Best Growing Conditions for Motherwort
Answered by: Inge Poot
Question from: Angela Yorton
Posted on: August 15, 2001

I live in Florida, USA and am growing motherwort happily in a large container on my semi-shaded balcony. Problem is, the tips of a few leaves are turning crispy tan colored and the plant itself is not growing as much as it should. It rains about every day, lightly, and the soil is a mix of humus, topsoil, perlite, and sphagnum peat moss. What’s the best way to help this little plant?

This plant probably has trouble coping with the heat experienced in Florida in July and August. Since the plant is growing in a container rather than in the soil, the roots as well as the rest of the plant get very hot and the roots near the outside of the pot are probably dead from the heat. As a result the plant cannot take up as much water as it is evaporating and the leaf tips are drying out. Growing it in a clay pot and keeping it shaded and well watered are probably the only way to make it grow better under these conditions. Fertilize regularely, since all the water is leaching out the soil.

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