My marginata doesn't seem to be doing well and I'm not sure what the problem is. I try not to overwater, so I wait until I can stick my finger down into the soil and not feel any moisture there. It takes a very long time for it to dry though, I would say that I thoroughly water it about once a month. I bought it at the beginning of last fall and I live in Vancouver so it hasn't gotten much light, but the write-up on the side of the pot says it likes low to moderate light so I didn't think it would be a problem. What really worries me about it is that the new growth coming from the upper middle area has turned brown dried up and I've had to pull it out, particularly on the shortest of the three. I'm no expert but I'm pretty sure new growth turning brown is a very bad sign. Do you know what I'm doing wrong? Here are some pictures:
http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t225/robynvannorman/Marginata006.jpg http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t225/robynvannorman/Marginata005.jpg http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t225/robynvannorman/Marginata004.jpg http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t225/robynvannorman/Marginata003.jpg Thanks for any help you can give!
if you're only watering it once a month, that's not enough. every 10-14 days would better.
ok, first, i'd repot. it looks like you still have it in the nursery pot it came in. second, joclyn is right. they like a lot more moisture than that. also, i'd raise the pot up over the tray and keep water in the try to raise the humidity around them. it won't be a lot of humidity, but it will help. you can also group some other plants around it to help with the humidity also.
finally, even though this is a "tree" in its native environment, i'm moving this to houseplants because that's what it is for our purposes.
Hey its me Aaron again... i grow a lot of Marginatas at my job and they can be very picky... i have about a sucess rate of about 80% but thats the lowest of all the other plants i care for... dont worry about repotting Marginatas the smaller the pot the less of a chance of rotting espacially a cold and cloudy place like Vancouver not only that they have a very fibrous shallow root system... Marginatas do best with very bright indirect light usually florescent (office lighting)light does well... from the looks of it i would say its not enough lighting and slight over watering... Marginatas get brown tipped leaves especially when they get too wet, these leaf tips also are soft and not crispy... also a sign of over-watering is yellowing and dropping of leaves... which i can guess your plant had a whole lot more... try switching potting medium to better asist drainage such as a loose mix composed of indoor potting mix with lots of bark and styrofoam bits... throughly watering once a month maybe ok for a plant in a porly lighted area but underwatering is evident by dropping of VERY crispy leaves and shriveling of the "trunk"...
My plants are doing awful as well. I did put them in a nice large pot but one of the 4 is almost dead now and all of the others lost their lower leaves and all have brown tips. I am so worried I am going to lose them all.
Any ideas on how to try and save what I have left? None of my plants have but the one stem with leaves.
make sure rot hasn't set in the bases of the "trunks" closest to the soil sould be hard and when flicked with the finger sould sound like wood. when they rot the "bark-like" skin sperates from the tissues... giving the stalk a wrinked look BUT its very squishy and will smell...
The 3 remaining stems are solid and not at all squishy. The dying one is exactly as you are saying with the skin separating. I will take that one out tonight. It looks bad.
try putting them in a smaller pot i find it easier to grow when pot bound...
How large of a pot would you use for 3 plants?
And would you advise taking the tops off to promote branching out?
Probably about 3 feet tall. Will have to take some pics tomorrow. I did not get to them today.