Hello all!

I hope this message finds everyone well.

After seeing this plant in a mall, I jumped at the chance to buy one when I saw my local nursery had it in stock. That said, I don't know if I am going to keep it.

ALL the time, some of the leaves turn crispy brown and fall off. Bear in mind, the overall health of the plant is very good but I find myself constantly removing these little dried brown leaves from all around the plant and well this gets tedious after a while.

It is growing in a Black gold soil with vermiculite and a tad of bonsai gravel mixed in to provide that drainage it likes so much. I do not overwater it and it sits in the corner of a south facing window providing wonderful indirect sunlight.

What else can I be doing to prevent the leaf drop? Is this normal for this species? Any thoughts / advice, etc. would be greatly appreciated!

THANK YOU!
Benny

Heythere! This sounds frustrating. Are you able to add a pic? W/o being able to see it, I wonder about dry soil, dry air, spider mites...

It sounds like you repotted when it came home. Did you remove the old soil, or put the pot-shaped root ball in a bigger pot surrounded by more soil? Clay pot or other type?

Hi there @purpleinopp and thank you so kindly for replying to my thread. I really appreciate it.

The soil is not dry. The moisture meter goes up to about half when checking. The plant is in a bay window with a lot of other plants so humidity is good. That said, if this plant would benefit from misting, I could certainly do that. The Fukien tea tree right next to it would probably appreciate misting as well. That said, that particular plant is doing fine.

I have had this plant for quite a long time. I repotted when I got it (root ball in bigger pot surrounded by more soil). I repotted it last maybe 6 months ago I want to say using the same technique. Note, the leaf drop has been ever constant.

It is a ceramic pot from Home Depot.

Here are some photos. In one you can see the little bits of dried foliage that I have yet to remove. Another photo shows the pot and the soil within.

Maybe this is normal behavior for this plant?

Thank you so kindly once again and all the best,
Benny

I have a Ming Aralia and it has issues with dropping leaves as well; upon doing some research I found that this is a common problem with these plants. They will drop leaves cyclically and with even some mild change to their environment. In fact, mine loss all of it's leaves during the winter months indoors even though it's conditions were relatively unchanged other than the shorter daylight hours. Once spring came it started into growth again and has been doing well outdoors on my shaded porch once the warm weather arrived. I'm assuming it will defoliate again, when I bring it back inside. I have found they do like a moist but well draining soil, indirect bright light and some humidity. Despite its issues, I do like this plant! The Parsley Aralia is attractive as well, I haven't seen it offered here.
Good luck with your plant!

What a nice looking plant!
Might be dropping leaves but still very attractive.

Love the little trailer! I have a couple of similar ones in mini gardens. : ) And agree with Debbie and Humboldt, beautiful tree!

Does this pot have a hole in the bottom? When you repotted the last time, was there a "pancake" or "root pie" of roots at the bottom of the root ball?

Also wondering if there might be worms in the pot making the soil muddy and airless @ the bottom.

The rocks on the surface are awesome but inhibit air exchange with the soil. Roots need oxygen & moisture @ the same time to stay healthy and deliver moisture from foliage.

I don't mist plants. More likely to cause fungus or mold than benefit a plant. Rinsing in a shower can be good if a plant gets dusty, and the pot has a drain hole for excess water to flow out, but I don't believe in misting. Unless you do it every 5 seconds for hours, it doesn't increase humidity, it just makes leaves wet.

purpleinopp said:
I don't mist plants. More likely to cause fungus or mold than benefit a plant. Rinsing in a shower can be good if a plant gets dusty, and the pot has a drain hole for excess water to flow out, but I don't believe in misting. Unless you do it every 5 seconds for hours, it doesn't increase humidity, it just makes leaves wet.

I compromise with a good soak in a utility sink every couple months using a 1 gallon pressurized mister for a Heart-leaf philodendron and Scindapsus pictus on mossy pyramid stakes as a cage. Same de-chlorinated water we use for the reptiles. They seem to enjoy it and it keeps the leaves clean.

Then there's the Scindapsus pictus on a single kenaf pole, with moss tucked around the nodes.
It gets misted briefly 4 or 5 each week to moisten the moss and kenaf and roots, but almost never soil watered.

It lives on a shelf 6' up in our animal room with over 24 heated terrariums plus lighting and it's pretty warm and dry there.

Hello everyone!

Thank you for all the replies, how wonderful! I appreciate it.

Let's see... @DebbieC This is good to know. So, it sort of acts like a Ficus.

I have been moving it quite a bit but now it is in its forever home. The soil is very well draining so I will go with the flow with this plant and shall I say appreciate its quirks. ;)
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@Humboldt (love the name by the way as it is the name of my favorite street in Denver)

Thank you so kindly! I also very much appreciate your comments on humidity and misting.
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@purpleinopp

Thank you so much again! I also love the little trailer. I found that at some gift store I believe and though pricey for what it is, I had to have it.

Answers to your questions:

1) Yes, it does have holes at the bottom and it drains very well.
2) I cannot recall the shape of the root system. I am sorry. I want to say it was just a normal roundish root ball though. Nothing out of the ordinary stood out or I would have remembered it.
3) No worms. I don't take it outside and that would be something quite fantastic if I had random worms living in my houseplants. I would have to remove them but fantastic nonetheless.
4) I can totally remove the rocks.
5) I love your thoughts on misting. I think what I will do instead is set the plant on a saucer of gravel keeping the gravel wet all the time. The tea tree would probably appreciate that as well.
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This has been a great conversation I think and I have some ideas of what I can change but mostly I believe this plant has some unique quirks and I will go with the flow. To offset some of these quirks, I will remove the rocks, add the saucer of gravel, don't move it, etc. etc. And.. well, all the dropped leaves will be appreciated by my compost pile I am sure.

Thank you all so kindly again and I appreciate all the thoughts and the conversation. I wish for you a wonderful and blessed rest of the growing season, healthy houseplants with no little bugs flying around, soil with the right amount of water all the time and if the plant blooms, an abundance of healthy flowers!

Take good care and many blessings,
Benny

bennysplace said:
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@Humboldt (love the name by the way as it is the name of my favorite street in Denver)

Thank you so kindly! I also very much appreciate your comments on humidity and misting.
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Hi Benny,

Humboldt has been home for a long time, always liked the name.

Best of luck with the plant!

Benny Hill, I know that "had to have it" feeling when you see something as cute as that!

Those are the answers I would hope to hear to the questions. From that and what I can see in the pics, I don't think there's anything wrong with your beautiful tree. Hopefully the lost leaves are just normal senescence of old foliage as the wood ages.