Can I Save This Plant?

Kintarō Hattori

Hi Folks,

My good lady has this plant in the living room but it's not doing well and is really on its last legs. We originally had it upstairs on the landing where I don't think it was receiving enough light. We brought it down and put in the living room which gets a lot of light throughout the day and would be a fairly warm room. However it's not doing well.

We've brought it up to the front bedroom which again gets a lot of light but which would also be the warmest room in the house by far- though it's quite a dry heat.

Have you any advice on how to keep it alive? Does it need a lot of moisture in the air? Continual watering? A daily spraying with one of those bottles which fires out a fine mist of water?

Any and all help would be gratefully appreciated.

Oldtree

could be over watering. What i do with my orchids and other indoor plants is to have a tray under the pot and to allow the pot to soak up the water then you can never over water as the pot water content will maximise at field capacity. I tend to let these type of plants dry out a bit between waterings too.

it may also be cold damage.

Did you feed this plant during winter? I dont as they are not really growing and when i feed I use an ready to use indoor organic one with a bit of added seaweed so they dont get over fertilised.

looksee

You can just snip off the sad looking fronds, they do die off eventually.

I suspect the roots are a bit wet and the top is too warm/dry. It appears to be planted directly into a pot with no drainage? I suggest you lift it out and check the roots, then pot it into a slightly bigger, ordinary plant pot, which you put inside a cachepot, so you can keep an eye on water standing in the pot. You could also give it a feed.

redser7

As looksee says it would probably appreciate repotting. Compost only has limited nourishment in it. You could also split the plant up. Literally cut the root ball in half. Make two plants and see which comes on the best. Give the other one away. Use a pot with drainage hole and sit it in a saucer. Water it from the bottom. But dont over do it, they Are not that thirsty. I think it would do best in a spot out of direct sun.