Beginner Gardening: Streptocarpus dying? Please, I need help!, 0 by capePrimrose123

capePrimrose123 wrote:
@Kell:

Thanks for responding. The soil of the plant always felt dry to the touch, even a day or so after watering (I think the garden shop put in fast-drying soil), but I was worried about the root ball being too compressed, so I took your advice and carefully took the plants out from the soil.

First, all of the dirt had been molded by the pot, sort of like a sandcastle, so I had to flake off the dirt little by little since it was so dry and compressed. Not sure if this was good. Very close to the roots, the soil was basically impossible to flake off though, almost like glued to the base of the plant. This soil/root ball was about an inch in diameter, 2 inches high, and there were two of them (two root bases of my plant). These root/soil balls were actually kind of moist, despite the rest of the soil being completely dry.

I took these to the sink and washed all the dirt and black stuff off (not sure if they were soil or roots, but the dark stuff was really stuck on there, so I had to use some force). I ended up with my 2 plants, each with a base that was dirt-free (so an entirely yellow, \"clean\" base), but all of the longer roots were ripped off in the process, so there were only short ones left...

I repotted into the now-loose soil, watered it once, and let it sit. This was yesterday.

I have to ask for some more advice because the plant looks horrible today... I think it could be from the stress of being taken out, handled, having leaves exposed to a bunch of water, etc? See pics. All the leaves and a lot of the upper stalks are wilted.

Is there anything I can do to help the plant? I have no idea how to trim the plant besides removing brown/yellow leaves (i.e. I have never cut stalks before), so I\'d very much appreciate some pruning advice if that would help... I\'m really worried here.