Money tree help

Hi all

My first post to apologies if this is in the wrong place.

We have inherited a tree my work which has been neglected.

It was very dry so I wanted it and fed it and allowed the water to drain out.

There were some odd brown looking liquid coming out of it when I watered it so I’m guessing people had also been dumping their tea/coffee left overs into it.

Some stems are clearly still going and others not, and to be honest not looking good and dry.

what is everyone’s suggestions, on pruning the leaves that are alive and are the other stems dead?
Any help or tips appreciated

(hopefully I’ve done it right and pictures upload)

thanks

 

2blue2handle

It loos like a Pachira aquatica. Mine lives outdoors permanently so I can;t help you except to say mine gets very little water and no fertilizer.



I think @cactus_girl has one and may be able to help.

 

Thank you for responding, are you in a warmer climate? I’m in UK I’ve not really seen any outdoors here, I could be wrong.

 

Yes, I am in Algarve. I am surprised no one else has responded to you.

Here is something which may help you. Please let me know how it does. By the way, mine is not braided.

Tips for Growing the Money Tree Indoors

 

@2blue2handle
Hi I suspect no-one who does houseplant stuff in UK would look for this post in the Trees area. It might be worth reposting in a different area - try the one for New Gardeners? You may not be a novice, but more likely to find help there. Sorry I can't help with your plant.

 

Thank you both

 

Not a plant I have grown, I suspect if it's had tea and coffee poured onto the compost its probably pretty acidic.
It's in quite a bad state and I think you might struggle getting it to look good.
I assume it started out as one of those platted stem things but it's had a hard life.
Kill or cure, I'd repot it and try to remove some of that stale compost giving it some fresh house plant compost.
Then cut out all the dead stems and reduce the leafy parts by about half.
Not sure how it will react but it's not very ornamental as it is.

 

I think most of us just look at "new posts" regardless of category.

The link that Victoria posted covers all the bases.

The main thing to do will make sure it's getting the right amount of light (plants in offices are often placed in darker corners where they (initially) look nice, then people wonder why they don't thrive.

Water correctly, checking that it's dry halfway down before wateing (easiest way is to stick your finger in), and tip out surplus water that drains through. It might be worth And put a stop to the tea and coffee dregs (the exception being black tea, no milk or sugar, cooled - I often add the teapot dregs to the houseplant water).

On the branches/stems that are brown with no green growth coming from them, you can carefully scratch off a bit of bark to see if it's moist/green underneath. If it's completely dry that part is probably dead so try again lower down the stem. When you get to live tissue you can prune off the dead stuff above. Any stem that's dead all the way down to the bottom might as well be pruned out (unless it's intertwined with the others and acting as a support, in which case it might do more harm than good to remove - in that case just trim off any dead brown side branches that are sticking out.

If it's had years of bad treatment, it might be worth carefully taking it out of the pot, teasing out what you can of the old compost (carefully so as not to damage the roots) and repotting it in fresh compost. If it's root-bound (pot chock full of roots with no compost showing) it should have a bigger pot, otherwise you can put it back in the same one.