A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The House Plant Forum new to the forum, few questions from a new Houston

Hi all, I bought a house last fall with a lot of deck space and decided to get into planting some since it was always fun with my parents and grandparents as a kid. Everything is potted (on the deck, indoors or at the front door) since there's not much lawn space and it's been kind of tough to keep things going well so far. Mostly this is due to the huge freeze we had when I was out of town for work, so I wanted to ask a few questions and get some advice from the pros. Here's a short rundown, if anyone has any advice on any of the items please let me know, I'll try to stay short yet descriptive and can provide any follow-up info or photos as needed.

#1 - I have a ficus in a very large square box on the mini balcony on the 2nd floor. This was about 4" around at the trunk and very lush in the fall, but like many other items in this list was left out during the hard freeze in Dec. It dropped all its leaves and so far hasn't grown back. I pruned some small branches and it seems dry as a bone and doing a small shaving down by the root also seems very dry. Will watering salvage it or is this a goner? How soon could I tell for certain?

#2 - My mom got me 2 amaryllis and they both bloomed huge. The blooms lasted two weeks or so and after they fell I cut the stalk at the base but have left the leaves on for now. I was curious if the stalks were supposed to grow to 2ft tall, seemed much bigger than some of the others I've seen online. Also at this point after the bloom what should I do with the plant, cut off the leaves or let them fall on their own? I was told to put the pots for them in the garage after and bring back for next year's bloom around Christmas.

#3 - Parents also got me a pygmy date palm but immediately when I got it potted for the bedroom I noticed white spots. Got some neem extract and spray it down once a week but most of the fronds have been drying up, turning very dark and dying. Not sure what the mite infestation does but perhaps they're causing this? I only water it once a week and it gets indirect sun all day, just added a miracle grow plant stick 3" from the base of the 4 small sprouts where all the fronds grow from.

#4 - Also got an indoor mandevilla in a small pot on a windowsill, it flowered in the fall and has done great but suddenly last week the leaves turned very dark and are drooping, but not falling off. It gets full eastern sun until afternoon and watering is once a week with good drainage. Is this better as an outdoor plant or is something going on that's causing the leaves to droop like this?

#5 - Got two very nice Dracaneas in a single large pot with indirect sunlight all day. Past few weeks it's been getting brown then yellow tips that slowly spreads back to the root of each leaf. I've been cutting them back some and reducing water to every 10 days. Added a plant stick and I'm really at a loss for what's going on.

#6 - Had a lime tree in a pot, about 3" tall, very bushy, but it was out for the freeze too and now looks mostly dead. There is a very small sprout at the very base but I'm afraid it'd take years to grow back to it's original size. Should I leave the seemingly dead limbs on and let it grow? Would it make more sense to get a new fullsize? In winter should you normally take lime trees indoors when it gets into the 40's?

#7 - More deck troubles, my sky flower, 2 bougainvillea, 2 hibiscus and a hanging mandevilla basket were also all out for the freeze and don't seem to be growing back even though they were all very big and full blooming last fall. How can I tell if they may be coming back?

#8 - Last one, a mother in law's tongue potted at the front door was 4" tall very full and never wilted or anything in the freeze is suddenly dropping the spears daily, almost nothing left now. What would cause that, do they regrow or shed in spring? It was leftover by the original homeowner so it's at least a few years old, just seems really odd.

On a more positive note my herb garden of mint, lavender, thyme and rosemary is growing like weeds. The jasmine, sagebrush, irises, hawthorne and esperanza are all growing very welloutside, along with a very big yucca and mini palm I couldn't ID (both indoors), so I think I somewhat know what I'm doing :) Just trying to work out the other problems and get a better understanding of how the plants develop and grow stronger.

I'm sorry this is long and will gladly split it up if needed, still learning how things work best here and appreciate any input. Thanks in advance!
Mike

I would guess the frost did it all. I have the #8 and if it is dropping the spikes its prob due to the frost. I lost 1/2 of my plant 2 years ago doing the same thing. but it did come back.
good luck on the other problems

6........lol .........citrus trees do not tolerate less than 50 degrees at ALL!!!!.......they should always be indoors ......i would prune it back and let it grow ....a liberal dose of good fertilizer would help it too ....

#1 & #3.As far as the drying plants go...I do the scratch thing also but one place might look dead and another might have life..so I'd just wait a few weeks for sure...if you see absolutely no growth at all...then it might be a loss.

#2.All bulb plants should be left to die back by themselves..they need the nutrients and energy from the dying leaves to store into the bulb itself...you need to leave them go dormant to force Christmas flowers.

2/ amaryllis

Someone told me today , your not to cut the stock where the flowers bloom.
Let it an the leaves all dry up an brown then cut.

??

shoot well I have all leaves on there still just cut the stalks next year I'll let them fall on their own. Leaves are still growing like crazy, the bigger pot is over 2ft tall now! Thanks for the input so far everyone