

    One of the kind people here sent me some cute little baby plants, newborn "kitties" just like I like, and one of them seems to be dead. It was so cute and hung on long enough after arriving that I feel like it was something I did, maybe too much sun too soon, or the shock of being mailed may have just taken a few weeks to manifest. Thank goodness there were 5 little plants, but 20% loss still feels tragic.

    Some plants in suspended animation: Datura, a few cane Begonias, scented geranium (Pelargonium.)

    Ask me this again after it frosts here and in the spring, could be more to list. Winter is always the time for plants to die and I might fail to get everything in on panic night if I find a lot of ants in the pots.

    Amccour, hope you're feeling better! When I get depressed, I neglect cleaning but not usually plants. You never know how it's gonna hit you though. Does it usually get you in the winter? If so, try to get into the sun more, or put some brighter, fluorescent bulbs where you usually sit, it really does help.

    Love that "now there's room for one more" attitude! Replace these dead beats with something that appreciates us (after a brief but decent period of mourning of course!) Gotta wear green for a week or two...

  • amccour
    11 years ago

    "Beautiful Alocasia "African mask" has stopped growing leaves but the bulb still seems firm and greenish at the top."

    I think these just go dormant. If the corms/bulbs/tubers seem firm, just keep them dry till it starts getting sunnier out.

    Also I wasn't really /depressed/, mostly just really annoyed with work + upset about losing a bunch of plants I was fond of during the heatwave + family stuff. Kind of completely lost interest in plants.

    The solution to this ended up being buying more plants.

    (My main concern is that the lack of water on the succulents, which wouldn't kill them outright, will have left them too weak for winter dormancy. The Pseudobombax is the only one I'm really concerned about since it never fully leafed out. I usually water my succulents 1 or 2 times a month during the winter anyway, though -- leaving them completely dry in the past just caused problems).

  • birdsnblooms
    11 years ago

    Purple, yes, Alocasia goes dormant. Did you toss the plant? I hope not.
    Did it flower? Alo's need a rest after flowers fade.

    Oh, I forgot about July's heatwave..
    I also lost several Begonias, including B. luxurians which I spent a year searching.

    It's sad losing a few plants, but when they're our favorites!

  • petrushka (7b)
    11 years ago

    my african violets got totally decimated by mites. out of approx 40 i have only a dozen left. and only because they were bagged babies. since april - no flowers except for this one. this is my ONLY flowering violet at this point.
    i got so pissed that i can't even get around replanting whatever was left.

  • Lamora
    11 years ago

    I ALMOST lost a few. A Wandering Jew, almost died on me, but some of it is now in water and doing just great. I am still not sure about the Christmas Cactus I have, some seem to be "hanging" in there, but it is going to be close. I am still trying to keep them going~~ it is a waiting game now.

    Actually loosing any plants? So far, not really. But some have been on life support-- lol

  • petrushka (7b)
    11 years ago

    well, that did it for me: i regrouped and went into the battle mode. 10 out of 12 AV had a hot bath, just finishing up. may be 6 will make it.
    i got to add that my african mask polly that have been blooming every year is on the brink. it always had 2 leaves on each stem. and now it's only 1 and most of them soon will be dead too. i see that it dies a lot from above posts. i still hope to revive it over winter, but it doesn't look promising.

  • amccour
    11 years ago

    I forgot to water my christmas cactus for a... lengthy period of time. It bounced back. I only gave it small amounts of water when watering until it stopped looking wilted, and then resumed normal watering.

    I don't know if they shatter like some rhipsalises do if you let them get too dry or drop the humidity too much. Even if it starts blowing off branch segments I'd think it would recover.

    I should probably note that two of the plants I lost I... lost more literally in the sense of having stuck them somewhere and forgotten about it. I did the same with a Pepperomia. It's alive, now, just kind of etiolated.

    I think the biggest casualty of the July heatwave was my sanity. Was on a family vacation at the time, driving south. Went through Kentucky and Tennessee. Something like 107 degrees in the shade. I don't remember much of it, just wanting to vomit and stab something.

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    11 years ago

    Ok this is what it looks like as of a few minutes ago. For some reason it doesn't look as vibrant in this pic as it does in person. And it's kind of weeping at the tip, where the last leaf was... I went ahead and brought it in also. No frost in sight but flirting with 40 here'n'there. Ever since it started losing leaves, I've been making sure it's staying more dry, giving sips instead of getting it drippy wet. I knew it would want to go dormant but was surprised it did it before it ever got below like 52 at night, still in the 80's during the day. Does it go by day length?

    I've got 2 Daturas I was going to bring inside so they could grow all winter instead of sleep outside but they've got some kind of bugs, so they'll have to do what they can for themselves in the ground.

  • amccour
    11 years ago

    Alocasias are from a consistently warmish part of the world so I'd guess their dormancy is based off of day length?

    I just remembered that I lost a Platycerium (Every time I try to grow staghorn fern they get eaten by scale, bad) and Pedilanthus tythalimoides I THINK this year. As well as a Senecio articulata, which was hands down the least success I've had growing a succulent indoors.

Sponsored
Michael Nash Design, Build & Homes
Average rating: 4.9 out of 5 stars254 Reviews
Northern Virginia Design Build Firm | 18x Best of Houzz