Anyone with a green thumb?

[ShaneXD45]

I repotted my Schefflera Arboricola in Organic soil and every since it has been losing most of its leaves. I added a 6500k bulb yesterday in hopes that I can save it, but I'm not so sure it can be saved. I also moved it over to the window so it can get some natural sunlight. Before it was sitting in the middle of the wall. It wasn't in direct sunlight, but from what I have heard these plants are tough. I would think that it would be in better shape than it is.

 

[jamjam]

ive lost 2/5 stalks with my scheff. one was due too alot of leaf loss so i cut it back to hope for some back budding and it died. the leaf loss was because lighting was not getting to to bottom 3rd of the plant so it dropped leaves. my second stalk was because i had my plant before my cham and was running my lights on them, once i got my cham it went into a smaller cage so took the lights from my plants and put them on my cham and lost another stalk and more leaves this was also after i had repotted it so think might have been stressed was weird think just one of 4 did so bad after the repotting. now that my cham has been in his big boy home for about a month it is thriving is fuller and doing great.

leaf loss is either because of not enough light or too much water! does your current soil drain quickly? what are your watering habits? ive also repotted mine too with a tropical mix.

 

[ShaneXD45]

I cut a pretty big hole in the bottom of the pot thats sitting over top of my drainage hole in my enclosure. Im not sure about the water. When I water it a lot of water runs through the soil and drains out the bottom. The light seems to be the culprit, but that still doesn't make sense. Ive heard these plants are really tough.

 

[jamjam]

they also dont like having wet feet the pot should be elevated so its not sitting in drainage water if you have any. i hear theyre pretty resilient too but i feel the same way you do about them. pothos are veryyy hardy. scheff's prunce their own leaves so allow light through. if its in a tank outside of msiting you prob only need to water the plant once a week if even that. are you using t5 lighting? because those would be a better choice.

on a side note there is evidently new growth coming in, i would say it def is just self pruning my first leaf stem is prob 8-10 inches from the base of the plant but its also close to 3.5 feet tall. none of the stalks are going brown or black are they?

 

[ShaneXD45]

The pot is a self watering pot it has a grate in the bottom so it is elevated off the bottom of the pot and the water isn't sitting in the bottom with the hole that I cut in it. Its probably an inch or inch and a half. The bottom of the stalks are brown, you can barely see them in the picture. The new growth on the top is from when I pruned the plant when I bought it. It was fairly tall and I cut it back to fit in my enclosure. my enclosure is pretty small. Its only 30 inches high.

 

[melble68]

I think you are potentially having an over watering problem. If you pot is a "self watering" pot, it basically is setting right in water all the time wicking it up to the plant. I would go get another just basic pot and do a 50/50 mix of soil to vermiculite. This 50/50 mix will allow the water to drain thru the plant. Is you dripper or misting system constantly going into this pot?

 

[ShaneXD45]

But the hole that I cut in the bottom of the pot makes it incapable of being a self watering pot, I was just saying that because JamJam said it needed to be elevated. There is a black plastic grate type thing in the bottom underneath the soil that has some small holes in it for drainage that water would sit in had I not made the hole but as is there is no way the plant can't be sitting in water.

I don't have my misting system hooked up to it yet. Or a dripper. I have both but neither are in use right now. I don't have a chameleon yet I am trying to get my enclosure setup and everything right before he is shipped. I have a cup in the bathroom that I have been watering the plant with until then. Once a week I fill the cup up with warm water and water it. After about 30-45 seconds you can hear the water running slowly down through the drain pipe into the bucket in the cabinet below.

 

[melble68]

The pot actually sounds pretty good as you just described. You're here in FL. Take it outside and let it get some good sun. You could also be having problems with it due to the lack of natural light. Do you have your UV lights ready for your arrival?

 

[Galaxy]

I was having the same problem. What I did was purchase another plant and formed a tag-team. One out in the sun for a while, one in the cage until it starts dropping again. So far, so good.

 

[ShaneXD45]

I was having the same problem. What I did was purchase another plant and formed a tag-team. One out in the sun for a while, one in the cage until it starts dropping again. So far, so good.

Thats a great idea.

 

[ShaneXD45]

The pot actually sounds pretty good as you just described. You're here in FL. Take it outside and let it get some good sun. You could also be having problems with it due to the lack of natural light. Do you have your UV lights ready for your arrival?

I have pretty much everything I need except his feeders, Which I will get whenever I have everything setup and ready for him. I bought one of Rango3d's baby Jacksons. They are ready to go but I keep running in to road blocks getting everything set up. I asked him to hold him for me for a while until I get everything ready. I have bamboo stakes cut and ready to go in. All I had to do was get the temp ranges and humidity right, but then over the weekend I cleaned probably 3 handfuls of leaves out of the enclosure. As I am sitting here writing this it has lost several more leaves overnight. I think I am going to have to get a new plant and start over. Hopefully since I moved my enclosure closer to the window and now have a 6500K bulb that the new one will make it. Im considering getting two and swapping them out.

 

[waynek]

did you use organic potting soil or organic soil ? potting soil drains much better than composted soil , if you used composted soil it could be sitting in mud . what I do is use potting soil with a thin layer of composted soil on top for added nutrients . the plant will still have adequate drainage .

 

[ShaneXD45]

Yes I used organic soil.

 

[nick barta]

I have pretty much everything I need except his feeders, Which I will get whenever I have everything setup and ready for him. I bought one of Rango3d's baby Jacksons. They are ready to go but I keep running in to road blocks getting everything set up. I asked him to hold him for me for a while until I get everything ready. I have bamboo stakes cut and ready to go in. All I had to do was get the temp ranges and humidity right, but then over the weekend I cleaned probably 3 handfuls of leaves out of the enclosure. As I am sitting here writing this it has lost several more leaves overnight. I think I am going to have to get a new plant and start over. Hopefully since I moved my enclosure closer to the window and now have a 6500K bulb that the new one will make it. Im considering getting two and swapping them out.

New plant= PATHOS!

Nick

 

[Mike1234]

I have no experience with chameleons yet. But I do have experience with keeping plants indoor under artificial light, old basement apartment had few windows and I have a lot of house plants so winter=artificial light.

Since you only have organic soil and not potting soil try unpotting the plant, remove as much soil from the roots as you can and add in some aeration amendments. I would use perlite(not miracle gro brand as it has traces of plant food). Mix it in a 1:3 ratio(perlite:soil). My bet is the roots are staying too wet and are rotting. So the plant drops leaves to compensate for the root loss.

Plants have a symbiotic relationship between green growth and roots. If green growth is removed roots are shed of and vise versa.

 

[sharp229]

The most likely causes of this are either not enough light, too much moisture, or both. If it did not have a 6500k light source then it most likely was not getting enough light. If the soil is constantly soaking wet this could also be a problem.

Good drainage is crucial, do you have a layer of rocks in the bottom of the soil? Perlite or bark can also greatly increase drainage, but you want to make it inaccessible to your chameleon since if he eats it it could kill him:

https://www.chameleonforums.com/cham-eating-rocks-52753/

I am having a similar problem and not yet sure whether it is lack of light or too much water from the misting system. Anyone have good methods of preventing too much water build up from misting?

 

[ShaneXD45]

I am going to tackle this project over the weekend. Ill add a layer of rock in the bottom.

 

[repdog]

I agree with Mike1234. Some plants the signs of yellow leaves is an iron problem as well, not enough. I grow lots of plants indoors and outdoors. In summer months most of my house plants go outside and enjoy the fresh air and half sun but mostly shade. Indoors they are under 6 6500k bulbs. They grow like wild fire. You will also need to fertilize them, all plants need some nutrients. If you are going with regular potting mix then pick up a bottle of a miracle grow food. It is now made in a pump for house plants. Works great. Just pump a few times in the soil and water in. It is safe for reptiles to use this way. Have been doing this for years now. In my cage I do have two plants that are rotated out but the ones in the cage do better than the ones out of the cage. As I rotate them I have to cut them back as they end up growing to tall for the cage.

 

[Mike1234]

In regards to the link about the Cham eating perlite, you could always grow a layer of moss over the soil(assuming it's safe for the cham, I don't own one yet so not sure on safety). It would keep the perlite hidden from the cham, but also help the plant retain moisture which would mean less watering of the plant. Would probably help with keeping humidity up as well.

Just a thought

Mike

 

[ShaneXD45]

Update!

So I bought a new smaller schefflera arboricola today. I also bought a bag of river rocks. What I did this time is put a rough inch and a half of river rocks on the bottom. I ran water through the pot with the rocks to see how well it drained and it ran right through so good there. I used regular potting soil on top of that with a small amount of organic on top covered with river rocks. This plant looks awesome. I also bought a small dome for my 6500K bulb and I have the blinds open in my room so it gets both natural sunlight and light from the bulb.

This is the light. Its a Phillips 60Watt 6500k

The old plant I had lost pretty much everything but maybe 3 clusters of leaves and the new growth. I gave up on that. The stems didn't look healthy. When I pulled it out of the pot all the dirt on the bottom was a big wet clump. So essentially it was sitting in mud. I want to avoid that with this one so Im up for someone that had these to tell me how much I should be watering them to avoid over saturation. I have a Little Dripper that I plan to use when my chameleon comes. I have a Misting system but I am waiting for my dad to come back to visit to get help with cutting holes in the screen. I am very clumsy and I just have a feeling that I would mess something up and that would set me back that much further. So Until that time, I am going to use a spray bottle and hand mist and to hand on hand incase I have any issues with the misting system.