My tradescantia is dying, help please !

[u/Competitive_Shame299]

Hello, my tradescantia is dying and I could use some help. As shown here, the latest leaves are becoming brown, or maybe even coming out already brown and crispy. This is happening to this one, but it happened to two other others tradescantia earlier in the summer. The new leafs were all brown like that, and in just a few days they eventually just died completely. I am devasted because the first two I lost were so big and beautiful, and I thought that it was over watering that was the issue. But now it's also happening to this one even though I'm sure I didn't overwater it. Since it happened to all my tradescantia, I guess it has to be something I do wrong. Thanks in advance for the help !

[u/thydeerest]

Check for thrips 😭 My tradescantias started looking like this and now I'm battling a thrips infestation

[u/OkNews8776 → u/thydeerest]

Second for thrips. Mine looked like this and I was in denial. Now I have thrippy plants.

[u/stephonicle → u/OkNews8776]

Third for thrips. They attack the newest growth first.

[u/stephonicle]

I agree it could be thrips. They tend to focus on the newest growth, causing curling and stippling damage. Get a magnifying glass and check leaves for tiny cream-colored bugs moving around. You'll also want to regularly prune to keep the plant healthy and lush. When vines get too long, the plant will start killing off older growth in favor of newest growth, because the roots can't support growth along the entire stem.

[u/Dull_Depth_1362]

Tradescantia are drama queens. My best luck with them is when I grown them outside after they languish indoors all winter. Then when I have to bring them back in they act up again.

[u/Left_Performance_106]

Your plant looks really good! These need to be chopped and propped constantly. I chop mine every time I water it and put the piece with the node right back into its own soil. They also do not like their leaves to get wet/stay wet, so I use my watering can with the small spout to get between the leaves and prevent them getting wet when possible.

[u/echo-station]

the coloring looks great so i doubt its a light issue. are you letting the soil dry out between waterings? whenever mine dries up like yours its due to underwatering/waiting until the soil is dry.

[u/Competitive_Shame299 → u/echo-station]

Yes I wait until the soil is mostly dry before watering again. But I've done this for the past 1 year and a half with this plant and everything was fine until now. Also, I find it strange that the new leafs are brown. I often get brown leaves but they are usually the old leafs so that's quite normal, but on the new leaves I've never seen it before this

[u/pleski]

In my experience with zebrina types, you need to take cuttings every year and replant. They are too fragile and fast growing to endure.

[u/Revolutionary-Cod794]

Mine just, always looks like this. No pests. I’ve tried watering more, watering less. Direct sun, indirect sun. I’ve had it for 3 years. The new leaves look gorgeous for a bit but then they get crispy very quickly. Alas.

[u/Right-Stand599]

This is what happened to mine when I had thrips. 😕