Afternoon,

A couple of months ago I bought a wandering jew plant cutting a propagated it and it started growing really well and seemed happy, it's a couple months on and now it just seem so unhappy I've tried to remove out of the bright light incase is has been sunburnt but please help me I want to save this beautiful plant? any tips and words of advice appreciated? :)

I've attached some pictures of how it was doing and how it is now.

to NGA!

Your tradescantia looks like it's suffering from a watering issue, either not enough (my first impression) or too much and the soggy soil isn't draining. You should be able to tell which. Sometimes potting soil becomes hydrophobic — it gets so dry that water runs around the edges and doesn't soak the root ball.

Either ailment should be evident by the weight of the pot. What planting media are you using?

As for sun: if that window is due south, there's a chance it got overheated if it was also underwatered, but if it has always been in that location, it seems less likely

NMoasis said: to NGA!

Your tradescantia looks like it's suffering from a watering issue, either not enough (my first impression) or too much and the soggy soil isn't draining. You should be able to tell which. Sometimes potting soil becomes hydrophobic — it gets so dry that water runs around the edges and doesn't soak the root ball.

Either ailment should be evident by the weight of the pot. What planting media are you using?

As for sun: if that window is due south, there's a chance it got overheated if it was also underwatered, but if it has always been in that location, it seems less likely

Hey,

Thanks for replying and the welcome, the window is south west on the compass if that helps and it does get a lot of bright heat/light.

Sorry I'm very new to indoor plant growing so I got the Houseplant Focus Repotting Mix and planted the rooted cutting in that. I was worried about the pot it doesn't have any drainage holes in bottom but I am worried about disturbing the plant too much if I move it into another plant pot?

Do you think I can save it, it's my favourite plant along with the pothos I've started growing and I really wanna save it!

The soil does feel damp underneath the first few layers but the top layers of soil are dry?

Does it need potting in something different?

Also does it need plant food?

Sorry for the many questions haha and thanks so much for your help!

Your pot must have drainage holes. That needs to be remedied.

Your potting soil medium looks fine.

Questions are fine. I've got more for you.

Let's start at the beginning. In the photo: was that taken immediately after you potted the cuttings? How did you propagate it/them? One plant or several? Were the cuttings moved directly from water? Were the new plantings placed immediately into SW light? Finally, can you tell if the plants/cuttings are rooted firmly into the soil? A gentle tug will tell; if it resists good.
If it comes out of the soil easily, not good.

When cuttings come from water, the delicate water roots are often challenged to adapt to soil. Bright shade is best at first, plus consistently damp soil. Sometimes a plastic bag over the pot helps. But background info will help.

@purpleinopp grows and propagates a lot of these. Tiffany, advice?

Okay I'm gonna get it a new pot, I've a plastic one with holes in the bottom and it's slightly bigger.

I gave a little pull on roots and they are solidly in there, they barley move and gave a lot of resistance.

So when I first got it, I had actually bought '3 mystery plant cuttings' of etsy and had no idea what is was and had to google image search them. This was in March.

I actually propogated them in little plastic pots as I was also moving house at the time and they travelled in the little pastic pots with water.

I then moved them into a sunny window in the new kitchen in water and this one compared to pothos cuttings got roots so quickly, the picture of it's roots was in May and I potted it shortly after. Most of June, July and August it seemed to be doing really well and now this has happened.

I guess this is my fault and I should have reached out for advice at this point cos I did put the rooted cutting straight into the pot on the window seal in my bedroom. This is the first time I have ever tried to do this so I guess it has been a big learning curve but I'm going to try my best and really excited to learn more going forward.

The two pothos are both thriving and constantly making new leaves.

I've attached some pictures of it all :)
The picture where it is so bushy and happy was early August.

You did a beautiful job! With all of that info and photos, I now think the problem is that the roots are waterlogged and starved for oxygen because there is no drainage. Repot with fresh soil. I wouldn't go into a bigger pot, especially going into winter. If there is a disproportionate amount of soil to roots, the soil stays wet too long and you risk rot again. Your peat-free soil mix sounds like it drains well. When you water, put the pot in the kitchen basin, slowly fully saturate the soil, then let it drain completely before setting it onto a saucer on your shelf. (Saucer to protect surface)

Unless Tiffany responds and says otherwise, I suggest clipping each stem by about half when you repot. Hopefully you'll see new growth soon and can clean out dead bits later. Your potting mix has nutrients in it. Start fertilizing with an all purpose liquid in about six weeks.

NMoasis said: You did a beautiful job! With all of that info and photos, I now think the problem is that the roots are waterlogged and starved for oxygen because there is no drainage. Repot with fresh soil. I wouldn't go into a bigger pot, especially going into winter. If there is a disproportionate amount of soil to roots, the soil stays wet too long and you risk rot again. Your peat-free soil mix sounds like it drains well. When you water, put the pot in the kitchen basin, slowly fully saturate the soil, then let it drain completely before setting it onto a saucer on your shelf. (Saucer to protect surface)

Unless Tiffany responds and says otherwise, I suggest clipping each stem by about half when you repot. Hopefully you'll see new growth soon and can clean out dead bits later. Your potting mix has nutrients in it. Start fertilizing with an all purpose liquid in about six weeks.

Thank you so much for all your help I'll grab some extra potting mix on the way home from work tomorrow and put in a similar size pot with drainage holes.

I'll keep you guys updated, hopefully I can save it, I'm gonna think positive!

Good luck!

Given half a chance, this plant will live. Zoe has already given great advice.
You could, if you like, use that pot with no holes as a cache pot for your plastic hole-y pot. Water, let drain, place in cache pot.

I grow similar Trads in FULL sun and hot conditions. They can adapt to that no problem. So getting sunny, hot and dry is not the killer.
But when I bring them in for winter, they can become thin, ratty, horrible. I put them in my sunniest cool window downstairs and try not to water. as long as a few shreds make it to spring, I can regrow a huge plant over the warm season.

and

Thanks for the invitation, Zoë! I've been busy with family visiting the past few days. I just popped in for a minute and don't have time to say more than sometimes with just-potted cuttings, the roots can take a few weeks to readjust. If it seems like the under soil is still moist but the top where most of the roots are has dried, a spray bottle can be used to add a small amount of water evenly over the surface. Best luck!

Thanks guys, I have repotted it with a plastic pot with good drainage holes, I trimmed of some of the really dead parts and fingers crossed it might come back!

if not I'm hoping I can get at least a cutting so I can start again with it

Morning Everyone,

I'm so happy so the plant does look drastically different lots of it still continued to die and shrivel so I trimmed those bit back but other parts of it are doing really well and there's new growth!!

It's only been a week so I'm holding out hope for it, I've also taken a cutting which is starting to get little roots :)

So this is big thank you to guys for all your help!

Wonderful! This looks like the start of a propagation addiction.

Almost a month, how's it doing?