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Houseplant Care

Not all plant disorders are caused by pests and diseases. Sometimes physiological problems such as chills and cold draughts, or nutritional deficiencies, can be the cause. Tracking down a physiological problem calls for a bit of detective work. The following descriptions of some common problems will help to pinpoint some potentialcauses, but he prepared to look foranything that has disturbed the usualroutine - has the plant been moved,watered more or less heavily, has theweather become much colder, or haveyou turned the central heating on butnot increased humidity or ventilation?By piecing together the various cluesyou can often deduce probable causes,and thereby work out what you can doto avoid a repetition.

Temperature

Most houseplants will tolerate cool butfrost-free temperatures if they have to.It is sudden changes of temperature oricy draughts in a warns room that causemost problems. If leaves drop, it may hedue to low temperature. This oftenhappens with newly bought plants thathave been on display outdoors orchilled on the way home. Leaves thatlook shrivelled and slightly translucentmay have been touched by frost.

Hardy plants such as Euonymusjaponicus may drop their leaves if kepttoo warm in winter, and berries are alsolikely to fall prematurely.

Light and sun

Light is usually beneficial, but directsunlight, intensified through glass, willoften scorch leaves - the effect will hebrown, papery areas on the leaf. Plantsthat need a high light intensity in orderto grow properly will become elongatedand drawn if the illumination is poor,and leaves and flower stalks will bedrawn towards the window. Lopsidedgrowth is another indication ofinadequate light.

This plant is clearly showing signs ofneglect and lack of nutrients. It may be best todiscard a plant in this state.

Yellowing lower leaves are often asign of overwatering, but may also be due to achill. This is a Fatshedera lizei beginning to showsigns of overwatering.

Plants that are not adapted to grow invery strong light are easily scorched by strongsunlight intensified by a glass window. Thisdieffenbachia is suffering from scorch.

Humidity

Dry air can cause leaf rips to turn brownand papery on vulnerable plants.

Feeding

Pale leaves and short, stunted growthmay be due to lack of fertilizer in thecompost (potting soil). Try liquidfeeding for a quick boost.

Bud drop

Bud drop is often caused by dry compost(potting soil) or dry air. Some plantsalso resent having to re-orientate theirbuds to light from a different directionif they are moved.

Wilting and collapse

Plants usually wilt for the followingreasons: too much water; too little

water; or insects or a disease affectingthe roots. The first of the problems willusually be obvious, hut, if the compostseems neither overwatered norunderwatered, check the base of theplant. If the stem looks black or rotten,a fungal disease is the likely cause andthe plant is best discarded.

If none of the symptoms ispresent, remove the plant from its pot.If many of the roots are soft or blackand decaying, a root disease is likely tohe the problem. It will be very difficultto revive a plant with a severe root rot,but you can try drenching the compost(potting soil) with a fungicide, thenafter a couple of hoists letting it dry out on absorbent paper. If the root systemis badly damaged, re-pot the plant insterilized compost before treating it.

Some soil pests, such as root aphids,can be controlled if drenched with aninsecticide. Wine weevil grubs andother serious soil pests are not so easy tocontrol. Try shaking the old soil off theroots, dusting them with an insecticidalpowder, then re-potting in fresh, sterilized compost. The plant maysurvive once it makes new growth

FIRST AID FOR A DRY PLANT

1. If the leaves of a plant have started towilt like this, the compost (potting soil) isprobably too dry. Feel it first - overwareringalso causes wilting.

2. Stand the pot in a howl or bucket ofwater and leave it until the air bubbles haveceased to rise. It will rake some hours forthe water to revive the plant. In themeantime, help it further by misting theleaves with water from time to time.

3. Once the plant has revived, remove itfrom the howl and stand it in a cool placeout of direct sunlight for at least a day.

FIRST AID FOR A WET PLANT

1 Knock the plant out of its pot. If it does2 Wrap the root-hall in several layers of3 Stand the plant in a warns place, out of not come out easily, invert the plant whileabsorbent paper.direct sunlight, with more absorbent paper holding the compost (potting soil) in withwrapped around the root-ball. Change the one hand, and knock the rim of the pot onpaper periodically if it is still drawing a hard surface.moisture from the compost. Re-pot and water very cautiously for the next week.

OTHER POSSIBLE CAUSES OF COLLAPSE

Plants may collapse for one of thefollowing physiological reasons:

• Cold air at night may cause plants tocollapse, especially if they have beenwarns during the day.

• Strong, hot sunshine through glasswill make many plants wilt. They willusually recover when given cooler,shadier conditions.

• Hot, dry air will have a similar effecton some plants, such as the moredelicate ferns.

• Poor light will eventually cause aplant to exhaust itself. This is likely tohe a gradual process, however - muchless rapid than the collapse caused bywatering problems or by soil pests suchas root aphids

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