I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong, and the planta diagnosis is not helpful (I’m 85% sure I’m not under-watering). It’s my purple-heart spiderwort (tradescantia pallida). It’s flowering, so it’s obviously happy, but the leaves at the top/nearest the pot are all browning. What am I doing wrong?
Looks like you need to take some insurance cuttings. They propagate easily in water. I can’t quite tell what is going wrong here. Was this fairly sudden or has this plant always struggled?
3 J'aimeIs there a chance your plant was mislabeled? I ask because it looks tons like my Tahitian Bridal veil which wants no direct sunlight.
It’s done this since I got it. I’m not worried about it dying, but I do have some insurance cuttings anyway. It just exists this way and I don’t know why.
0 J'aime It’s possible? I got it from a friend who knows way more about plant identification than I do, but she just said it’s a tradescantia. I got the purple-heart spiderwort ID from planta.
0 J'aime After a quick Google search, purple-heart spiderwort and purple Tahitian bridal veil are similar/related plants—both in the tradescantia family. But I think mine is probably Tahitian bridal veil based on the flowers.
0 J'aimeKind of also what I was thinking based on the flowers. I hope you get it recovering. These plants are awesome because you can almost give them a full buzz cut and they come back.
0 J'aimeMaybe too much sun…the bridal veil plant is also a tradescantia.
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Does it have good drainage?
0 J'aime Yes, but the outside pot is a little snug so maybe I need to let it drain longer before putting it back in its outer pot.
1 j'aime I’m guessing that is correct. Are you letting the top of the soil dry out just a bit between waterings? I suspect that if you have been worried about underwatering, you’re possibly overwatering. LOL!
0 J'aime Yes I wait until the top inch of soil is dry
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It’s a Tradescantia ‘Jose Puig.’ They are ground runners. They need to be regularly trimmed. The long vines can put stress on the plant when they get too long and heavy especially if the base of the vines are too wet/dry. They flower heavily whether they are doing well or doing bad. I recommend trimming it heavily. Start propagating the cuttings. 🪴🍀
Thanks!
1 j'aime Alright, Jose got a haircut (and an updated ID in Planta)
I stand corrected that it’s Gibasis and not its cousin, Tradescantia.
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