Looks like a lilley?

[mkeane16]

Hi.

I have a very large house plant, had it for 4 years (started from cutting off the inlaws plant).

Very large green leaves, similar to banana plant, but every now and then it flowers, flower is white in colour with what looks like seeds (yellow - i think), flower looks a bit like a lilley??

need help in identifying before i can tell you what my problem with it is.....

thanks

[Newt]

Hi Mkeane,

Can you post a picture?* If not, take a look through here.
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/i...ery/index.html

Newt

[mkeane16]

[align=left]thanks for help, looks like a:[/align]
[align=left]*Peace Lily, White Sails
Spathiphyllum Mauna Loa[/align]
[align=left]like i mentioned, had plant for nearly 4 years, always in same spot (on top of my fridge), sometimes, leaves would droop so i would have to give plenty water...[/align]
[align=left]last week, i re-potted into a larger pot, used high quality soil, watererd with a bit of plant feed mixed, and next day, all leaves had drooped down and stork things were very soft and weak, i tied an elastic around them to try and give them a bit of height but today, leaves are very yellow in colour and plant looks half dead... is there anything i can do to recover it? wishing i hadnt bother to re-pot now....[/align]
[align=left]also, had a 'parrot plant' that i grew from cutting, after 4 years, stork of plant was very tree like (hard) and leaves and shoots coming out all over the place, so, i re-potted this one also and within an hour, all leaves had dropped (so i cut them off) and now stork is very soft to touch and plant looks dead...... HELP![/align]

[Newt]

Oh my, sounds like you need some help.* Let's start with the potting soil.* I suspect it contains a slow release fertilizer.* Most of them do these days, so look carefully at the bag.* Then you fertilized again and probably burned the roots, especially if you used a synthetic fertilizer.* If this is the case, put the pot in a sink and let water GENTLY run through the pot for a couple of minutes to wash out the excess fertilizer.*

Another option, if you used potting soil with fertilizer in it, would be to repot with soil that has no added fertilizer.* Unfortunately all the Miracle Gro potting soils have added synthetic slow release fertilizer.* If you can find a potting soil without the added slow release fertilizer you may have to add some perlite to help with drainage so the soil doesn't compact.*

Another problem could be having your plant on top of the refrigerator.* It's a great place to start seeds because the refrig gives off so much heat.* The added stress of excess fertilizer, added to the extra heat, may have been too much for it.*

I find my peace lily doesn't mind getting a bit dry between waterings and will wilt a bit.* I water so the water runs through the drainage holes into the saucer.* I don't let it sit in water for more then 5 or 10 minutes and dump any excess water.

Since you have had it for 4 years, I'm wondering when you repotted last.* If it's been in the same pot for a year or more, then it may be so rootbound that it can't take up moisture.* Hence, leaving it with water in the saucer for a few minutes can be helpful.

Generally once the leaves turn yellow, they won't be turning green again unless it's a nutritional deficiency.

As to your parrot plant, I'm thinking you mean Impatiens niamniamensis.
http://www.dkimages.com/discover/pre...906/774055.JPG

These plants can be difficult to grow from what I'm reading.* I have never grown one myself.* They can be prone to spider mites, but I suspect something else is going on if the stems are mushy.* They like alot of water, so I don't know if it's been overwatered or has a pest.* Maybe the potting soil since you are having problems with both plants?* Did you fertilizer this one too?

When repotting it's best to choose a pot that is 2" larger then the pot the plant came out of.* Do not fertilize for at least a month if there is no fertilizer in the soil.* If there is fertilizer in the soil, do not fertilize for at least 3 months until the slow release fertilizer gets used up.* Personally, I prefer to use organic fertilizer such as fish emulsion with seaweed.* It's gentle and won't burn your plants.

Newt

[mkeane16]

[align=left]WOW![/align]
[align=left]I didnt realise..... i will check my soil bag when i get home from work to check, the soil is John Innes and a good quality (so poss does have fert in it?), i will check and if it does i will put pot in sink and let water run through it to try and drain (as you suggested), i cut off all the dead leaves yest - which leaves me with about 8 old leaves and two (what looks like) new leaves, so hopefully all is not lost, huge pot will now look a bit silly with only two new shoots!!![/align]
[align=left]will keep you posted - thanks[/align]
[align=left]with parrot plant, u are right about spider thing, the new shoots/leaves that used to grow (before i killed it) used to always have wot looked like spiders webs all over them, i used to pick the webs off - but cud never see the spider!!!![/align]

[mkeane16]

[align=left]incidently, i couldnt see your picture of the parrot plant!![/align]

[Newt]

I went to the John Innes site and looked up their potting soils.* It says here (the italics are mine):
http://www.johninnes.info/about.htm#...ES%20COMPOSTS?

"WHAT ARE JOHN INNES COMPOSTS?
John Innes Composts are a blend of carefully selected loam or topsoil, sphagnum moss peat, coarse sand or grit and fertilisers."


It then lists the different blends, some with more fertilizer then others.


http://www.johninnes.info/about.htm#...20INGREDIENTS?

"Greater Tolerance - With both short and long term fertiliser release, natural drainage and water retention, a John Innes Composts has greater tolerance and gives the amateur gardener better all round results than soil-less composts."

You would need to know what blend to know just how strong the fertilizer is.* Here's the main page about their composts.
http://www.johninnes.info/about.htm

I fixed the link to the picture of the parrot plant.* Here it is.
http://www.dkimages.com/discover/pre...906/774055.JPG

If you only have a few leaves in a large pot, you might want to just take out the rootball, remove excess roots and repot in a smaller pot that is in proportion to the size of the plant.* You'll find your plant will do better in the end.

Newt