Your result
Act nowMost likely: root rot
What is going on
Once roots have been wet long enough to die, soil fungi and bacteria move in and the decay travels upward through the stem. The sour smell is the decay itself. This is the stage where a plant can look fine one week and collapse the next, because the surviving roots cannot carry the whole plant.
Do this first
Take it out of the pot today and cut away everything that is dead.
- 1 Slide the plant out and wash the old soil off the roots with room-temperature water.
- 2 Healthy roots are firm and pale. Rotted roots are brown, slimy, and pull apart between your fingers. Cut every soft root off with clean scissors.
- 3 Repot into fresh, fast-draining mix in a pot with drainage, one size down if you removed a lot of root.
- 4 Water once to settle the soil, then leave it dry until the top of the pot is dry. Do not fertilize a plant that is missing roots.
How you will know it worked: If the stem is soft above the soil line, or more than about half the roots were rotted, recovery is unlikely and it is worth getting a second opinion before you spend more time on it.
Still stuck, or not sure this is it?
A quiz cannot see the roots or the room. A virtual consult is $65 and starts with your photos, or a full house call is a flat $185 anywhere from Sarasota to Port Charlotte.
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