I’d like to say I’m fairly experienced on caring for houseplants but I’m stumped on this one.
So I repotted multiple plants the other day and prepped my own soil for it. I repotted a few monsteras, Japanese bamboo, and philodendron. I’ve mostly kept monsteras using aquaponics and I’m pretty new to the particular types of philodendron I had so maybe I’m missing something here?
The soil I prepped using cocoa coir, perlite, and recycled soil I had that consisted of a random unknown mismatch of material as well as orchid bark. I microwaved the soil for a while to sanitize any kind of funkiness that might’ve been in it. To note, the plants grown in said soil were doing really healthy (tomatoes and tradescantias weirdly enough) and just needed to be put into bigger pots. I made different soil for them more appropriate to those plant types which is why I didn’t use any of what I originally had them in.
So anyhow, I repotted them and everything seemed fine. No weird smells at this point. I watered them to get the roots better situated and left them alone for a few days. They’ve been set in either indirect light outside (to note, the weather has been a bit hot this week averaging about 92ish degrees Fahrenheit) or under a grow light indoors (at around 82 degrees)
Then suddenly their leaves were all yellowing and falling off. Originally I assumed root rot and washed all the soil off the surviving plants. (Now currently going back to aquaponics for the monsteras after very heavily rinsing them out)
Except the weird thing is that the soil smells like ammonia to a nauseating level. No cats had access to these plants to the best of my knowledge. I do own two cats but the little bastards aren’t allowed in the room I kept the plants in or outside.
Photos provided are of my philodendron birkin which has been the latest victim. It was actually doing perfectly fine until I watered it yesterday after noticing the top soil was dry. Now it has that same awful ammonia smell and has all the symptoms of what I’m guessing is root rot. Normally that’s just what I’d assume is going on but the ammonia smell is throwing me for a loop. Is there any hope for the birkin?Send help
by Transpan_
1 Comment
You likely need to lighten up the mix for the Birkin – no coir or “recycled” soil. I have three and all are potted in Black Gold Orchid Mix and thriving.
Ammonia comes from lack of oxygen circulating through the roots. The roots on the Birkin are rotted. The roots should be fat orange and/or white and plants should never be over-potted.
Birkins are very easy to care for, but they cannot sit in a soggy soil by any means.