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klebehj11

"Ghost Plant" help

Klebehj11
9 years ago

My Ghost Plant, graptopetalum paraguayense, hasn't been doing so well. After having some sunburn, and then potting all my plants wrong (never took off the old dirt - and repotted it anyway - newbie moment), my Ghost Plant seems to be the only one struggling.

The bottom leaves keep turning yellow and falling off. I can post a picture - but right now all the leaves are green. I have moved him from the windowsill to the microwave, right next to the windowsill so there is not as much light on him. But I'm not sure how much or often I should be watering him and what I am doing wrong.

Comments (7)

  • kathi_mdgd
    9 years ago

    Pictures would help!!!
    Kathi

  • rosemariero
    9 years ago

    Yes, a photo would help. I've never seen G. paraguayense with yellow or green leaves, so I'm curious if that's what you really have.

  • Klebehj11
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    I haven't watered him since 7th, and it was only a misting with a spray bottle. Since then I have checked the soil to see how dry it was, and the chopsticks came back clean.

    {{gwi:643205}}

    The first picture of him is from the first thread I made when we presumed sunburn and soil change. (I haven't been able to get a grittier soil - I don't own a car - I'm in college) So I have to wait until mid October until I have break.

    {{gwi:643207}}

    This photo is from today. The leaves are mostly green but the bottom one is yellow and the tip is green.

    {{gwi:643210}}

  • _sbgibbons_
    9 years ago

    Yeah, that does look like a Graptopetalum Paraguayense, but it's so weird to see it green! It's shaped like mine though. That being said, I don't think that is sunburn. Sunburn looks more like this. It usually isn't one entire leaf and nothing else, you know? It would be just a spot or multiple spots.

    {{gwi:643213}}
    How much sunlight is it getting? In my opinion, I don't think it was sunburned to begin with, so I think you can slowly start giving it more light. I think your problem is more of a soil/watering issue. Have you looked at the roots recently?

  • Klebehj11
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Oh, well - scratch the sunburn theory. He gets a lot of light actually - even on the microwave. He gets natural light from about 6am to sundown. He was in the window all day long until I moved him to the microwave, which is right in front of the window, maybe a foot in a half from the window sill. We have had a couple of cloudy days, but even so, there is natural light, and the sun usually comes through the window strongly from 9-11am to 3-5pm. So I thought he was getting a lot of light.

    I repotted him on the 5th. And I cleaned his roots the best I could. I didn't see any bugs or anything. It looked like all the roots of all my other succulents - just thinner. (Newbie mistake: I didn't realize you are suppose to get rid of the dirt from the old pot when you repot plants). I didn't have him in the window/microwave until the 11th because of the acclimation period, but all my other plants are doing okay, except him.

  • _sbgibbons_
    9 years ago

    How long are the stems on your ghosties? If they are pretty long, you want those to be out of the soil. They may be, I just can't tell from your picture. They look kinda over potted. Here are mine. :) {{gwi:643215}}
    What kind of soil are you using? If you don't want to switch to a gritty mix, you can always add perlite to your soil. They say 50/50, but you can do even more than that. Because they are getting enough light, the roots are healthy, and you aren't over watering- I think they only thing left is soil. So maybe try getting a ride to walmart or home depot or somewhere like that and grabbing a bag of perlite. It's pretty cheap. Try mixing a good bit into your soil and see if that will help. If you see they they are starting to fail, I'd pull the healthy leaves and try to propagate. I hope they make it! Good luck. :)

  • Klebehj11
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    The stem is pretty short. The whole plant from root to tip is only a couple inches tall.

    I wanted to buy it a different pot - one that was shorter and wider, but my walmart only sells the pots he is in, and I threw out the little black ones that he came in, otherwise I would have just repotted him in that one.

    Right now I have him in C&S mix. I looked for Perlite when I went back to Walmart - none. In a small town with no car. I really don't have any other options.There isn't a home depot or a lowe's for a little over an hour. I have a couple days break in October when I wanted to make a gritty mix, but I really don't know if I am killing this plant. Hopefully he makes it until then. :/