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Save my lauterbachii!

Linda Watson
10 years ago

I know nothing about hoyas but I bought my so in law this plant for his office last year. It came in a two inch pot and I repotted it into a eight pot with Pro-mix potting soil. It hadn't grown at all so he asked me to take it home and see if I could fix it. I wrapped in two layers of plastic and took it to the car. It was only outside for about 30 seconds but th temperature was zero. Then it went from a heated car into aheated car and then the house. I have it under lights were african violet happily grow. All the leaves have turned yellow but they are not limp. Is there anything I can do to save it?

Comments (3)

  • PRO
    Whitelacey
    10 years ago

    Linda,

    The roots may still be alive so keep it under lights and the soil nicely moist. Do not remove any leaves unless they are obviously dead. A struggling plant needs all the help it can get-better damages leaves than no leaves. And, just a note, potting from a 2'' to an 8'' pot is never a good idea. You should pot up in increments and should really let the plant adjust to its new surroundings before you re-pot at all. It sounds as though your plant was busy filling that huge pot with roots before it would show any top growth. Linda

  • Denise
    10 years ago

    Linda,

    I doubt the cold hurt your plant if it was adequately protected. I agree that you WAY overpotted it. I would pull it from the pot it's in and put it in a new pot, with only a couple inches of room around the roots - if the roots haven't really grown, that would be MAX a 4" pot. Use a mix that is pretty porous - I add perlite for extra drainage. And your yellow leaves could be due to the change to growing under lights. Especially if they seem otherwise healthy. Going from office conditions, which are usually fairly dim, to grow lights will sometimes wash-out the green in the leaves.

    I can't speak directly to lauterbachii as I don't grow it yet. I've heard it's tough to grow in less-than-tropical conditions, though I'm sure there are those that grow it just fine up here. I plan to give it a shot this year myself. Hope you can get yours growing and get some of those awesome flowers!

    Denise in Omaha

  • greentoe357
    10 years ago

    Linda, posting a picture of the plant will help you get more relevant advice.

    Consider down-potting it back to the original pot or if the roots in it were tight, into a 4-inch one at most like Denise suggested. I would also recommend enclosing it into some sort of a humidity dome like a clear plastic bag or a container covered with clear plastic. Leave some vents, air it out every day or a few days, and keep in mind it'll need drastically less watering while enclosed.

    Temperature is also important, although less so because your home is already heated. On a window sill it can be very much colder though, so maybe move it away a bit where it'll still get good light.

    And then the most difficult part - just WAIT for it to recover. And observe the changes - it'll be telling you how it feels.

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