Need plant help.

[Mindibun]

I know there are a few people on here with green thumbs. I ... am not one of them.

So, I have two houseplants that have had the misfortune of coming into my possession. One is a Devil's Ivy (or Golden Pothos) and it's been doing great. Always growing, constantly getting new leaves, and has pretty healthy foliage. My issue, is that I can't train it to grow UP instead of down. I have bought stakes and whatnot and trimmed it down significantly then tied it to the stakes, but it just continues to flop over.

Secondly, I have a spider plant. This one's ... not so great. It was happy and healthy when I bought it, and it was even flowering. Now, it barely manages to stand upright. There are a few shoots growing off of it, but no flowers and the main plant seems to be slowly dying. I've been keeping up with the water, and it's in indirect sunlight. So I don't know what else to do.


If anyone has experience with these two types of plants, I'd be grateful for some help. Or, if anyone knows of a good website or forum, that'd be good as well.

[Yvette]

Try here- http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/houseplt/
It's free & has a buch of helpful people.

[stangs13]

Keep the Ivy pruned and tied to the stakes. It will happen.

Im not sure if the spider plant is perennial or anuall, but it could be dieing because it flowered. Maybe there isnt enough sun light?

[Schlyne]

I seem to do great with gardens and horrible with houseplants. Have you checked the root structure in the pot? I had a plant years ago that did really well for a while and then just sort of flopped and died on me. When I pulled the plant out of the pot to dispose of it I discovered that it needed to be repotted badly. It had died because it didn't have any more room for the roots to go.

[fishmommy]

I have found that the trouble with most house plants is the water source.

do you use tap water? cold or hot? is it chlorinated? do you have a water softener system on your house? When was the last time you flushed the roots of the plants? Have you tested the PH of the soil in the pots?

good luck!

[Mindibun]

I use the same water for both plants, so I don't understand why one would die and one would not. Some days they get tap, some days they get filtered. Whatever's handy, actually, but it's always cold.

The plant was repotted when I bought it. It should still have room to grow.

I have not tested the PH of the soil because I didn't even know I needed to. How do I go about that? When I bought it though, I put it in new soil with fertilizer and all. That was a couple of months ago. Could the soil be bad already?


thanks for your help guys.

[python.princess]

I can't seem to kill a spider plant! Mine was given to me about a year and a half ago and hadn't been watered in at least a month according to the person that gave it to me. the leaves were sparse and limp. after about a week i noticed an improvement. the leaves lifted and seemed to be more vibrant. i thought it had died this winter because it's kept on my porch and hadn't been watered all winter. i went to empty out the hanging basket it's in and saw green sprouts! that was about two weeks ago and the leaves have grown anywhere between 2-6 inches! it's in direct sunlight and i give it plenty of water about every other day. maybe too much fertilizer? or shock after being repotted?

[Mindibun]

I'll trade you plants!

I don't think it's shock. Why would it wait until months later to go into shock?

I think I may have found what's wrong with the plant. Go here to read.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...643#post786643