A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 Very sick plant ... help!

Happy new year everybody...unfortunately one of my new houseplants has gotten very sick.
I brought him home from the store in November and unfortunately his leaves are going yellow and dying. He started off by being really full and healthy.
I am afraid that I am slowly killing him.
I water him once a week and have put a food stick in him (he had already started ailing prior to my doing this.)
If anyone can have a look at him and get back to me I would really appreciate it.
Thanks.

http://photobucket.com/albums/d165/RookieGardener/plant%20Hospital/

I am bit of rookie myself, but I would say to much water, and that doesn't look like a pot with Drainage, which depending on what kind of plant that is(and I have no idea myself) could be a recipe for disaster, and I would also say get rid of the feed sticks, I was told by someone they do more harm then good. I hope some of the more seasoned gardeners can help you out.

Looks like you have a dieffenbachia.
Dieffenbachia Care

I have a beautiful one going, no fertilizer or anything other than watering it when it gets dry and keeping it in indirect light. Right now mine is at my MIL's so I cannot get you a current picture. Carefully pull out the yellow leaves. Is there drainage in that pot? If not, you may want to put it in one that does drain well.

Here is the only pic of mine I can find. It is the plant on the far right in the plastic pot. It has lived there now for almost a year and is currently about 3 feet high and the new starts off the plant are completely filling the pot.

Thanks Triss & kirksgirl. The feedback has really helped.
Triss, how did you get a photo directly into your post? I haven't been able to figure that out. Thanks for sharing your photos..very healthy looking plants. I will check into the drainage thing...I want to repot it anyway and what I have it in is just a temporary situation.
Thanks for the ID too. I was too shy to say that I didn't know what kind of plant it is.
It's great to be able to chat with people online about these pesky plant problems...especially with photos! I love it!
Thanks muches.
Smiles

We love to ID plants here and there is a Mystery plant Topic for just that kind of thing. If I were going to re-pot the one you have, I would get a bit larger of a pot than you have right there or maybe even 2 of them about the same size and split the plant in half. Looks like you have a lot of plant to work with there. As for putting your image in a post. Just hit full reply and then click the IMAGE button. Insert the url for your pic and hit enter.

Yes, DEFINITELY get rid of the feed stick. plant food is not medicine, it's intended to make plants grow larger and faster. It's always a bad idea to give an ailing plant food (unless the ailment is that the plants newest leaves are too small, thin, or weak, that could mean that the soil lacks nutrients and needs some added in the form of plant food), it generally makes the problem worse. And a newly-bought plant has likely already been heavily fertilized in it's nursery, giving them more will be an overdose, especially in the fall and winter, when their growth slows. It's usually recommended to feed only in the spring and summer. Also, don't feed for a couple of months after re-potting, as the new soil will have enough nutrients for at least that long. When you do feed, it's recommended by many authorities to use half or less the amount suggested on package. I don't know much about feed sticks, but I don't think I've ever heard them recommended.
Sorry for the perhaps long-winded lecture,but I'd lost a few plants from over-feeding myself before I learned about it....hope this was helpful.

Thanks Karamy. The feedback was super-dooper helpful. Some comments may seem elementary to you but I am alittle out of practice for plants. I used to have alot but then life happened and I didn't have any.
I didn't realize that the fertilizer sticks were such a bad idea but I guess that is why you see them everywhere (even at cash registers alongside the chewing gum.
I think I will be checking out the Mystery plant Topic quite abit. Easy way to learn plant identification.