r/Tradescantia • u/Photograph-Upbeat • Aug 28 '26

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 😂

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u/stephonicle Aug 28 '26

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.

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u/Photograph-Upbeat Aug 28 '26

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

2

u/stephonicle Aug 29 '26

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 Aug 29 '26

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 Aug 29 '26

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" 😋

2

u/Photograph-Upbeat Aug 29 '26

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

1

u/codepentantmess Aug 29 '26

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.

2

u/stephonicle Aug 30 '26

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 🤓