# What are my plants telling me?



## Wahaj (May 31, 2008)

Hiya, I'm not sure what this means really.

My Easter Cacti have always lost a leaf segment or two every now and then since I've had them, but over the last month or so they've been aborting large sections of stems. I just come home to find 3 or 4 leaf segments on the floor. They are both in flower and flowering heavily. I'm keeping them watered and fed with seaweed. The humidity around them is never really under 80% and they're in medium light, not direct light.

They're in very tiny little pots that i bought them in about a year ago and they're growing tiny, thin white roots out of the medium upwards towards the air. I didn't take much notice of this as I understood these were epiphytes and would do this anyway.

I have thought that they're quiet pot bound but didn't want to repot them when they were in flower.

The temperature is never too low I don't think because it's a warm all the time. Never too warm....you know...like a happy room temperature and the radiator is never on. I water with rain water.


Now it's obvioulsy my growing conditions that this is happening because my little citrus tree, a calamondin, when I bought it was just a twig with about 5 or 6 leaves on it. I repotted it into an open mixture of peat, perlite and coconut fibre. It sits directly under a skylight so gets full sun and is fed a tiny bit every week. Week after repotting it opened up about 7 new growth points on the main stems and it's now twice as mushy as it used to be, with lots of fresh green, happy looking leaves. However when I was inspecting it this morning, I noticed that even though the leaves that came out are fine, it's aborting all the little shoots after the new leaves. They all looked a little limp and as soon as i touched them, they all fell off!

I mist it to keep the spider mite and mildew away and that has worked in that sense.

Could this be a temperature issue with my plants? or a feeding issue? a watering issue? or is it possible the humidity is too high? inappropriate medium?

thanks


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## likespaphs (May 31, 2008)

how often do you water?


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## charlie c (May 31, 2008)

Hadn't heard of calamondin before so I had to google it. Stumbled on to this:

http://www.geocities.com/verymad_scientist/

which, among other things, contains a care and potting section. 

Hope that helps with at least part of your problems.

charlie c


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## Wahaj (May 31, 2008)

likespaphs said:


> how often do you water?



Depends really. The cacti at the moment as they're flowering like mad and they're pot bound so didn't want them to dry up. The medium is never drenched. perhaps that's the issue with the cacti? under watering while they're watering?

The calamondin....that really depends on the weight of the pot. If it feels lighter than usual, I water it....and the soil feels dryish at the top of the pot.

oh and charlie that's also the website i went on! haha. excellent, but yea I didn't find any answers there about my issue.


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## Heather (May 31, 2008)

I tell people this all the time - don't be afraid to just stick your finger well down in the pot to determine how dry/wet the mix is. The top of the pot isn't going to be the best indication, in my experience.


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## likespaphs (May 31, 2008)

are the internodes (space between the leaves) long and stretched? if so, part of it is low light.
you meant underwatering while they're flowering, right?


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## Wahaj (May 31, 2008)

oh yes sorry i meant while they're flowering haha. I haven't been on the sauce! honest!

and no i don't think the spaces are any longer that the normal, older leaves. It sits directly under the skylight which gets full sun, next to my Mokara.

an thanks heather. i guess tha could be the issue. I'm just always worried about damaging roots by doing that.


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