A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 Philodendron burned by sun! Help!

I put my poor indoor philodendron plant outside for a bit of sun and forgot about it. The leaves are burned. Can someone tell me how I might be able to care for it at this point? It's still green but the leaves are obviously burned (brown) although not dead.

I recently did this myself. all I did was move it to its regular lighting area and it recovered okay.

how long are we talking here?

The burned leaves won't recover, but the plant will put out new growth. This takes time. Philodendrons are understory plants from the Amazon jungle and other forest places of Central and South America. They don't want direct sun. Dappled sun/shade is the most they can take. So. Cal. is definitely too much for them. Here in cloudy NY I keep mine in an east window that is partly shaded by a tree. They like it there. You didn't kill it and you learned about it. After it puts out its new growth, you may want to think about pruning. Let us know if you want advice; it's not hard to do. Good luck.

yeah, they are very forgiving, and when it recovers and becomes vigorous again, you can take cuttings for easy rooting.

this was one of my first plants I received as a gift about two years ago.

they don't like frost, either. ask me how I know

but again, very forgiving.

msgvb- so how do you know?

Hope you see new growth soon. I have some cuttings that I've just started, they have a few new leaves- so I'm rather excited!

heheh, well a girl I was dating gave me three plants about two years ago: a philodendron, sago palm, and traditional ivy -- all three plants were supposed to be guy proof. I blew that theory to bits.

I watered them too much
I fertilized them too much
I thought putting them outside during a warm spell in winter would be a good thing, so I left them out there during some 65* spells. little did I realize that the two nights of lower temps and frost were sucking the life out of them.

they were in baaaaaad shape, so I cut off all the bad bits right down to the stubs in a lot of areas, and brought them back inside. I thought they were goners. but I basically let them both dry out between waterings and didn't fertilize them until they were starting to look good again.

then when it warmed up, I took them outside again, but only to a mostly shaded location. they thrived, and this spring I was able to take some cuttings of the vigorous growth, and the cuttings flourished this year, whereas when I tried to root some shortly after I got the plant, most of them just rotted and died.

there is a lot to be said for the care plants get in a nursery. in fact, I find that most of what I've bought has been neglected.

anyway, all the cutting and shaping is what actually got me interested in bonsai, and that's mostly what I focus on now, thought I still have my original three that are doing very well

I'd like to try getting a dog next.