I'm hoping someone can tell me what swrong with my Split Leaf's. They get about 6-7 hours of direct sunlight. Too much water? Not enough water? They get watered once a week.

Is that a normal amount of sun for them there? Might be a bit much here, but not if it was the first 6 hours of the day, when it's cooler. Saying you water once a week doesn't help folks know anything. Is it very dry, does it ever rain, is there any mulch, how much water do you think you're applying, does it soak deeply or run sideways across the ground?

Tiffany,
It gets sun from mid-morning (10:00 to 4:30).

As far as watering, 1x a week they get apprx. 1 gallon of water and 90% of it goes into the ground. I have a ring around them to avoid run-off, but no mulch. It hardly ever rains here in Southern California between May and October and daytime temps here range from 80* - 95*.

Thanks,
Mike

That heat sounds pretty intense, like here but probably just less humid. These plants might prefer a spot without the mid-day sun if that option exists. Not sure what you meant about 90% of the water going in the ground. Are the plants in containers, or in the ground and you think about 10% of the water runs farther away to the side and not down near the roots of the plant? A gallon a week sounds like very little, this is a thirsty jungle-kind of plant. Applying the water more slowly will allow it to penetrate a smaller area more deeply. If they are in the ground, some mulch would help retain the moisture by preventing it from evaporating so quickly.

While I don't grow Philos I agree with Tiffany Mike. You have a "jungle" plant so a shadier spot with plenty of mulch and more frequent watering should help.

Ok. Well, thank you both. They're in the ground for the moment, but I plan on trying to pot them and move to a morning sun only spot. It's just too sunny where they sit in the ground now. Like I said above, I'd rather take a chance on potting them rather than just watching them fry.

Thanks,
again.

Glad to try to help. On the 'bright side,' a gallon per week in a pot may be plenty, especially if it's a nice, big pot! Might be great for you and the plant both. It's possible that it may be necessary to apply smaller amounts of water more often. If you see any wilting, that's a sign it's gone a little too long. After it settles into the change, you'll get to know its' needs. In the winter when it's cooler, water requirements are usually drastically less, something to keep in mind in a few months. Just make sure you use a pot with at least one good hole in the bottom, so if it does rain, your pot doesn't turn into a pond.

Thanks, Evan. I could help fix that shortage at your house, if it's not on purpose!

Tiffany, as I understand it the potting soil should be very light...well draining. Sound right? For many aroids I use 50% potting soil (no moisture crystals), 25% pine bark coarse and 25% fine. Shredded leaves and some charcoal are what lots of folk recommend as well. Maybe better draining yet for philos? I'll get around to philo and Anthurium eventually, they're so darned amazing, but some strategic redistribution's needs to take place first...Thanks!

Evan,
How about Cactus Soil? Well draining enough for my plumerias. Shouldn't it work for philos?

I don't use much store-bought stuff in pots, except some mulch when I need it, so not a good one to get involved in a discussion about such, but would be happy to generalize in response. All of my plants are in the same stuff, from Philos to Pentas to Portulaca to Plectranthus. As long as it dries quickly, that should be the main goal, IMVHO. When one can water often/at-will w/o rotting roots, the better. As I'm sure you know, most potted plants are tropical epiphytes, understory jungle plants, or tropical or desert succulents, all of which are unable to cope with dense, airless, soggy, (usually peaty) "soils." (When I got rid of peat completely, it became a rarity for a plant to die here.) Many are used to having partially exposed roots, and an easy time for roots to move through rich rotting humus (or rarely ever get any water at all in the case of desert succulents.) A pot of clay and sand from the ground would have the same detrimental effects on most plants, roots alternating between dessication and rot, and always suffocating from the lack of tiny air particles throughout the pot. For those prone to overwatering (which I would prefer to call under-drying, and includes pretty much everybody who has plants,) it's a huge hardship to try to cope with having plants die because one didn't let them dry out long enough. For the rest of people, they just wonder why their plants aren't as great or as fast-growing as others seem to be, or maybe never make flowers or have great variegation. What's actually happening is that the roots are rotting, and if not dried to recover, the eventual result is death of the plant. Now you still can't take a cactus or jade plant and water it so much that it's drippy wet all of the time, but it's so much easier to change the soil than one's habit of liking to water plants before the precise moment it starts to wilt, which is the only proper time to water something in peat. Too tricky for me, and the plants, IMVHO/E. Many of my hanging baskets of mixed 'annuals' and house plants have been rained on daily, sometimes a few times a day, for the past couple months and nothing in them has died.

I use 1/3 Orchid mix, 1/3 Pine Bark Fines (basically finely shredded pine trees) and 1/3 Miracle Gro Soil. I then put some coarse perlite in as well. Filtered sun all day long. Water between Moist and dry with 20% of directions of 24-8-16 water soluble fertilizer in a 5 gallon bucket of water with a tbsp. of Epsom Salt added at each watering. In California with that Relative Humidity down around your ankles, I would mist 5-6 times a day.

I have a side yard full of Tree Philodendron (Thaumatophyllum bipinnatifidum) at our rental property growing in the shade of taller trees and one growing on the opposite side of the house in full hot Florida afternoon sun without any problems but I also have one here at this house in a container, it's a cultivar that's been on the market the past few years Philodendron 'Hope':

http://www.south-florida-plant...

http://www.plantdelights.com/P...

When I left 'Hope' in full sun, the leaves looked identical to your plant! I find that this Philo loves moisture and high humidity as the other P. bipinnatifidum but prefers more protection from direct sun. Since you are in California where you don't get much rain during the year, I'd say you might want to water a little more often than once a week but also move it to a shadier location.

Thanks for the info Lin. So the common thread here is more water and more shade.

Thanks to you too Drew, but I'd have to retire in order to keep up with that watering schedule. And I have an automatic sprinkler system!

Mine are big, old established P. bipinnateifidiums about 8ft tall and wide, living under big oak trees. They get filtered sunlight all day. They get supplemental water from the irrigation system in the spring and fall, and only what rain Mother Nature provides in summer. I've never fertilized them, as I don't really want them to get much bigger . . Despite my best effort, the one in the pic put up a nice new leaf this month.

In a pot, I'd think it would help the plant if you can sink the pot into the ground under a tree that gives filtered light. This would insulate the roots from the hot daytime temperatures. In CA with your lower humidity, I'd think they'd do well with a good watering every second or third day. But bumping up the humidity around the plant would sure help it a lot. A quick spray with the hose around the plant once or twice a day - or whenever you walk by - would do the trick.

Wow.

Thanks Elaine. I had no idea they needed that much water. I'll adjust the sprinkler system and see if that help!

Some of mine in pots are in the plant data base.

We bought our house in 1975 and the Philodendrons were in the ground when we moved there, they were in an area that got watered twice a week from the irrigation system or when it rained. We currently have tenants in the house and they haven't used the irrigation system in the 14 months that they've rented from us. The last time I went by there the lawn sure looked awful but the Philo's were as awesome looking as ever! These are some old photo's from summer of 2011; the last photo is the P. bipinnatifidum growing in full sun.



In late December 2010 we had some really cold weather with ice and temp's dropping to 24ºF, this is the result :

Ice on the leaves 12/29/10 ........................................ and a couple of weeks later 1/19/11 after even more cold: