I recently bought a philodendron selloum 1 month ago, it came with 3 offshoots and I divided all of them and left the biggest one. I covered up the wound with paraffin wax to prevent it from releasing moisture and letting insects and diseases from getting in. After about 2 days, 2 of the lower leaves seemed to rot and broke off, both of the leaves were mushy and full of water. I kept it in shade and haven’t watered for 1 and a half weeks. The trunk is still hard and not mushy, what is wrong with my plant? Thanks!!

Edited March 27, 20215 yr by John2468

11 minutes ago, John2468 said:

I recently bought a philodendron selloum 1 month ago, it came with 3 offshoots and I divided all of them and left the biggest one. I covered up the wound with paraffin wax to prevent it from releasing moisture and letting insects and diseases from getting in. After about 2 days, 2 of the lower leaves seemed to rot and broke off, both of the leaves were mushy and full of water. I kept it in shade and haven’t watered for 1 and a half weeks. The trunk is still hard and not mushy, what is wrong with my plant? Thanks!!

John2468, Welcome to the forum,

Sounds normal ( old leaves maturing/ shedding ) but a picture or to would help, if something else might be going on..

Here are the pics.

It turned out that it was bacterial blight. Leaves are turning into mush and falling one by one. My plant has a remainder of 5 leaves including the newest one. Is there any way I can save this plant? I was thinking about defoliating the plant and leaving one leaf on it, would this work??

I'd squirt it with regular household hydrogen peroxide, anywhere that looks rotten or blackened.  If it bubbles up you've got a fungal infection.  This is a common anti-fungal treatment on palms, squirt a little into the crown of an infected palm.  It attacks the fungus but won't affect healthy tissue.  A copper-based fungicide might help, if you get a lot of bubbles with H2O2.  I use Banrot systemic fungicide on my plants, a combo of Etradizole and Thiophanate-Methyl.  Sulfur powder could be a good choice too, though I haven't tried it on a philodendron.

It doesn’t show any rot or blackening, the trunk is still nice and firm, it’s a bacterial infection and different from a fungal infection. The leaves don’t rot, it just fill with water and turn into mush, and then fall off. I did some research and it says that there is no cure for this disease.