Hey 🙂
I planted her in May this year and it worked fine for some time.
I placed her in a brighter area of my living room, but no direct sunlight. I watered her once a week but reduced it to about every other week. 10 minutes after watering, i remove the drained water from the pot.
This one leave is getting more and more dark spots and became very fragile and thin.
I noticed these little black flies (fungus gnats?). Are they damaging my plant? What can I do to save my plant? I put up some yellow stickers, but they are still everywhere 🙁
by russianrougette
5 Comments
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Looks like pest damage but doubtfully from gnats. Carefully inspect the leaves for black or white specks
It looks like your plant is in a pot that’s too large. More soil means more moisture is hanging around the roots. This can stunt plant growth, or even worse, cause root rot.
The pot is only half full. This means the plant is trying to peek over the lip of the pot to see light, this can be another cause of the soil remaining moist for too long, evidenced by fungus gnats.
If this was my plant I would take it out of the pot and inspect the roots. Gently, no need to comb all of the soil away, just make sure the roots don’t look mushy or rotten.
If the roots are looking okay I would repot into something much smaller. Make sure the soil fills the pot entirely. Put the plant in a bright window. Nothing too scorching, but we tend to overestimate how much light our plants get when when kept indoors.
My first thought would be that it was buried too deep in a slightly too large pot and possibly in a too moisture retentive soil? I’ve found these can be a little picky and honestly have not found the right formula yet. Contrary to common belief, fungus gnats can be harmful to the root system. I would remove them, get rid of any rot in the roots, splash some hydrogen peroxide on the remaining roots and let them hang out in water for a while and develop a ton of new healthy roots, then give it another shot.
It’s buried too deep. Established / woody stem can be below soil level (that’s how cuttings work), but if young stem is below soil level it will likely rot, rotting the growth tip with it. I’d repot, leaving at least two nodes above soil level.