this post was submitted on 18 Aug 2023
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Houseplants

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What am I doing wrong with this? (kbin.pieho.me)
submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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It seems to grow fine, then it gets leggy and the bottom leaves fall off. I cut the tops and plant them and then the cycle repeats.

It obviously propagates easy, but stopping it looking ugly seems much harder.

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[–] echoclap 3 points 1 year ago

It's a little hard to tell from the picture alone, so take my thoughts with a grain of salt, but it does appear to be etiolated. Direct sun (or what we think of as direct) might not be the issue necessarily. Sometimes consistent, lower levels of light can help maintain lower growth

for example, using a plant lamp for ~12 hours a day, pointed more specifically towards the base. A good rule of thumb is to hold your hand between the light source and the plant and check how "sharp" the shadow is. A sharp shadow means the light is strong, a fuzzy shadow means the light isn't going to be as impactful. Aside from light, if the lower leaves are turning yellow and also mushy, or yellow and also crunchy, it could be a watering issue. And then there's always plants who like to decompose their own leaves in an attempt to regain some energy reserves. Maintaining a diluted fertilizer schedule could help. Sometimes it's hard to know where to start! But little adjustments over time is always a step.