New plant dying..??

[MissMeela]

When I upgraded my chameleons enclosure to a bigger one, I bought a larger umbrella (shefflerra) plant. It did great for the first month or two, but now the leaves are slowly turning brown and falling off..?? When I brought it home, I wiped down all the leaves and cleaned them and then re-potted the many into a much larger container. I used organic soil as to not get fertilizer in my chameleon's tummy when he decides to eats the leaves off his plants, as he does occasionally. I rigged up an automatic dripper system so that way he can have water off and on throughout the day. I placed a cup under to catch most of the water, but it does hit multiple leaves on the way down towards the cup, so the plant does get wet. Since I've noticed, not only the leaves turning brown and dropping, but also there are tiny little fruit flies hovering over the top of the dirt. I haven't used the dripper for a week now, and have continued to spray 3 times per day on top of having a fogger set up on a timer... still every day when I get home from work, I have more dead leaves, pretty sure he's not gonna have any left before too long.

Please help! Should I change to a different soil? Maybe make sure it's draining better? Not sure bcuz it seems like it's more of a problem on top of the soil..??

 

[AESara]

Could you post a pic of it in the cage? It might give some clues.

Could be overwatering, not enough/too much light, a cold draft, or probably other possibilities as well. Notice any bad smell? Have you dug in to see if the roots are rotting?

 

[MissMeela]

Yes I'll have to post tomorrow as his lights are off now. I tried earlier and was having trouble uploading a pic..

And I'll take a look at the roots.

 

[MSMorgan]

Prepare another safe plant and put it in. I have two plants that I rotate every couple months due to "rough use" by my veiled. Currently, my schefflera is dropping a few leaves and needs a little rejuvenating. I'll put in the ficus this weekend and give the schefflera a break until the ficus is looking a bit disheveled.

 

[reptileguy112]

It way be too much water (root rot) or too little water. I would spray some hydrogen peroxide on the top soil.

 

[SocialNumb]

It way be too much water (root rot) or too little water. I would spray some hydrogen peroxide on the top soil.

That's new to me. How much though? 1/2 and 1/2? Or?

 

[MissMeela]

Could you post a pic of it in the cage? It might give some clues.

Could be overwatering, not enough/too much light, a cold draft, or probably other possibilities as well. Notice any bad smell? Have you dug in to see if the roots are rotting?

The roots are not rotting yet, but the soil is definitely too wet!! It does smell a little. And I have worried that there isn't enough light on the lower half of the plant, which is the half that is currently dying.. The top half is doing great.

 

[MissMeela]

Here is a pic of the bottom of the plant. The leaves are brown and wilting... further observation, the soil is very wet! :/ and there re fruit flies and even tiny little worms which I'm guessing is their larva...*sigh*

I just tried the hydrogen peroxide mix. I did 4:1 water: hydrogen peroxide ratio. And I have a heat lamp set up just over the soil hoping to dry it out and kill off the flies and larva!! I also put out some apple cider vinegar to catch the ones flying around.

 

[MissMeela]

This is my set up. The left side use to have about 6 or so branches. It's now down to one or two that are hanging on their last little bit of life they have. It use to be fuller on that side of the plant. Hopefully I caught it soon enough!

 

[Craigwyatt]

I use and LOVE umbrella plants. Mine do very well for me. Here's how I take care of them.
I spray my guys 3 times a day. And I directly water then maybe twice a month. Sometimes only 3 times every 2 months. Leaves are turning brown for me every once in a while but I don't really pay any attention to it because it's usually the ones closest to the heat lamp. And it doesn't happen very often. I use 75 watt bulbs and the top of the plants are very very close to the lamp.
Hope this helps.
Good luck!!

 

[MissMeela]

I use and LOVE umbrella plants. Mine do very well for me. Here's how I take care of them.
I spray my guys 3 times a day. And I directly water then maybe twice a month. Sometimes only 3 times every 2 months. Leaves are turning brown for me every once in a while but I don't really pay any attention to it because it's usually the ones closest to the heat lamp. And it doesn't happen very often. I use 75 watt bulbs and the top of the plants are very very close to the lamp.
Hope this helps.
Good luck!!

The heat lamp I currently use is a 75watt and there are branches/leaves that are all but touching it.. and of course they are the ones doing great! Do you think I should add light towards the bottom, it is quite dark down there unless I am at home with the windows open. And also, I am going to have to figure out where to let my dripper drip into bcuz that's what happened with my plant. I was letting my dripper, drip into my plant.. Not doing that anymore! Thanks for the advice! I will water my umbrella tree much less!!

 

[MissMeela]

Plant update

So instead of waiting for my plant to slowly dry out, I decided to take action. I couldn't just sit and wait for it to get better, so I drilled a small hole at the bottom and out came so much STINKY STINKY water!! It drained for about an hour and I'm sure it'll drain some more later! I added a small (3/16") air valve with a hose to drain it so I could control when and how much it drains. I thought the extra holes on the bottom that I drilled would be enough when I first repotted the plant, but I guess not! Now I know! Hope my umbrella plant starts to get better!!

 

[Dro B]

All the symptoms seem to match the problem you've had and have likely now solved. If I were you, I'd look into cropping it to encourage more branches, and then air layer a few to keep elsewhere so you can ensure you have a backup or two. There's a method of cropping where you simply pinch one of the branches to damage it but not kill it. It will bend over and any bud under it will sprout due to increased lighting. By the time the pinched branch heals, a few of the sprouts will be long enough to get enough light. Air layering is extremely simple and almost 100% effective. Hope it gets better for you!

 

[Dro B]

Sorry I forgot to mention about the air layering. Google g it will give you all yo u need to know in under 3 mins.

 

[MissMeela]

All the symptoms seem to match the problem you've had and have likely now solved. If I were you, I'd look into cropping it to encourage more branches, and then air layer a few to keep elsewhere so you can ensure you have a backup or two. There's a method of cropping where you simply pinch one of the branches to damage it but not kill it. It will bend over and any bud under it will sprout due to increased lighting. By the time the pinched branch heals, a few of the sprouts will be long enough to get enough light. Air layering is extremely simple and almost 100% effective. Hope it gets better for you!

I checked out the air layering.. Never heard of that, very interesting! Something I might have to try! Thanks!