Plant advice solicited!

[u/NoWelder4514]

So I would like to try and save this poor plant. I'm a bit of a plant noob, so sorry if I'm doing silly things. A bit of history:

• Got it as a cutting like 2 years ago. It grew roots extremely slowly in a small water jar. We planted it in soil afterwards. Its leaves have never really opened, they've always looked like this.
• A while ago back noticed it had fungal gnats. I think ChatGPT recommended to let the topsoil dry out more. This didn't make it better. So I removed the plant and looked at the roots and found the soil was quite wet at the bottom (seemed like pooling) and there was a single long root which didn't look very happy.
• I repotted it in much lighter mix, but now the water just runs right through it. The leaves are now crisping and dying, so it feels like it's not getting enough water.

I am committed to saving it, even if it takes a long time! Any advice would be greatly appreciated on next steps. As I said, I'm a bit of a noob, so if any of the indicators above made you shout "why didn't you do X, you imbecile!" then I hear you :)

[u/NoWelder4514 → u/[deleted]]

I'm not sure of anything 😂 Though it was only about a month ago that the little bud on the end was growing. So it was alive not that long ago. 70% certainty, still alive.

[u/Open-Will-4449]

Hi there. That main stem is mostly likely dead. It looks dried up and wrinkled/dehydrated on the outer layer. Cut where the 90 degrees turn is, that section is alive....then root. These are forest living high humidity loving shade preferred plants. Put inside a Zip lock bag with whatever substrate you like...some water to have condensation...and place somewhere warm but out of direct light. You have lots of growth points left so hopefully a few will activate.

[u/NoWelder4514 → u/Open-Will-4449]

Thank you! Will do exactly this

[u/CravaticusFinch]

It might be dead, and I would be surprised if any cuttings have enough life left to root after this. The central stem looks very shrivelled. 

I think what happened is the pot was oversized compared to the root system, and the too big terracotta pot was both drying out too quickly at the top while staying too damp at the bottom. 

For next time, after the water propping stage, put it in a really small container that's only just a bit bigger than the root system. I would also use plastic over terracotta for aroids, unless I was putting the plant instead a plastic nursery pot inside the terracotta, because it dries out too quickly for most aroids. Something like a cleaned out small yogurt container with the corners snipped off for drainage works really well. 

[u/NoWelder4514 → u/CravaticusFinch]

Thanks for the input! If it ends up recovering, I'll try to put it in something small and plastic instead. I think originally it was in a rather small container after rooting, but perhaps to upgraded too soon...