Hello,

I have had a beautiful Ming Aralia for 3-4 years now. I only found out it was a Ming Aralia earlier today, so it seems like it was only my habit of forgetting that plants need water that kept it happy so far. The plant is three stalks in one pot and is about 3 feet tall. It has had no problems, even after moving from one house to another. It has been next to my east-facing french doors for about a year and a half.

About a week ago I noticed that one of the stalks was losing its leaves no matter what it did (including watering more, which I now know probably made it worse). I moved the plant outside to an east-facing deck hoping the few hours of direct sunlight a day would help it perk up. It didn't improve so yesterday I tried to cut off the dying stalk, hoping the rest would recover. When I did this, the bark mushed off under my fingers, revealing goo underneath that looked like runny peanut butter and had a really bad smell.

Some internet research suggested this was root rot, so today I tried to replant. The roots of Stalk 1, the one that was dying and mushy inside, were entangled with the roots of Stalk 2. When I pulled them all out and tried to separate the stalks, I found that the roots of Stalk 1 were even worse than the base of the stalk. They were covered in liquid that had the worst smell I have ever encountered - it was sour and salty and rotten all together.

I gave up on Stalk 1 (and tried not to barf), but a small patch of roots on Stalk 2 were liquid and smelly. I tried to wash off the rotten parts, and I have replanted Stalk 2 in a new pot with all new soil. I put gravel at the bottom to help drainage and added Perlite to the soil. I am planning to get some fungicide with copper in it tomorrow, because I have heard that might help.

The third Stalk in the original pot does not have mushy roots or a smell, so I repotted it as well (in a different pot from Stalk 2), again with gravel and Perlite added. I am also going to use fungicide on this just in case. But Stalk 3 had barely any roots - nothing branches off the bottom of the stalk. Can I put root hormone/powder on this, or is that only for cuttings?

I am afraid the pots I put Stalks 2 and 3 into will be too big, because I had to get fairly deep ones to fit the roots in, which makes them wider than the plants really need.

Is there any chance Stalks 2 and 3 will recover, or do I just have to wait and see? Have I done anything horribly wrong that I need to fix immediately? I will avoid overwatering in the future if they survive, but is there anything else I can do to keep this root rot from coming back?

Sorry for the novel-length post and thanks for any help.