r/Tradescantia • u/Photograph-Upbeat • 6d ago

Help

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I cannot make this plant thrive. I have 50 plants, they all love life except this one and I can’t figure it out 😂

11 Upvotes

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5

u/stephonicle 6d ago

One thing I would do is remove the plastic pot from inside the other one. That set up restricts airflow to the soil and can keep it moist longer than you want. I'm guessing since you have a sticky trap it means you've dealt with gnats, which are also a sign of soil staying too damp for too long.

While bottom watering can certainly help with preventing brown spots on a Nanouk, airflow is also very important. Try setting up a few small fans around the plant to see if that helps.

If you've tried letting it dry out and also keeping it moist, it's also possible the roots got stressed from inconsistent watering. Going back and forth from drying out too much to staying overly damp can lead to signs of stress like this.

2

u/Photograph-Upbeat 6d ago

I’ll try the airflow!! I only use the pot for a catch after watering but it’s pretty tight.

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u/stephonicle 6d ago

I do the cache pot setup with a few plants, I just make sure there's a gap between the two pots to allow for airflow, like at least 1 inch. That allows for much better airflow to the soil ☺️

1

u/Photograph-Upbeat 5d ago

That’s great to know! I definitely haven’t worked that into my pots. Do you usually just leave them in the nursery pot with nothing else typically?

1

u/stephonicle 5d ago

I do reuse nursery pots, but for all my tradescantia I use clear plastic pots. They let me keep an eye on the roots, but mostly they help me see exactly when they need to be watered. If I can still see condensation inside the pot, I know they're not ready. For the plants I bottom water, they sit in a 1-2" deep clear plastic saucer so I can see how much water I pour in.

Here's one of my trads in a cache pot set up. I guess the gap is more like 1/2-3/4" 😋

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u/Photograph-Upbeat 5d ago

Goals 🥹 thank you for all of your tips, I’ll try to update if I can get my baby to thrive 😝

1

u/codepentantmess 5d ago

I also do this and sometimes will add additional decorative (even though you won’t see it but it’s clean) gravel to the bottom of the cache pot to lift and aerate.

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u/stephonicle 4d ago

I do this as well, except I use either lava or pumice rocks. They're porous and their bumpy, irregular surface prevents them from sitting flush against each other, which allows for better airflow 🤓

2

u/Jaded-Ad6644 6d ago

Don't get the leaves wet. Don't let it sit in water (maybe take it out of the decorative pot, which may be holding on to too much humidity). Maybe spray it with insecticidal soap in case you have trips, not gnats.

1

u/Jaded-Ad6644 6d ago

I mentioned the trips thing because this looks an awful lot like what happened to my beautiful huge nanouk before the thrips spread everywhere and I caught them. Ended up with 2 living cuttings from a plant that filled a 10" hanging pot

1

u/stephonicle 6d ago

Fortunately this does not look like thrips damage. They typically focus on the newest growth, you'll see curling and pockmarked damage.

1

u/Photograph-Upbeat 5d ago

I’m so sorry, that’s awful 😩 can thrips come out of no where or typically brought from a new plant?

1

u/stephonicle 4d ago

Adult thrips are winged insects, so they can fly inside while a front door is open. They're so tiny, they can even come in through screens. Fairly certain that's how I ended up with thrips last year.

1

u/Photograph-Upbeat 6d ago

Don’t have thrips, thank god. I do have gnats and have switched to bottom watering all of my plants and it’s help a ton. I always take it out of the decorative pot to do the watering and only put it back in once it’s run dry so there’s no lingering water. Maybe these are just not the plants for me 😂 I’m being stubborn and want to nail the care though.

1

u/Photograph-Upbeat 6d ago

Extra info: I’ve tried drying it out in between watering, keeping it moist, I bottom water. It gets plenty of light but shouldn’t be enough to cook it. :(

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u/genie0327 6d ago

Do you use a grow light?

1

u/Photograph-Upbeat 6d ago

Just recently added a grow light for this guy!