Question
I have a mass cane that is 20 years old and is 8 feet tall.
It lived in a corner of our living room for all those years and the las t few months we moved it to anouther room with the same light exposure and seem to be doing well. My wife waters it once a week and it sits in a 2 ft x 2 ft round planter.
Yesterday it started to smell real bad, like sour rotton garbage.  I looked at the base of the plant and noticed small mushrooms growing in the soil and at the trunk of the the plant.  Never had that smell before and never saw the mushrooms either.  Is that what is causing the smell, is the soil to wet and moildie ?  We love the plane and it needs help.
Thanks for the help.
Vinny D.

Answer
Vinny,

Your Mass Cane needs to be dried out immediatly. If it is possible to empty the drain tray under the plant you need to do it NOW.  The rotten smell comes from rotting roots. the mushroom indicates rotting soil and roots. Somehow the plant has gotten a lot more water than it needed.  It needs to be very very dry before it gets watered again. It will take at least 3-4 weeks for it to dry out enough for it to stay healthy. If it is possible for you to set it in the bathtub without the drain tray under itfor 24 hours  that would let as much water as possible drain away for the soil to dry out faster. This plant hates sitting in a swamp which is what it is doing right now by accident. It needs dried out and it needs kept on the dry side all winter while the days are shorter because it will use less water as long as the days are shorter than the nights. So water less quantity and only water every 2 weeks till spring. Good luck.

Darlene