Hi All, I am a novice at gardening amd have started growing potted plants around my apartment since last 6 months. I live in Singapore which is a tropical place though I dont get a lot of sun in my apartment. My post is regarding a Jasmine plant I recently purchased about 2 months back from a local garden store which has wilted and dried from one side and mostly near the roots as shown in pictures. Can you advise what might be the reason and what can I do to make it healthy again if possible? I keep it in the window sill with partial sun and water it in every 2 days. The soil is still bit moist so I doubt it is due to dryness. I decided to repot it using some fresh potting soil but when I removed it, I found some white brittle stuff around its roots..I googled it and found it cound be perlite.. but i am not sure Anyone can suggest what this might be?. What is the soil mix best for Jasmine plants? Thank you for your advice. Btw this is my 1st post at GardenStew so please redirect if there is another thread for similar issues.
Hello Gardengirl, a warm welcome to the forum. I have to admit at being confused over your Jasmine and the accompanying pictures. Do you know the remainder of the name, Jasmine (Jasminum what?). There is something about the leaves that to me, do not match the Jasmine family also the rootball. The whole plant looks too large to have indoors and especially on a windowsill. Wilting can be due to several things. Watering, too much or too little. This can be a problem with plants indoors. Indoors, submerge the pot in water, when air bubbles stop lift out and allow to drain. Normally wait until the soil/compost is almost bone dry, then repeat. The perlite is used to help the drainage and also to conserve some water. Usually potting composts are available ready mixed. Judging by the pictures. I would be inclined to split the roots, giving you more plants. The volume, mass of roots do suggest the plant would do better in the open ground. Hope this helps.
Hello @Gardengirl_sg and welcome to the forum Firstly, I do agree with Mike about Jasmine living outside preferably, as it is a big plant - however, looking at the roots of this I would say that you actually have a full pot of rooted cuttings there, and if you remove the one that has plainly died, and pot up the rest - you should end up with about 9 good plants. It would be great if the actual variety of Jasmine was marked on the label.
Actually at first sight of the pictures, I thought rooted cuttings. Then NO!. Surely plant shops wouldn't sell pots of cuttings. Never mind.
Looks like there are ten plants in a small container. Maybe they need to be separated and repotted in fresh potting soil.
It's actually quite a common thing these days. I have noticed it particularly in house plants sold in the nurseries and other outlets. It can be an easy trick to fill a pot for quick sale without the effort of growing on the individual plants, which involves more work, more compost, and more pots. Anything for a quick buck (that's my America speak for the day)
This is a typical practice with potted Chrysanths for Xmas, but I've never seen it done with Jasmines.
I agree Mike, it seems like insanity to me as each cutting has the ability to fill a sizeable pot in a relatively short period of time.
Hi Gardengirl! Welcome! I can't be certain, but that looks like the jasmine plant I used to have and I remember there were about 4 plants in the pot. You have about 10 in there. My guess is that it's wilting because you have so many plants crammed into that one pot and the water can't keep up with them. I agree with Daniel that you should separate them into their own pots. Once they are established and healthy, stay on top of pruning and shaping them. You can root the clippings, but be careful: you can easily run out of places to sit with all of the baby jasmine plants you end up with by rooting the clippings. That is why I got rid of mine. Now, I wish I didn't. They are wonderful plants and I miss mine. Just a note: If you want a jasmine plant to make tea with, make sure you have the right plant. You can only use the Arabian Tea Jasmine plant. The others are poisonous.
