The Dreaded Root Rot

So you’ve bought a plant and given it too much love. Who isn’t guilty of this? You’ve checked her every day and thought the soil feels dry… ‘hmmm you need a drink, don’t you!’ You say to her. Little do you realise, you are slowly killing her from the bottom up. Her leaves start to go brown around the edges, her leaves start to curl. The whole plant looks so sad and saggy and you’re now either planning her burial or about to banish her outside for being such a spoilt little drama Queen. You then decide you should probably give her a check up. You take her out of her soil to find her once lush white roots are now nothing but black mush… is this game over? Is there any chance of revival?

Well my friends, I’m here to tell you, there is a chance. There is a chance indeed. Let me introduce to you, the REHAB BOX.

Firstly, inspect those roots. Grab a pair of clean scissors and start to chop off all the black dead mushy bits. Anything that feels white and healthy, you can leave. Give it a good clean, making sure there is no dirt and no rotting bits on the plant at all.

Next is setting up the box. Depending on the size of your rehab, a plastic tub with a clear lid should suffice. If it doesn’t have a lid, gladwrap should do the trick.

Grab some sphagnum moss, give it a good soak and then make sure you squeeze as much liquid as you can out. Layer the bottom of the box about 2 inches thick. Grab the plant and gently stick her into the moss.

Then fill a small glass or jar with water and put it in the corner of the box to help raise the humidity and cover it with its lid or gladwrap. Find a nice sunny spot (south facing window is always a good area) and leave her there for the duration of her in-patient stay.

You will notice condensation starting to occur, so make sure you take the lid or gladwrap off for at least an hour a day to get some airflow happening. Otherwise you may run the risk of mould and or more rot.

Depending on how bad the rot was, it could take anywhere from a week to 3 month for roots to form. My rhaphidophora decursiva (dragons tail) suffered from root rot during winter. I set her up in her rehab box in August and she started showing the tiniest roots in December and was ready to repot at the end of January. She has now recovered well and is about to throw out her 3rd leaf since repotting.

My Mican on the other hand, was a newly acquired plant in December. She was still in the peat moss mix she came in from the nursery and I didn’t realise the amount of water she was retaining! At the start of February I pulled her out, chopped her up and placed her into a rehab box and it’s now the start of March and she is nearly ready to be repotted.

The rehab box can also be used as a propagation box. So feel free to throw any cuttings you might have lying around into the box! It’s always fun filling these boxes up. Even if you have some no leaf stem nodes, you can pop them in there and it’s like a lucky dip when the start to grow. You can’t remember what it is, so you just have to wait and see!

Just remember, to avoid getting to this stage – don’t over water! Always check the soil with your fingers or a moisture meter and make sure it has a good aerated potting mix. Perlite, vermiculite & bark will always be your friends. If you don’t want to repot and keep it in the peat moss based nursery mix, then be extra vigilant with your watering schedule!