Gloxinia problems & how to fix them
Sinningia speciosa
Drooping, yellowing, brown tips, or a plant that just won’t thrive? Here are the most common Gloxinia problems, what usually causes them, and how to turn things around.
Common problems
Root rot
The tuber rots quickly in cold, waterlogged soil, especially as the plant winds down toward rest. A fungal or bacterial infection of the roots, almost always triggered by soil staying wet too long. Caught early, most plants recover within a few weeks after repotting; if most roots are already mushy, recovery is uncertain.
Phytophthora root rot on a dug-up root ball
Photo: Jerzy Opioła · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Fungal leaf spot
Water droplets sitting on the plush leaves cause spotting and grey mold in still air. A fungal infection that creates dark spots inside leaf tissue, often with yellow halos, and spreads through water splash on wet leaves. Existing spots will not heal, but with pruning and drier foliage the spread usually stops within two to three weeks.
Cercospora leaf spots with dark rims on a spinach leaf
Photo: Plant pests and diseases · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons
Thrips
Thrips streak and deform the big trumpet blooms. Tiny slender insects that rasp leaf surfaces and suck the sap, leaving silvery patches and deformed new growth. They are among the harder houseplant pests to clear, but persistent weekly treatment usually brings a plant back over 4-6 weeks.
thrips scarring and bronzing on a hydrangea leaf
Photo: m.borden · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Overwatering
Watering on schedule after the foliage starts its natural yellowing drowns the dormant tuber. The soil is staying wet longer than the plant can handle, starving roots of oxygen. If caught before roots start rotting, the fix is simple - let the soil dry out and adjust the routine - and most plants bounce back within 2-3 weeks.
a yellowing lower leaf on a potted Chinese evergreen
Photo: Saurav9656 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
The mistakes that most often kill it
- Throwing the plant away at dormancy — the tuber is alive and will regrow.
- Watering the resting tuber, which rots it.
- Splashing cold water on leaves and flowers, spotting and rotting them.
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