Quick tips for identifying and fixing issues with your plants | Indoor Plants | Gardening Australia

Описание: Tammy shows us how to bring our neglected indoor plants back to life with a few quick tricks! Subscribe 🔔 http://ab.co/GA-subscribe
Are sad-looking leaves and recurring pests a common part of your indoor plant collection? There are a few easy things you can do to give them a fighting chance to survive and thrive!

Brown leaves:
Calathea leaves are rarely perfect, they need a warm, humid environment with just the right amount of light which can be hard to provide. There are two possible reasons for brown leaves though - too much sun or not enough water and humidity. Direct sun can burn the leaves causing unsightly brown spots, and it can fade the leaf colour. Low humidity often shows up as crispy brown tips and leaf edges.

Solution: Use a sharp pair of snippers or secateurs to cut back dead, old growth right back to the base. It’s ok to leave those with small blemishes, they’ll keep the plant going until it sprouts new ones. Group a few together to increase humidity in a bright, indirectly lit spot. Give them a good soak with water and add seaweed solution for an extra boost.

Scale:
Palms that have been neglected or in the wrong spot can harbour scale insects. These sap suckers are often congregated at the base of the stems under the leaf sheaths, but they can also be found along the stems or on the underside of leaves.

Solution: If it is a small infestation, simply wipe them off with a damp cloth. You can clean the leaves while you’re at it! Some palms can be sensitive to horticultural oil sprays, so test it on a small section first and only use for large infestations and in the shade.

Pot bound roots:
Plants are often attacked by pests like scale when they are already struggling. Tammy’s Alexandra Palm has been cleaned up but there are roots sticking out the bottom of the pot – this is a clear sign that it’s pot bound.

Solution: Water the plant and remove it from the pot. If it’s hard to remove and the roots are circling, it’s definitely time for a new pot. Check that the roots are firm and healthy. Cut back some of the circling or dead roots with clean secateurs. Report into a larger size with premium potting mix, water deeply, and pop in a brightly lit spot.

Fungal infection:
Monsteras are prone to fungal infections which can look like brown spots where the leaf has died, surrounded by a yellow halo. Another type is rust, which presents as round circles on the leaves with a rusty-orange colour powder.

Solution: Remove the worst affected leaves to stop the spread. It might feel drastic, but as long as the plant has one good leaf left it’ll be ok! Do not put the infected leaves in the compost or green waste as it will keep spreading. Instead, tie the leaves up into a plastic bag or drown them in a bucket of water before tossing in the general waste bin.

Overwatering:
Too much love can be a problem! Overwatering is a common cause of peperomias dying. Signs of too much water are drooping leaves and soft rotting stems.

Solution: Cut back some leaves to the base, particularly the largest, floppiest leaves and any with squishy stems. Next remove the plant from the pot and check the roots. If there are lots of roots still intact, then it has a chance of survival. Shake off some of the wet soil and repot into fresh well-draining mix. Water in to help it settle but allow top few centimetres of soil to dry out before touching that watering can again!

Leggy trailing plants:
A common issue with our favourite trailing plants like Epipremnum ‘Snow Queen’ are long stems with hardly any leaves. This isn’t a disease, it’s usually from a lack of light or inconsistent watering.

Solution: To encourage the plant to become bushy, cut stem back to base, just above a node where it will resprout. Take cuttings from the long stems where the leaves are, and pop these back into the pot, burying a node. You can also pin stems into the pot, ensuring that nodes, or aerial roots, are in the potting mix. They’ll take root soon and the plant will be looking a lot more lush!
___________________________________________

Gardening Australia is an ABC TV program providing gardening know-how and inspiration. Presented by Australia's leading horticultural experts, Gardening Australia is a valuable resource to all gardeners through the television program, the magazine, books, DVDs and extensive online content.

Watch more: http://iview.abc.net.au/programs/gard...
Facebook:   / gardeningaustralia  
Instagram:   / gardeningaustralia  
Web: http://www.abc.net.au/gardening

___________________________________________

This is an official Australian Broadcasting Corporation YouTube channel. Contributions may be removed if they violate ABC's Online Conditions of Use http://www.abc.net.au/conditions.htm (Section 3).