Community

Posted 3w ago by @GuruYellowbells

My doeffenbachia is droopy again!

Last time this happened, I gave her a steamy shower treatment which helped immensely but this time it isn’t helping her at all. I have been doing it every night for a week with no improvement. Should I repot her in a smaller pot? Help!
12” pot with drainage
Last watered 1 month ago
@GuruYellowbells when you repotted was the root ball / root mass 10” by chance? :) when repotting we only want to increase 2-3” bigger than the roots like the icon @stephonicle always says🀩🌱 it night be beneficial to downsize if the roots aren’t taking up enough space. Best of luck!! I hope we can help your little one bounce back however we can🀩🌱
@Prentyce I have no idea what the root mass was, I will check today and find a good pot for her, thanks a lot!
@GuruYellowbells of course!! Let me know if you have any questions. Oh !! And are you watering with tap water by chance? I know they are huge fans of distilled or rain water, potentially filtered water in a pinch :) let me know if you have any questions!! 🀩🌱
@Prentyce I am watering with tap water but I am watering all my plants with the same water and they are fine, should I buy a bunch of distilled water for her?
@GuruYellowbells let me tag some queens to weigh in! I want to assure we are pushing the best care for your baby🀩🌱✨ @TheOddAsity @UltraKoreanfir @JenniferNoel @princesspitstop @SuperbRaspfern
@GuruYellowbells these plants like to be root bound. They are tropical plants with very thin leaves. They cannot store water like plants with thicker leaves. These plants do not like to be close to light as in nature they are below the tree canopy. I moved mine within 20” of a grow light and it singed the leaves. They need fast draining soil, but like to stay moist, not wet. I use charcoal around the roots to help with moisture in fast draining soil.

My guess is your pot is too big, causing water to collect in the excess volume of the soil, at the bottom where the roots are. So it’s acting like it’s over watered. And I wonder if it’s too close to lights as well?
@GuruYellowbells - Hello πŸ‘‹πŸΌ Em 😊

These guys are known for getting droopy if their conditions are not exactly the way they like! Now I have 3 and one growing in water, I have realized they do not like grow lights or anywhere they can see the sun! Bright, but definitely indirect!
In the first pic, you see how the room is lit up by the daylight, that’s the kind of light they prefer! Nothing more or it will droop and burn the leaves!
Next, I only use rain or distilled water! When I’ve used tap, it caused spots on the leaves! That makes for an ugly plant and we don’t want that!
My smaller one is in a self watering pot and come spring, I’m putting all of them in a self watering pot! They seem much happier that way!
So in the meantime, I try to bottom water as much as possible! That way the plant itself can soak up what it needs instead of me trying to guess what it needs!!
As @TheOddAsity said, the tighter the pot, the happier they are! My biggest one is only in a 8in pot, but you can see the 6in was just a little TOO small! You only want to go up in pot size if the roots are EXTREMELY crammed!

One more cool thing…see the water droplets on the leaves in the last pic?! That’s the plant getting rid of the extra water!
Awhh, my baby is crying 😒 πŸ€¦πŸ½β€β™€οΈπŸ˜†
@Prentyce - Thank you for the tag ANGEL EYES 😘😘
@TheOddAsity YOU CHANGED YOUR PFP🀩🌱 I thought that was Dr April Kepner from Greys Anatomy !!!!!!🀩🀩πŸ₯ΉπŸ«£πŸ˜† 1000/10 queen!!!! FREAKING SLAY DR APRIL🀩🀩
@JenniferNoel YOU QUEEN MS JENNIFER!!! Magical sorceress!!🀩🌱✨ you have done it again!!! Bahaha I’m saving that advice πŸ˜†πŸ₯³πŸ«£πŸ₯Ήβœ¨ EEK THANK YOU SO much best friend!!!! :D🀩🌱✨
@Prentyce πŸ˜‚ thank you. Dr Kepner is much younger than me!
@TheOddAsity YOU COULD BE TWINS!!! You’re younger than her I think🀠🀩🌱✨
@Prentyce girl, you could sell ice to a man in an igloo! πŸ˜‚ I’ve got no idea your age but I’m guessing I’m old enough to be your mom. My oldest is gonna be 26 😏
@TheOddAsity ooooh YES 🀩πŸ₯Ή I always wanted a mom!!!!! Bahahahah. πŸ₯³πŸ˜ I am 25! Bhahahaha :D I think you’re 28, maybe 29 :)
@Prentyce nailed it. (Plus 20!) πŸ˜‚