Does anyone know what is going on with my baby plant? 😢
2ft to light, indirect
6” pot with drainage
Last watered 4 months ago
1
Best Answer
@vanesa_rangell I’m often puzzled how two of the same plants can be in the same pot, yet one of them shrivels and dies while the other is fine. I don’t know the history of your aralia, nor how they have been cared for, but perhaps I can give you some insight nonetheless. When two plants are in the same container, there is often competition for resources, above ground and below ground real estate for the leaves and roots, respectively, and the water or nutrients in the soil or access to light for the leaves. Put two different plants together and you can be off to the races. Interestingly, however, there have been studies indicating that plants from the same mother plant do not compete in the same way, seeming to permit each other to share the resources (the explanation is unknown, perhaps the same bacterial colonies on the roots?). Here you have two plants that are likely from the same mother plant (maybe not exactly though). Moreover, there doesn’t seem to be a scarcity of resources. This leads me to believe that perhaps the explanation is that subsurface conditions, such as compacted soil, and in turn, insufficient hydration may be the explanation. Over time, when we water our plants, they way the moisture is absorbed and retained by the media is not altogether uniform: we may fully saturate one side of the planter, but not another. Over time, this problem compounds, the less often areas of the media are hydrated, the more likely the media becomes hydrophobic (repels water instead of retaining it). It would not take much to cut off access to one’s planes roots if only mere pockets of media around those roots became hydrophobic. Revisiting your watering technique is likely your best option. Despite how impotant technique is, rarely is it discussed. Begin with your watering container. I like using a smaller container with a long narrow spout that allows a certain degree in precision when watering. (Using a watering can, like those made in the UK since the Victorian era by Haws are “balanced”—-try it out and you’ll see what I mean. The water comes out predictably, uniformly, you can hit targets with it. Available on Amazon). A narrow spout also allows you to poke around underneath the foliage to ensure those areas are hydrated. In a slow, methodical, and consistent manner move across the area of the soil—all of in the planter. It takes some time to get the hang of being to ascertain how much water it will take to “saturate” the media as you move about with the spout, but the ideal is to have all the media uniformly hydrated so that by the time it starts coming out of the drainage hole, you have uniformly hydrated all of the media. Next, use something like chopsticks to aerate the soil and break any compacted area. This is key and often times may be what makes all the difference in preventing one plant among others to wither. This is my theory at least from what I can tell happened to your aralia; perhaps someone else might have different ideas. Hope that helps