I’m not very experienced with plants and am so worried I’m on the way to killing this one I fell in love with.
I got this plant off Facebook marketplace, it was in a tiny pot completely root bound with almost no soil. I mixed up some orchid bark, perlite, and just organic potting soil (but mostly soil I think so I’m worried it’s not draining well enough). Then I repotted it in a 10 inch nursery pot.
There’s also practically no light in this room so I got a barrina pendant grow light. It’s about 2 feet above the plant and I keep it on for at least 8 hours each day but usually hit 10.
I’m not sure how often to water it, I went a few weeks with no water because I hear over watering is a big risk with thai cons. But I think that’s what caused this yellow leaf at the bottom. Some of the biggest leaves also have browning that’s been spreading since I got this plant. I’m not sure what’s causing that or how to stop it. And it looks like a new leaf forming on the biggest stem turned black when that small leaf turned yellow.
So does anyone see anything wrong with what I did or have any tips for this plant to start doing better? I plan to get a humidifier since I live in a very dry area. Any recommendations about how often to water? Was the yellow leaf caused by not enough water or something else? Thank you for any help!
by Reasonable-Sand3081
3 Comments
Increase light exposure- not sure how bright the Barrina light is but likely not enough for such a large plant! Variegated plants have much higher light requirements. Water when the soil is almost/fully dry.
Ah what a beauty! I feel your pain though. I typically use a chunky soil mix like the one you described and it ended up causing (or perhaps just exacerbating) root rot in the $42.99 Thai con I got at Costco. After two additional repottings where I removed rotting roots and soil and then bathed her roots in 1:4 hydrogen peroxide water, I finally got her stable. The secret was adding a crap ton of chunky perlite. Ended up that the soil was about 3/4 amendment (bark, perlite, chunky perlite, leca) and 1/4 soil. And an indoor mix for the soil seemed to be better than the general purpose.
What I learned is that when you’re getting yellow leaves and crispy tips, better to check your roots. You may slow growth or drop a leaf, but they will recover! Better than dying a slow ugly death.
If the grow light is two feet above the tallest leaf then that is getting very little light because two feet is a lot when it comes to grow lights, and the other leaves aren’t getting any light at all
Grow lights need to be very close to have any effect and the light most of them put out is a fraction of what you get from the sun.
Also 8 hours is just 1/3 of the day. At least keep it on 12, or better 16 hours. And move it closer