Overwatering drowns shrimp plant

By Audrey Post
MS. GROW-IT-ALL

Q: I bought a shrimp plant that was in beautiful condition and planted it in a pot. At first it was getting full sun afternoons, and I had it sitting under one of my hanging ferns, which needed to be watered every day. Then it dawned on me that I was drowning the shrimp plant, so I moved it and started watering only when dry. It’s getting part-sun now, maybe two or three hours, and it’s still dying. It was so pretty and now it looks pathetic. What can I do?

A: Both the shrimp plant, Justicia brandegeana, with its overlapping pink bracts that look like a shrimp, and the golden shrimp plant, Justicia lutea, with its white bracts, prefer morning sun and afternoon shade. And like so many plants that do well in our extreme summer heat, they like sufficient moisture but they like the soil to be well-drained so it stays on the dry side. It seems like a contradiction, I know, but think of it as the plants wanting to have a good, long drink of water at regular intervals instead of a steady drizzle.

I suspect the roots started to rot from all the moisture when it was under the fern. Take the plant out of the pot, shake off all the dirt and check for any rotting or dead roots. They'll look slimy and smell bad if they're rotting. Trim the rotting and dead roots off. Repot in another pot – I recommend unglazed clay because the pot will absorb excess moisture from the soil. Be sure to use new soil and cut the plant back to about 3-4 inches tall. Set the pot in a spot that gets morning sun but afternoon shade. You should see new growth within a couple of weeks.

If it keeps declining, pitch it and buy another one for your pot. It was a learning experience.

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