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This is an šŸ†˜!! Iā€™ve been struggling with my money tree for almost aā€¦ | Anything about plants | Planta-fƦllesskab

Penny L

This is an šŸ†˜!! Iā€™ve been struggling with my money tree for almost a year now. Long story short, when we got her she was about four inches, over the course of seven years she grew to about 5-6 feetā€¦ and then Iā€™m sorry to say she got root rot. I trimmed and washed the roots, pruned her back by about two feet, removed all the dying foliage, and repotted her in a pot with better soil and proper drainage. Three months under the grow light (Jan-March) and she starts getting new shoots. When she looked strong enough, I moved her back to the spot where she always used to flourish. She keeps getting new sprouts now, but they wilt and die before they can mature. I did a consult with a plant doctor, and they said she wasnā€™t getting enough light. So a month ago, I started acclimatizing her to the additional light of a grow light. At first she seemed to love it. Then one of the stems started to wither. The plant doctor said it was some kind of rot and I needed to remove it, which I did immediately. But now sheā€™s just sad. None of the new shoots make it past a day or two. Her stems are about 3.5 feet tall, she has no side branches, and just a few teensy wilting leaves at the top. But Iā€™m not ready to give up on her. Would it make sense to prune her all the way down to a foot, give her a smaller pot, and let her build her strength from her root system instead of hoping that these leaves will make it? Or canā€™t you prune money trees all the way back? Any advice would be so appreciated. She was our first plant, and it was pure luck that she thrived for such a long time because all I did was give her some water once every two weeks and the occasional bit of liquid fertilizer. Please help me save Money Penny! šŸ™šŸ¼

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  1. Bz

    Can you sure any photos of her? What kind of pot/soil is she in? How are the roots doing? It might make sense to cut her back and put her in a smaller pot. The pot should only be large enough for the current root system.

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    • Penny L

      Thanks for your response. This is how she looks today. Yesterday, those branches werenā€™t droopingā€”just the leaves. I have her in regular potting mix with some extra perlite. River rocks at the bottom. The pot is large, but her root system was still quite lengthy after the root rot. Nothing in terms of width, though. I check the soil before watering, and Iā€™m not misting her because the humidity has been over sixty percent all summer. I know she looks like a lost cause but I canā€™t bring myself to give up on a living thing I should have done a better job for.

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  2. Bz

    Awww. Iā€™m like you, no plant is a lost cause! If it were my plant I would probably do the following: 1. Check the roots again and remove any more rot 2. Repot into a smaller clear plastic pot to be able to observe root growth (assuming the plant still has healthy roots 3. Cut most of the stem away leaving the bottom 6 inches or so 4. Propagate any healthy stem pieces in water or fresh soil You mentioned that you placed her in a pot with proper drainage and river rocks. Does the pot actually have holes in the bottom? If not, the river rocks actually push the water table up further and can cause more root rot then withoutā€¦ this isnā€™t as much of an issue if the planter has holes in the bottom though. My best suggestion would be a smaller pot and cut away/propagate Good luck!

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    • Penny L

      Thanks! Iā€™m going to try this. Yes, the pot has drainage holes. The reason she got root rot in the first place was because sheā€™d gotten too big for me to repot her myself, so I paid the local garden center to do it. After she went downhill and I worked up the courage to repot her myself, I found out theyā€™d used a layer of clay that had completely blocked all drainage. šŸ˜¢ Thatā€™s when I began my real plant journey. She was the only one I had for years, but trying to heal her made me more interested in a wide variety of plants, as well as bonsai. Less than a year later, I now have 60+plantsā€¦ and much less room šŸ˜„ But Iā€™d like to save her because sheā€™s worth it. šŸ’š

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