Aluminium plant going downhill

[Marb67]

Well, yet another plant rapidly going down the toilet. I am sticking to guidelines on growing this very difficult plant but it seems it just wants to go brown, drop leaves and die. Its kept out of direct sunlight in the bathroom window.

[Nicos]

Funnily enough I’d never heard that name, but I recognise the plant.
Doing a bit of a goooogle I found this……
”This plant prefers a sandy soil mixture to live in. Combine one part clean sand (or perlite) with two parts peat to provide the required soil content for continued health”

from this…..

https://www.houseplantsexpert.com/aluminum-plant.html

I notice you tend to use the same compost Marb for most of your growing? Is that correct? I wonder sometimes if the compost you use isn’t ok for some of the plants which fail for you.
I know you have said that it’s a really good quality but have you tried using a different type for different plants?
The compost for that plant looks very fibrous.
I could be wrong but in your shoes I’d be trying different types of composts . You have so many failures yet try so hard. It must be so disheartening for you. Maybe it’s time to change tactics?

[Marb67]

Well I have incorporated sand into the mix to no avail. My compost is fine. In fact when purchased from the shop originally it seemed to thrive in what seemed like normal compost.

[Marb67]

Still getting worse 😞

[DannyK]

Has something been eating it? Slugs or snails?

[rary]

Looking at the compost I would try adding more course sand to open up the compost a bit, I find the composts nowadays are not as open as composts once were, personally I would go for a higher sand/fine grit content possibly a 60/40 mix

[Marb67]

No slugs or snails and I did make the compost more sandy but to no avail. Surely a plant can't be that sensitive to compost not being sandy enough. The reaction is too severe.

[rary]

As a last resort, I would lift the plant out and check that the roots are clear of any grubs and open them up a bit, then plant it into a high grit, compost mixture and then keeping it well back from the window, just incase it's in contact with condensation, I would water from the base, never on the top

[Marb67]

All advice taken and roots fine. Sandy soil but still going downhill 😞

[Marb67]

Again, done everything suggested here and still awfull. It just seems when I do all the correct things with plants, veg etc I still get failure.

[ameno]

It was almost certainly already too late to save it when you first posted in November. It likely didn't matter what you did after that, it would continue to decline and die.

[Marb67]

But I was doing this before they took a turn for the worse. In fact, you can see the green stems gave grown but the tips are black. Absolutely no logical reason why this should be.

[ameno]

It's almost certainly an infection of some sort, which is why I say it was probably already beyond saving even back then. Once it progresses that far there's not really anything you can do.

What caused the infection in the first place I couldn't say, but there are plenty of things it could be.
You need to understand that growing plants isn't an exact science, especially when the conditions that one can provide in one's own home are usually far from perfect. Sometimes plants will just fail at random, even if you think you are doing everything right. This goes especially for small, fleshy plants like this one, which are quite sensitive and more easily get infections.

[Marb67]

I am nurturing it in the greenhouse as it tries to come back, but always seems to go black or brown at the end of the stem. I am determined to save this as it clearly is trying to live. I shall give it a dose of seaweed spray on the foliage.

[Snoop Puss]

Marb, good news that it's trying to survive. But I don't think damp on its surface will help it in that condition. So I wouldn't spray it. I don't know what your feeding regime is. If you really want to feed it, feed the soil, but only a very dilute and small amount.