On Thu, 1 Dec 2005 16:50:31 +0000 (UTC), Spud Demon wrote:

The plant has been in the same soil for over a year but the problem is more
recent. All I added was water (through a new hose) and fertilizer. But
it's an undrained pot, maybe that has something to do with the pH going
crazy.

Anyway, last night I added half a cup of Epsom salt (Magnesium Sulfate)
mixed with a gallon of water. Later today I will re-check the pH.

I don't want to mess up the root ball by transplanting it in different soil,
but I might rinse it (overwater and then dump out the excess) if the

In my opinion and experience, you'd be far better off getting that plant
out of the pot, soil rinsed from the roots, and then repotted into fresh
medium in a pot with proper drainage. Put the drained pot into the
undrained one, if you want to show it off -- and consider looking up
"double potting", where the space between the clay pot and the display
pot is packed with a fibrous, water-retentive medium like long strand
sphagnum.

Plants experience many more stresses in a pot than they do planted outside.
The root volume is restricted, the soil tends to collapse and become
oxygen deficient as organic matter is depleted, the plant tends to experience
drought-and-drown watering (especially a problem in an undrained container)
and salts tend to accumulate in teh soil, leading to tip burn of leaves
and eventually to the plant being unable to get adequate moisture from
the soil. Adding that half cup of mag sulfate (a salt) is going to accelerate
that salinization problem.

I don't know the specimen size you're dealing with here... I've repotted
lots of big plants myself, up to about 60 gallon containers, and
borrowed muscles for bigger containers. It's definitely work. But
the plant will do better in better growing conditions.

Kay