# Is my Philodendron Verrucosum Unhealthy? What am I doing wrong?



## hansgruber7 (Mar 23, 2020)

I recently added this plant and it doesn't seem to be doing great with the edges starting to curl up. Is that a sign of overwatering? Underwatering? Humidity too low? Any tips?


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## Robru (Jan 1, 2021)

It is probably too wet. A soil that is too wet is not conducive to the Philodendron Verrucosum, as it can cause root rot.


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## mybasementscaresme23 (May 6, 2021)

hansgruber7 said:


> I recently added this plant and it doesn't seem to be doing great with the edges starting to curl up. Is that a sign of overwatering? Underwatering? Humidity too low? Any tips?
> 
> View attachment 299230





hansgruber7 said:


> I recently added this plant and it doesn't seem to be doing great with the edges starting to curl up. Is that a sign of overwatering? Underwatering? Humidity too low? Any tips?
> 
> View attachment 299230


i do definitely agree that the substrate is to saturated, what are your main components of your substrate?


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## asteroids (Mar 20, 2021)

I mean if it’s too wet you could just cut down on the watering. I don’t know what you have in your substrate, but too much sphagnum would hold excessive amounts of moisture. How do you water it?


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## Bunsincunsin (Feb 11, 2008)

The idea that anyone could definitively state one way or the other that your substrate is too saturated, or too dry, just by looking at your photo, is a bit nonsense.

_Philodendron verrucosum_ is quite adaptable and can grow in a fairly wide range of conditions, given the proper care. I'm going to guess that you received the plant from another grower, and that you weren't previously growing it under your own care. If this is the case, I would actually suggest that you may not be doing anything wrong with it at all and that it comes down to a simple matter of a change in conditions from where it was being grown previously to where you have it planted now - a change in lighting, temperature, humidity, etc. Plants grow to the conditions they are exposed to and it's not uncommon for a plant - even a healthy plant - to drop leaves, and later grow new ones, in an effort to better adapt to a change in conditions, and it doesn't necessarily mean that anything is wrong. That's also not to say that your plant looks terrible, or will drop leaves - in all honesty, it doesn't look bad. If the leaves are curling up, that could be an indicator of a relative humidity that is lower than what it has been accustomed to. It's also likely that the plant is currently putting more effort into growing new, healthy roots rather than putting energy into the current foliage it already has - that may be especially true if your plant started out as a cutting.


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## Harpspiel (Jan 18, 2015)

I don't know anything about _Philodendron verrucosum_. That being said, it's really hard to visually diagnose too much vs too little water, because both could present in wilting or curling leaves - too much water will eventually result in the roots rotting, which means that the plant cannot take up enough water to keep the leaves turgid, which can result in curling or in the plant dropping leaves. This looks exactly the same as a plant receiving too little water due to dry substrate. Over time and with experimentation you will figure out how much moisture is ideal in your substrate (although a safe rule of thumb is "not soggy"), and which plants like to be wetter vs drier.

If the plant drops that leaf or that leaf continues to decline, check that there is an active growing tip beneath the leaf. If it's actively growing new leaves, give it a while to acclimate. If it continues to drop old leaves while growing new ones months from now, at that point you have a problem which could be related to either too much or too little moisture.

Wilted leaf edges could also be a few other things - the leaf touching moist substrate/not enough air movement (I've seen this in Begonias), alternately not enough humidity (also seen this in Begonias, also hard to tell you which of those two it might be), a specific micronutrient deficiency (but that would take months to present), or maybe sunburn from too high light (but in that case I would expect the leaf to be more yellow, and the Macodes next to it would look light stressed).

Caveat: I still have to experiment with individual plants to figure out whether I'm giving them too much or too little water. I think I've finally concluded that I've been underwatering my _Aerangis curnowiana_, and I still can't figure out why my _Begonia baik_ has just the edges of mature leaves melting, but I'm suspecting it's the daily drop in humidity when I remove the lid from that tank to air it out, so I'm experimenting with a leaf prop in a higher humidity tank.


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## Harpspiel (Jan 18, 2015)

Oh and if it was a cutting, that just means it doesn't have enough of a root system yet to carry water to that whole leaf. Cuttings frequently wilt and droop, and may lose leaves or large sections of leaves, until they have established a sufficient root system. Droopy or wilted cuttings is generally nothing to worry about.


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## varanoid (Jan 21, 2011)

I've got 4 verrucosum that I have been caring for for a while now. My verrucosum all went through an acclimation decline upon arrival. That or they endured some shipping stress and had to recover. Or both. 

One lost all it's leaves and all that remains is a stem, green. I'm hopeful at some point it will spit out a new growthpoint.

A couple lost a leaf or two but retained one leaf and has since put out a couple more new leaves. The older leaves, declined in appearance, I suspect due to acclimating to my lighting. They yellowed, then turned crispy and brown in spots. But remain on the plant and have reach an equilibrium. They will not recover to their former splendor, but that's alright, they served their purpose as the plant recovered from shipping and acclimated to my conditions.

The last verrucosum I have never missed a beat when it got here. It is the mini cultivar. Perhaps it is a more hardy cultivar than some of the others out there. Curious if anyone else has experience with the mini cultivar.

I'd say patience is key with this species. I didn't see much of anything but decline the first few months. But they have recovered and their growth is getting more rapid.


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## hansgruber7 (Mar 23, 2020)

Thanks everyone. I'm using Glass Box Tropicals ABG mix as substrate. I've been watering it by hand every day in addition to misting the viv generally. After reading your responses, I suspect it's acclimating to new conditions because I ordered it online from another grower. It may also not be humid enough in my vivarium as it seems a little dry. I ordered a hygrometer to keep better tabs on it. I hope I can get it healthy. It's so tricky to trouble-shoot individual plants for me.


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## varanoid (Jan 21, 2011)

The green stem that I spoke of without any leaves....just poked out a new growth point through the substrate. Visible today for the first time. I expect it to probably be my best looking plant as it's essentially starting fresh and won't exhibit any acclimation damage. Just a long journey to get here.


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