Homalomena wallisii camouflage - help

[sea902]

Hi all,

I'm pretty new to plant care, especially around pruning and repotting. I purchased this very sad Homalomena back in November at Home Depot on clearance, it already had a lot of the browned/dead tips on the leaves... I'm not sure why but something struck me about it and I have been on a mission to see it thrive! I just love the way the leaves look. The past 5 months have had a lot of ups and downs trying to learn how to care for it, finally it started to push out some new leaves, but many of them just stayed curled and seemed to stop growing. They have been like that for 1 - 2 months. It has very recently put out one brand new leaf that finally unfurled, but its gone completely limp.

I have noticed the stalks getting a bit more discolored, though I'm not sure if that is normal or maybe a sign of root rot? Also, it seems recently some of the old damaged leaves are dying or at least becoming much less vibrant and 'flat' looking.

It is in my bathroom which has a southwest facing window and gets nice blasts of regular humidity. It gets about 45-50 minutes of direct sun, but other than that bright indirect light. My apartment is pretty old and has radiators that are always on in winter, so its always kept warm ~20 degrees C. It is still in the original pot it came in, a plastic 4" with drainage.

Watering - I usually wait till its almost dry, but not completely dry and then give it a good soak. I started fertilizing once per month back in February with a quite diluted tropical plant fertilizer (Dynagrow), my other plants have thrived.

Thanks for your time and I appreciate any help!

S

 

[oneeye]

It looks like the plant leaves are damaged from excess fertilizer burn. Take the plastic pot out of the pretty container and very gently tip it out of the pot and look at the roots. Keep an eye on the roots before and after watering for the best water management. Are the roots fibers black or white, dry or wet? I don't think you need to fertilize the plant once a month during the Winter. Spring is the best time to fertilize a plant when it's thriving and not sickly.

 

[cpp gardener]

I got info from a friend who is really into aroids (Philodendrons, Monsteras, Homalomenas) and she said you’re basically doing things right. Bright light (even some direct sun), always warm, moderate humidity. She did say that when the pot fills with roots they tend to wilt a lot. If the roots on your’s are real dense, it may be time to move it up a size.

Happy Plant Parenting!

 

[sea902]

The plant leaves already had most of that crispy brown 'burnt' look on the leaves before purchased the plant, they have increased slightly but not much. It still looks like the portion of the leaves attached the the stem are alive and robust, so i never trimmed them.

Burt recently two of those leaves lost that 'vibrant' color and started drooping and feeling a lot dry.

Thanks for the tip on fertilizing, I will return to just rain water! Do you think that would shock the leaves maybe to not continue growing?

I added a few photos of the roots, sorry they are a bit blurry! Hard to do with one hand. The roots are white and are i guess damp? Not wet, but not dry or crispy, they feel like roots lol.

Thanks for your responses!

 

[cpp gardener]

They don’t seem very dense, so repotting isn’t needed. Keep doing what you’re doing and new growth should be coming soon.