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Fatsia Japonica going bad

MattyDMattyD Posts: 34
in Problem solving
Hi GWers, please can you help with this one? My mother’s fatsia japonica in a pot, (not pot bound, pot has drainage) is going bad and ants have taken to its central peak.
Would really like to hear your thoughts and possible remedies.

Posts

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Ants like drier soil, so it probably needs to be a lot moister than it is.
    Best to keep that in the shade anyway. You can then give it a good soaking all over with a hose, which will disperse the ants.
    If it's been in the pot a long time, it may need to be moved on into a bigger one too. All fatsias need a fair bit of room.
    You can take off the dead leaves and it'll produce more. The ants haven't caused that.
    Those ones aren't particularly hardy, so how well it does will depend on your local climate.  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • MattyDMattyD Posts: 34
    Fairygirl said:
    Ants like drier soil, so it probably needs to be a lot moister than it is.
    Best to keep that in the shade anyway. You can then give it a good soaking all over with a hose, which will disperse the ants.
    If it's been in the pot a long time, it may need to be moved on into a bigger one too. All fatsias need a fair bit of room.
    You can take off the dead leaves and it'll produce more. The ants haven't caused that.
    Those ones aren't particularly hardy, so how well it does will depend on your local climate.  :)
    Thank you very much! Climate is south east England so hardiness not much of an issue.
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