My family has had this star pine for going on 26 years now. I'm only 29, so I've basically grown up with this plant.
8 months ago, it started dropping from fronds, and after probing the soil, I found it was pretty badly root constricted, which made sense as he hadn't upgraded its pot in nearly a decade. So we repotted it to the largest pot we could get ahold of. It did pretty well after that, then all of a sudden, over the last 2 months it has lost nearly 70% of its branches, dropping entire branches instead of single fronds.
Any advice? From my research this is a pretty old plant for its species, and I'm unsure if there's anything that can be done.
by TheUnfunOwl
1 Comment
Has it always sat in a shaded spot? Looks like the sun is on the other side of that wall, and trees definitely need sun! I can’t tell if there is more skylighting or anything.
Did you bury it any deeper in its new arrangement? Make sure its root flare can breathe.
Is the new substrate different? Drainage in the pot?
I would imagine a tree living this long indoors needs a lot of nutrients to keep itself so full, so make sure the roots are getting nutrients via water (with fertilizer), but also not too much because it can cause burn.
Were the roots handled roughly when repotting? A lot of damage to the roots in transition can cause some vulnerabilities that make things like root rot more likely, as well. You may have to adjust the water/fertilizer schedule for a brief time while the plant resettles, if trees are similar to other plants, then they usually want a big drink right when repotted then a longer period before the next one, to make sure the roots take hold.**
**this applies to potted trees/plants, not in-ground. Those need a lot of water, but potted plants are different.