kolling@decwrl.UUCP (Karen Kolling) (11/17/85)
Last weekend I bought a beautiful plant from a "gardening" place where the clerks don't know anything about plants. One thought it was a lipstick plant. It's a trailing plant about 20 inches in diameter. It has thick, glossy dark green leaves, teardrop shaped, the biggest about two inches long. There are very tiny tubular violet flowers on the ends of the branches. I bought it even though there was obviously something wrong with it, what they didn't know. Quite a few of the leaves had lost a lot of color and were almost white in areas, a very few had jagged edges and some had brown edges. I made a wild guess that either it had been over fertilized, or doused with insecticide, and perhaps it had some minor insect damage. So I picked off all the bad leaves, watered it (the soil was just slightly damp) and put it in medium light to rest. Today, a week later I picked off 4 or 5 more leaves that I noticed that were bad. I think it's holding it's own. Anyone know exactly what this plant this might be, what might have happened to it, what growing conditions it needs, and how to propagate it (cuttings?)
chris@leadsv.UUCP (Chris Salander) (11/20/85)
My suggestions: 1) Repot the plant into a pot that is twice as large; add fresh soil and don't hesitate to throw out any of the old soil. 2) When repotting, check for bugs or mold. If lots of bugs or mold is present, get rid of the plant before you spread it to any others you might have. 3) For recuperation, I recommend keeping the plant at work, if there are florescent lights and temp. control. My reasons: Most of the plants I have bought from stores have been root-bound. Either they wanted to use the smallest pot possible to save money, the plant was a lot smaller when they first got it, or they are trying to make the plant look bigger. If it is a drug store or grocery store, they usually do no more than water the plants and remove the dead leaves and plants. Further, stores tend to use a really high percentage of styrofoam bits in their soil. Plants can't live on that. Finally, I have found that most "tropical-type house plants" just LOVE the flourescent light and steady temperature at work. I have saved more than one plant just by bringing it to work. Now if someone on the net happens to know what the exact watering and sunning requirements of that plant are, then you are all set. - Chris Salander