Just recently bought this about 2-3 weeks ago. The soil still feels damp so I haven’t watered it yet. The small leaves or nodes..I’m not sure what they are are dry and brittle. What do I do?
1 Answer
What you are seeing on your Brasil Philodendron is completely normal. The tiny stem like looking things coming from the nodes are called aerial roots. In their native environment, the floor of tropical forests, philodendrons are climbing plants. They grow aerial roots to attach themselves to trees so that they can grow up towards the light or to climb along the ground to find a suitable tree to climb up. If the aerial roots do not attach to anything, then it is not needed and the plant will not expend any of it's energy to maintain the aerial root so it dries up, turns brown and falls off. This is normal and does not harm the plant in any way. Some people like to provide philodendrons (and Pothos) with moss poles to climb up instead of having the plant as a hanging vine. The plant will be fine either way since, as a houseplant, it gets adequate light and doesn't need to climb a tree to get enough light. .
The brown papery thing on the stem was once a protective sheath for a new leaf. Once the leaf matures enough to open, the sheath is no longer needed so it dries up, turns brown and falls off. The brown leaf sheaths can be messy and annoying but they are a sign of a healthy, growing plant.
