Ti Plant problems & how to fix them
Cordyline fruticosa
Drooping, yellowing, brown tips, or a plant that just won’t thrive? Here are the most common Ti Plant problems, what usually causes them, and how to turn things around.
Common problems
Crispy tips (low humidity)
Fluoridated tap water and dry air are the classic causes of browning tips on ti plants. Brown, dry leaf tips caused by air that is too dry for the plant, common in heated or air-conditioned rooms. Existing crispy tips never turn green again, but with higher humidity new growth should come in clean within a few weeks.
Spider mites
Mites thrive on it in dry heated rooms; check leaf undersides. Tiny sap-sucking mites that thrive in warm, dry air and leave fine webbing and speckled leaves. Caught early they are very treatable; most plants recover fully within 3-4 weeks of consistent treatment.
a two-spotted spider mite among its silk threads
Photo: Gilles San Martin · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Root rot
Heavy, slow-draining soil kept wet rots the cane from below. 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
Cold damage
Temperatures below about 15 C or cold drafts spot and drop leaves. Tissue injury from a cold draft, a chilly windowsill, or a night outdoors below the plant's tolerance. Damaged leaves will not heal, but if the stems and roots survived, new growth typically appears within three to four weeks in a warm, stable spot.
fig leaves killed by a frost
Photo: Famartin · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
The mistakes that most often kill it
- Watering with heavily fluoridated or softened water for months on end.
- Cold exposure, even a brief chill by a winter window.
- Soggy soil in a dark corner, which rots the cane.
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