What's Your Opinion???

Here's a challenge for everyone! Look at the photos and think about what's going on with these plants. Contact the blog with your ideas. ALL IDEAS ARE HELPFUL .... to start conversations, generate solutions to this and other problems, and to help others that might be having the same things happen to their plants. Simply reply to the blog. For HELP commenting, click on link.

What causes the center leaves of a recently potted plant to die off? Forget pests, this has nothing to do with them. I can repot 30 plants and after a couple weeks will notice that on two or three the center leaves have turned brown and died off. Now keep in mind that the leaves do start to grow then turn mushy brown from the tip to the stem.

More often than not the entire center will be lost. The plant itself is still healthy, but with no center, it will form multiple crowns or produce suckers. Okay, you still have a plant with which to start over from leaves or suckers. But it would have been much nicer to have the original plant that is already a good size in the first place.

I think Yukako has a chance of making it. Ma’s Winter Moon is very iffy. Sora's Munchie and Lyon’s Fortune Teller look very pathetic. It can be with any color foliage, variegated or not. Plus the plant keeps right on blooming if it has any possibility of producing leaves before the center dries up completely. By the way, there was no evidence of “orange crud” on the plant.

So, does this have to do with transplant shock? Is it because it was planted too deep? What?

Many thanks to Barb W. for the article and the great shots of the plants! Remember, send in comments!