How does it effect you when a plant gets sick/starts to die?

I am just curious, As I am going through this with my Ficus Elastica (Rubber Plant) at the moment. HE was so full and had big leaves. Now he's lost about 50% of his leaves. Lets just say him and I are both not happy campers. He is my favorite plant. I got really lucky when I bought him I got him for $7 at Walmart ANd it wasn't just one branch it was about 8-9 of them. I usually just see the one branch in a pot. But I am a little down about it, yet challenged, because I may be able to save him. And the neatest part yet, is if he does lose all of his leaves I can just cut him back and start all over again.
So How do you get when a plant starts going down the slippery slope to the trash heap?
Holly

your kidding right?
i fret,i worry and get depressed.
then i put it outside to see if it recovers.
then i throw it away.

Some plants have things wrong with them, BEFORE you get them, and some just don't adapt well to their new enviornment. I bought a Dracaena, which looked great, except for a few creased leaves, here and there. Well those creased leaves turned brown and dried out, from the crease to the tip, two weeks later! I thought I had bought the perfect plant, still wrapped in brown paper, from just having been delivered to Home Depot. Next time I'll know to UNwrap it, and give it a good looking over!

When it no longer brings you pleasure.

I must admit to feeling a little depressed when I lose a plant, which thankfully is not often. I feel a sense of failure - a sense that if it had been elsewhere, it wouldn't have died. But things can't go right all the time and in the wild, who knows how long many plants survive, before they're gobbled up by some wild thing, or trampled by a herd of buffalo or whatever. But I still feel sad if I lose a plant! They're living creatures!

I DEFINATELY feel sad! No question about it! It pains me to see one of my plants doing poorly, and I first wonder what I did wrong! :(

Next, I try to fix it...by coming on here and asking questions!

Then, if it still isn't improving, and is SERIOUSLY ill, I will usually throw it out...just in case it might infect my other plants.

Sometimes, like my cacti, they just don't DO ANYTHING. Nothing is particularly WRONG with them, they are just THERE. In those cases, I just let them live and don't worry about it.

Like Talon said, sometimes I have to acknowledge that the plant may have been sick before I got it, so it isn't my fault.

But to answer the question, it really DOES bother me when my plants are sick. It is upsetting to see a dying plant, and I try everything I can to make it better!

-plant girl :)

When I finally had to give up and cut my beaver tail cactus up in order to save part of it I felt like crying. She was so beautiful (well to me anyway). Now I have to start over. :(

When I loose some plant, and cuttings, like the Thunbergia grandiflora cuttings I had, I have a bad feeling when I read about it plant f.ex. from a book or web. I tisn't very nice.. By the way, I haven't visited in a plant store for a time. I mean the common one, with cut flowers and indoor plants + few annuals. Hmm.. I should buy a Hoya. where would I get one? Anyone have cuttings :-) ? *Wirn*

Losing plants stink, but what gets to me more than the actual dying part is the 'downhill slide'...when they start to get mushy or the leaves start falling off.

I just recently moved from zone 5 to zone 6 and didn't realize the sun was soo much hotter here...almost lost a bunch of succulents and cacti to sunscald. (I cried when I went to check on them and they were all white and weepy-thought they were all goners). I quickly moved them all to the shade of the front porch and most are recovering well now, still worried about a Christmas Cactus that was OOPS I mean is one of my favorites. ;o)

Along the fence line of my rented apartment my neighbors cut back the trees and shrubs unmercifully at odd times. It always looks like he got drunk and fired up a chainsaw for no reason other than agression. The first few times, I cried. Now I'm just angry that I can't stop them.

On a happy note, I rescued another neighbor's elephant ear put out with the trash. It was severely pot bound, with only one leaf. Now, one year later, it is Huge! And I have culled and raised enough "babies" to give to friends, specifically NOT that neighbor.

Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.

I never feel good when I lose a plant, but even after all these years, I still get depressed when I think of a Weeping Fig that died. I had kept it from my fathers funeral, and somehow it felt like losing him all over again.
Opposite of that is the great feeling I get when I save a plant someone else has given up on and I can give it back to them healthy and thriving!

Hi, sentimental friend, you just struck a chord here. My precious daughter died in 1979 at age 13, and one of our friends sent a pothos in a small basket. I still have it, in the same little basket, although it has been through some rough times when I was compromised and forced to neglect it. My sister lost her oldest son after 10 years in a vegetative state following a car accident. She gave me some pothos trimmings from one that was sent to his funeral, and specified that she didn't want his cuttings mixed with anything else. So, for over 5 years, I have kept him separate. She never sees him, living in another state, but it's what she wanted me to do and I feel compelled to honor her wishes. If either of these should die, I would feel even more terrible than usual. But I'm also one of those people who talks freely to plants, praising their growth, apologizing when I goof up at their expense. greeting them as I pass by. I'm sure people think I'm nuts. Oh, well...