Hi,

I received 5 philodendron white princess plants in the mail from a nicely tropical part of Australia. They arrived bare rooted and seemed okish - some had torn leaves and were weedy looking

Regardless, I put them into some soil as soon as I could, and gave them a watering. I have a feeling I may have overwatered, as one day I woke up and found mushy leaves on them. Mushier than what you see in the picture! I cut off the bits that were brown, sprinkled cinnamon powder over everything, and left them alone. They've mostly been alright, but since then, I have not watered the plants at all, and I'm pretty sure it's time to! (It's been at least 4 weeks without any proper watering - I'm just scared to cause any more issues, so I've taken to lightly misting them a bit, but I know that's not enough).

Any tips for taking better care of these plants? Also, does anyone have any idea whether the mushy leaves were caused from over watering, or maybe some infection / stress from transplanting?

I was also wondering what people would do with the stems that look as unsightly as these... Would you chop them? Put them in water? Put them in a smaller pot?


*sigh* So many issues!
Many many many thanks in advance!

Whenever anything is barerooted it can take it a while to recover. Are you sure that this is White Princess and not White Wizard? Princess and Wizard are both climbers, White Knight is self heading. Princess usually has some red on the stem. Wizard doesn;t. I have grown Wizard for many many years, they can take a while to re-establish after transplantation.

If they all look like the one in the photo, no, I wouldn;t chop it, you barely have enough of a cutting to thrive in the first place if they did not give you at least 2 good nodes above the proximal cut.

If the portions of the leaves that have withered away were white portions, that would kind of be expected, as the white portions do not photosynthesize. That is why this plant and its sister plants Wizard and Knight need very very bright light.

Thank you so much, Gina. I really appreciate the prompt response!

No, it wasn't just the white parts that turned mushy on me It was decent chunks of the leaf, but the cutting off / sealing with cinnamon has really helped stop that in its tracks - whatever it was.

Hmmm - maybe I got a white wizard! That's exciting! The other plants have pink on them

Is it ok that I potted some stem under the soil? I'm a bit worried now that it's time to water again ...

Two more things for you - ever so appreciative of your time / knowledge!

What are your thoughts about the fact these are growing upwards like this...

how should I give this plant more support? Should I ever try to wrap those aerial roots into spagnum moss and see if they will grow? The reason I ask is because there is a lot of stem under the soil, and I just wasn't sure what to do about it...

Also, when it comes to this 4th plant, which is probably my best specimen...

is it ok that it is so crowded together?

Thank you so much for your patience and advice!

That plant definitely looks like Princess. That is the coloration it has. Its difficult to tell because you did not pan out to show the whole plant, but what that looks like on the face of it is a side shoot forming. I get those a lot on my mail oldest Wizard. The plant in the clear container needs a different support. These are climbers. They need a support that will allow the roots to actually attach and clasp. Not just to be tied to and produce adventitious roots that hang out in the air. It needs a thick moss pole. This is an offset of my Wizard that I took last season and let get some size and planted in the ground, this is the sort of totem it needs. Maybe not this thick around, but a serious padded support. When you plant a cutting, if you have the 'luxury' (because, sometimes, no MOST of the time, the seller is just damn selfish and gives the smallest cutting possible...) you should plant as many nodes into the soil as you can, because each node will produce roots, and the primary goal is to establish a cutting with the best root system you can in order to have a stable plant with the support it needs to thrive.

Thank you so much Gina! That photo is really helpful, as I can see you've deeply planted the stem of your White Wizard into the soil. Plus of course, the pole you've attached it to.

If it's not too much trouble, would you mind photographing the plant again, from an angle that shows the new growth?

I finally took the plunge and watered all 5 of my cuttings on the weekend. I was afraid of the leaves turning brown and rotting, but hopefully that won't happen! I've given them a bit more sun as well, when I've been able to, and hopefully that will get them looking good. Now I just need to purchase some poles and help them climb up! Can't wait to have some thriving plants :D

(I'll post pics of before & after proper poles!)