HELP! Recently Inherited Elderly Plant Seems To Be Dying!

Trouble shoot problems you are having with your cactus.
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Granny Grinch's Kid
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Apr 13, 2014 12:13 am

HELP! Recently Inherited Elderly Plant Seems To Be Dying!

Post by Granny Grinch's Kid »

Hello everyone - I am new here and desperately in need of some serious assistance! I apologize in advance for my long-winded, pic-heavy first post, but I am at my wits end!!

My mother passed away at the end of February and I inherited what I believe is a Euphorbia, possibly a Candelabrum. The plant is older than I am, so it's at least 35 years old! It has been through a lot in its life, and while my mother was not the greenest of thumbs, it has hung on this long, and I am very upset that it seems to be dying now.

Plant History: As I said, this old guy is at least 35 years old. It's been too tall and too thin my whole life. It has what I'd call very weak/small roots, and is very tall (almost 5 feet) and too top-heavy. This has made it very wobbly in its pot. It's been tied to sticks and leaning in a corner at my mom's house for 20+ years to keep it upright. The plant has had hard brown areas near the lower part of the stem for what must be over 20 years. I've been told that was caused by a lack of water in the past. They don't seem to be part of its current pressing issue, though, as it's had them for years and still been mostly green. I do not remember ever seeing this plant have any kind of leaves, and never any flowers. The plant had 4 or more stalks at one point, but they'd been dying off very slowly over the last few decades - it's down to just 2 now. There was at one point a long time ago another type of cactus in the pot with it, but he's long gone now.

After my mother passed away, the plant was wrapped in bubble wrap and in storage for over a month. It was in a generally room temperature warehouse so it was probably chilly but not frozen and was watered once - "a large cupful" of water. It did not get any sun.

Current Problems: Last week I finally got access to this old guy to get him to my house. This is where we pick up the story!

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While the plant was in transit, it fell over and a large branch broke off of the main stalk (left-most in these photos). Not wanting it to just die, I stuck that loose branch in the pot (the 3rd stalk all the way to the right of these photos). I don't know how this plant works so I don't know if that's going to make it root or not, but I thought it was better than doing nothing.

While it was in transit, it also fell out of its pot. The plant was barely in the pot anyway, so I just reseated it as best I could. As soon as I got it home and unwrapped in the light I could see that the stems looked yellow at the base. This plant has looked half-dead since I was an infant so I didn't think much of it. Assuming plants like light and sun, I put it on my back deck and tied it to the deck to keep it upright. I know it needs to not be over-watered so I also set up an umbrella system so it could be covered if it rained.

The next morning I found it had slipped its ties and fallen over completely horizontally. I retied it and decided I should at least get it a larger pot so I immediately went out and got it a 20" round plastic pot with plenty of drain holes and a round tomato cage to tie it to to keep it stable and upright. The garden folks recommended Miracle Grow moisture control potting soil so I got a large bag and repotted it, somewhat deeply to help keep it upright. I was hesitant at first to water it despite the fact the bag told me to do so. I ended up giving it about 16 oz of water the following day, not in one large puddle at the roots but sprinkled around the pot.

Some growths and branches fell off as I was repotting it - I got conflicting reports on what to do with these, so I just stuck them in the pot with it.

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Since then, he seems to have been getting worse. It might be my imagination but I feel the yellow is creeping up the stems. Small growths up the stems are drying up, thinning out and falling off or hanging on just barely. Growth at the very top is starting to get brownish and blackish streaks and spots.

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I thought perhaps the plant was shocked by being outside - maybe it was too windy, or too chilly - so I decided to bring it inside. It seems worse now. It's not in the sunniest of spots but it does get at least as much light as it ever got in the corner at my Mom's house! Pretty much all areas have blackish specks/streaks, brownish coloring or yellowing of some sort. Ends of the growth at the top is paper thin and veiny.

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I've of course done some research online and have asked garden centers and friends, all of whom have given me very different paths to follow ... water it, don't water it, leave it alone to dry out and it will be fine, cut all the green parts off and stick them in pots to regrow, cut off as many branches as you can and leave them out to dry for a week before planting them ... I am no tree doctor and do not want to cause more harm than is already done! At the same time I am very fearful for this elderly guy, and as silly as it sounds I feel like I'm losing my mother all over again with my inability to help him!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, regarding what is wrong, how to treat it, and also how to handle the fallen branches/cuttings. I'd like to save some of those if possible.

Thank you all so much for reading! I can provide more info or pics if anyone thinks they might help.

Thank you!
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greenknight
Posts: 4813
Joined: Tue Apr 30, 2013 4:18 am
Location: SW Washington State zone 8b

Re: HELP! Recently Inherited Elderly Plant Seems To Be Dying

Post by greenknight »

They sold you the wrong soil, for one thing - you need a mix that holds much less water. Get a good general-purpose potting mix without the "moisture control" polymer and some kind of coarse grit, mix them 50/50. See the Cultivation forum for what type of material to use.

I think the new pot you chose may be too big of a jump in pot size - though you didn't say just how large the old pot was, it looks that way to me. Better to pot it into something only a little larger than it was in before, do that again in 2-3 years.

This is a plant that should be able to take full sun, but it's been deprived of adequate light for a long time - it needs to be gradually introduced to stronger light. If it was hit by direct sun out on the deck, that could explain the symptoms it developed. These plants can take full sun or light shade, but a dark corner is not good. I believe it's Euphorbia trigona, see: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/57020/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The good news is that these are pretty tough, there's a very good chance it will recover. As for the pieces that break off, the cut or broken end should be allowed to heal for a week or two before they're potted.
Spence :mrgreen:
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