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Old 04-03-2015, 01:29 AM posted to uk.rec.gardening
Tough Guy no. 1265 Tough Guy no. 1265 is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Mar 2015
Posts: 66
Default Houseplant shrivelling

On Tue, 03 Mar 2015 23:13:41 -0000, Bob Hobden wrote:

"Tough Guy no. 1265" wrote
Bob Hobden wrote:
"Tough Guy no. 1265" ...
Martin wrote:
"Tough Guy no. 1265" wrote:
Chris Hogg wrote:
Bob Hobden" wrote:
"Tough Guy no. 1265" wrote

I have a houseplant which I moved into a larger pot (as it was
consuming
the water very rapidly, it had outgrown the small pot). As soon as
I
did
this, the leaves have shrivelled up. AFAIK I'm not over or under
watering
it, and there are no signs of beasties. What's wrong with it?


It would be helpful if we knew what the plant was, how long you have
had it
and it's size.

and a picture.

I don't know what it is, it was given to me a year ago, and has
flourished in all that time and grown larger. Only changing pot made
it
do this.
Here's a pictu http://petersphotos.com/temp/Shrivelled.jpg

Was the photo taken in summer?

No, just now, in winter. The room is 18C, 45% humidity.

It looks to be suffering from lack of water but it could equally be too
much
water which has rotted the roots, the symptoms are the same.


I've got a meter on it so I know when to water it.

Quite a dry atmosphere for a tropical plant too, not near a radiator by
any chance?


It is above a radiator. And 45% humidity is quite normal for a house in
winter with the heating on. I wasn't aware it was a tropical plant. It's
always been above that radiator. It only wilted when I increased the pot
size.


Move it from above the radiator as it's getting too much heat, and with the
general low humidity, the even lower humidity above the radiator is doing
the damage. It's scorched. It's often the case in winter where most of the
windows also have radiators under them so plants get damaged in the way
yours has. Unfortunately most windows do have radiators under them (if you
have radiators) so it's a common problem in winter.


Odd that it lasted this far then suddenly went. It seems to coincide with the change in pot. I guess that altered how much water it was taking in. I'll swap it with one that's on a windowledge with no radiator under it.

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