Dieing Khat Plant

[Foo]

Not sure what his problem, was doing great up untill yesterday :-/

Now hes all droopy and the stem has gone black ...

Any advice apreciated.

[GoOnThen]

Black stems are not a good sign

Has it been in that pot long?

Have you watered it recently? If you havent I would give it a drink and move it into some shade not full shade. it could be suffering from the heat a bit.

If it has had water recently check and see how wet the soil is it should be in free draining soil. All of mine have been in a mix of coco peat and gravely soil from my yard.

If it is a new plant/sucker I would definatly get it into a shelted semi shaded spot

I have tried to cover all bases but you need to give us a bit more info

Cheers

Got

[ENtiTY]

Last pic is wilting, other pics are of advanced wilting and that stem will not recover. Wilting can be caused by several things, 1: Lack of water around the roots, 2: Too much water around the roots and the roots have rot and died, 3: A pathogen has attacked the stem/trunk of the plant, 4: Sometimes mid day temperatures are excessive and the plant transpires more water than it can take up through its roots causing the plant to appear wilted even though there is plenty of soil moisture and no disease.

Judging by the pics and your saying it has had a rapid decline I would say your plant is suffering from root rot. Your khat is to small for that size pot. Khat's don't like to be excessively wet so in general its best to gradually increase pot size as the plant and root ball increase in size. Check the growing medium and see if it is wet or dry at 5 to 10cm deep. Top may look dry but it may be very wet down at the root ball.

Re-pot into a pot that is only slightly larger than the root ball using a very sandy potting mix, give a small drink of Seasol or ProFert and put in a spot that is well lit but out of direct sunlight. That khat is very close to being to far gone and the extra shock of re-potting may be to much for it but its worth a shot.

Good luck

[Foo]

Thanks heaps for the advice. Its been in that pot for a while and the soil was moist.

Will give re-potting a go, hopefully can save the bugger

[GoOnThen]

If it is wilting and the soil is damp I would change the soil and it wouldnt hurt going for a smaller pot.

I would also check out the size of the root ball and choose a pot to suite

You could pot it into a cacti mix if you have some on hand (potting mix with perlite)

If you pot into a free draining mix you will need to keep an eye on it as it gets warmer

I would also keep it out of direct sun until it perks up

I have had a couple of my bigger ones wilt from the heat in the last week or so but they are in a free draining mix and full sun. The first warm days always catch me out with my pot plants suffering a bit.

Cheers

Got

[Illustro]

What kinda mix have you got it in? I hope its not just woodchips, I know it may seem like a strange question, but I have seen people do strange things.

How long exactly has it been in the pot?

[Foo]

haha, of course not wood chips. Its peat coir and potting mix (not sure what potting mix was used)

I think its been in that pot for at least 6 months

[Francois le Danque]

sorry to hijack/resurrect but i have a similar question that i don';t think warrants it's own thread.

i got 4 very small ones from PH a while ago (must be over 6 months) and only one of them has actually changed size at all. one of them looked fine but when i touched it it just fell away before my eyes like a nightmare

the one that has changed size has only about doubled in height and sent up one extra growth. the remaining two are just the same size as when i got them but feel alive. i have them in 1L pots, two in the morning sun room (in apartment) and one in the afternoon sun room. the other one from the afternoon room is the dead one. i knew they would like sandy soil so i used some sand from a nearby creek mixed with regular garden loam.

i have tried watering them less, more, and giving them more fertiliser. nothing seems to change them. i am considering repotting them but since i did that just before the dead one died i have misgivings. any ideas? also their stems are all red, which i thought was normal, but some of the leaves are as well. i might get around to pics later if this isn't descriptive enough. thx

[planthelper]

i knew they would like sandy soil so i used some sand from a nearby creek mixed with regular garden loam.

i have tried watering them less, more, and giving them more fertiliser. nothing seems to change them. i am considering repotting them

ok, when i started growing catha, i sometimes had some struggling plants aswell, that is, to say, they are not totaly easy to grow. they hate bad soil, they hate soggy and low drainage.

you might think, your home made soil mixture is good, but believe me, chances are, it is not.

most diy soil mixes suck, unless you stick to good materials, and know the mixing ratios, of the same.

in your mixture the garden loam probably stay's too wet.

and if not, than the whole thing, dries out too fast.

catha roots are, very, very grumpy fellows, they hate spots, where the potting mix is too dry and they hate all the spots where the pottingmix is too wet.

garden loam, could provide the too wet, and

the sand from the creek, provides the too dry!!!

it doesn't matter that you mixed it up.

you could use coarse river gravel, as an additive, but not sand.

buy a top brand seed rising mix and repot!

[DarkSpark]

my cuttings do the same thing as that when i forget to take the humidity crib out of direct sunlight. I assumed it was the heat and moisture. However that was just me making assumptions based on the fact that it was really hot and damp xD i think PH is likely spot on here as i am using a mediocre soil mix for my cuttings. Maybe i should try something a bit better.

And PH do you use a humidity crib for your catha cuttings ? i have a little 55litre tub with a clear plasti lid that seems to work find but i am wondering if i might be keeping them too moist !

[planthelper]

And PH do you use a humidity crib for your catha cuttings ?

when i started out, taking catha cuttings, i did not use any humidety dome, but now i do.

for just a few cuttings, i use softdrink bottles, if i take many, i place them into a brocoli box and seal it with a sheet of glass.

but once, i get root's, i take the glass off.

[Francois le Danque]

thanks PH you are a gentleman and a scholar. i will try potting mix and report back. what are potting mixes actually made of? i had a look the other day and they don't say. it annoys me when things don't list their ingredients. i want to know what will end up in my plants.

[Ethos]

Hey PH, I recentley re-potted my catha that I grew from seed you sent me in to a mix of perlite and coir here it is after putting on some new growth in the greenhouse

I was wondering when you take the glass off the brocoli box are they exposed to full sun all day? or do you gradually ease them in to the elements?

Because coming in to summer my catha is loving the greenhouse which is more like a hot house (reached 38^o today inside) and with temperatures like that it should be able to tolerate full sun yes?

Thanks for any help guys

[santiago]

looks totally dry those first three pix in post 1, half the khats at this stage die off 1/4, even for a plant like subject which deals with lack of water ok it seems at this early stage there is too much going on.

you have to plant it in the ground, im sure there are great specimans arount purely pot bound but that is the last exeption to the rule i believe, they must be released to live a natural life. sure you may lose a year or 4 if it becomes time to move but there is always the chance of transportation.khat does not belong in a pot. people talk about spirits of plants and this they were human a khat would be a kenyan long distance runner.

dont worry about the garden rules for khat, dont forget they are natural in some of the poorest enviroments on earth, sometimes i think more nutrients = more general competion for everything biological, little micro bacteria are always a high variable, compared to an enviroment where the limitations of soil fertility could actually be an advantage in terms of overall advantage towards the predominant species in the area ie the khat being the total boss.

WA is unique in the extremes vs poorty soil, but that never stopped the blackboy. poor soil, at least over here is the advantage in regards to the tolerant species thus they thrive, it may be a bitch for the tropicals but thats ecology. so in summation i think good pots may work on the eastern australia but western australia plants should be released into the soil to fight or die, the fighters will then just crank it out forever...without worry from externals like climate or fertilisation per se.

[planthelper]

I was wondering when you take the glass off the brocoli box are they exposed to full sun all day? or do you gradually ease them in to the elements?

 

this process is called hardening out, and is well documented on the net.

naturaly you have to use baby steps here, you gradualy, widen the air gap, and you only give full sun (gradualy increased aswell) to a 6 or more month old plant.

they are quite happy with just a few hours direct sun though, and it's less risky.

[Francois le Danque]

is it possible to make a khat bonsai?

[planthelper]

is it possible to make a khat bonsai?

 

yes they would bonsai quite well, i say this because i have some, under nourished plants, which look a bit bonsai'ish.

but i would not starve a young plant, one would have to wait till a trunk with character would have been formed, and than start the bonsai training.