Brown spots
My pink princess philodendron has started getting these brown spots on the edges of its leaves and the brown areas keep increasing. Mostly on the spots of the leaves with the most pink. I watered it around 5 days ago and at first I thought it was just killing off some old dead leaves but nope- the brown is on the new leaves as well. Inspected for pest and found none. It has been in a north window with a grow light over it for 12 hours a day. Any ideas on what this is and how I can fix it? It could be root rot but I don't really know what to look for in the roots and don't want to cut any off until I know for sure. I really love this plant and don't want it to die so advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
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Best Answer
@aroidqueen this is a hard one from the included pictures. I’m not really sure what to suggest, but I’ll just list out my train of thought.
Doesn’t look like it’s really a root or watering issue, because it starts in the pink area, and doesn’t seem like there’s any yellowing.
However if this is happening on newer leaves I would suspect some bit of root rot and fungal issue going on.
If the issue is on older leaves, could be having more issues due to light, humidity, nutrients.
Sorry I’m not more sure 😞
Doesn’t look like it’s really a root or watering issue, because it starts in the pink area, and doesn’t seem like there’s any yellowing.
However if this is happening on newer leaves I would suspect some bit of root rot and fungal issue going on.
If the issue is on older leaves, could be having more issues due to light, humidity, nutrients.
Sorry I’m not more sure 😞
The pink parts of these plants can’t photosynthesize so they’re very fragile. Is the issue only on the pink areas? If so I don’t think it’s a root problem, but could be a nutrient l, light, or humidity problem. A lot of people give silica to these types of variegated plants to strengthen the white areas.
@aroidqueen hmm do you have some pictures of the browning in the non pink areas? Also have you noticed any changes in the soil staying wetter recently?
@Alinaa No the soil hasn't really seemed super wet, when I examined the roots the other day it was a little damp but not for a few inches and I had just watered it a few days before. Unfortunately I don't have pictures of the other areas as those leaves got really brown and I clipped them off.
You would have to unpot it and check to see if any are discolored brown or mushy, you can probably give it a sniff before unpotting to see if there is a weird smell too. If you find rotten ones I would cut them off, given them a bath in diluted hydrogen peroxide and water, sprinkle some cinnamon, then repot into a soil with more aereation with more amendments.
You’ll have to give it time to reroot after that.
I personally use a lot of products in my water to help with healthier root zone like hydroguard and orca myco, it really helps me with rot and fungal issues.
You’ll have to give it time to reroot after that.
I personally use a lot of products in my water to help with healthier root zone like hydroguard and orca myco, it really helps me with rot and fungal issues.