I am convinced that NONE of my mandrake roots likes to be on social media…
Throughout my years of growing mandrakes, I have posted a number of times on social media about the roots under my care. I will admit that I posted because I wanted to show off… Mandrakes are such coveted plant allies to have; I am especially proud of the ones that I grew from seeds, since Mandragora seeds are notoriously difficult to start. I am also not one of those super magical people whom the mandrakes love and grow generously for — amazing whitches like Kristy Therrien of The Mandragorium — so I have to work extra hard to keep my mandrake roots alive and happy. To have a number of roots under my care, I felt it was an accomplishment important enough to brag about a little bit…
But the mandrakes have no patience for hubris… Or at least they just don’t care to be paraded about like some prized processions. I suddenly came to this realization after one of my roots got dug up by some sort of wild critter — a raccoon most likely. It was “Stumpy”, the Mandragora officinarum root that I started talking about back in 2022 because of root-rot and maggot issues. I had briefly talked about him a few more times since then, mostly to chronicle his recovery progress.
When I did the repotting with him on Instagram Live in 2025, 3 years after the root-rot/maggot incident, the root had been doing quite well in recovering from the ordeal. As you can see in the video below (starting at the 5:00 mark), the root grew quite a bit in those three years.
I left Stumpy alone for a whole year after the live repotting. He grew some leaves in the meantime, but nothing super robust.
Then earlier this spring (2026), I unpotted Stumpy to check on him because I felt he hadn’t been growing very well. What I saw confirmed my suspicion — he didn’t grow after the Instagram Live repotting. His long roots have shrunk, and his main body just didn’t seem as “fresh” and plump or firm as before. I put him back in the soil and hope he would get healthy again.
Fast forward to now, four months later… I found Stumpy outside of his pot. Some wild critter has dug him out, probably in search for food or something. And he looks sad… He looks as if he not only has stopped growing, but is actually drying out. His dark color indicates that he is not actively growing, and I can’t quite tell if he is in a deep dormant state, or if he is actually dying. His body feels a bit soft, but I don’t see signs of rot, because his soil has been bone-dry for quite sometime — I don’t water mandrake roots when they are in dormancy to prevent root rot. Poor thing just looks really sad…
I gave Stumpy a nice cold water bath to rinse him off, and put him back into soil again. I need to check on him in the next couple of day to see what exactly is happening. I am not quite ready to “harvest” him yet, because I have had a root that I thought was dying, and I was air-drying her. She ended up sprouting out new growth after being sat out in the open, just sitting on a plate, for over 6 months. So I am waiting to see if Stumpy shows any sign that he might simply be in deep dormancy before I decide whether to “harvest” him.
I cannot help but feel that Stumpy is saying “peace out” because I had exposed him too much on social media… And he’s not the only one. If I remember correctly, all of the mandragora roots that I have posted about on social media are “dead”. I have had roots died without being talked about on social media, but the ones I “bragged” about before are now gone.
I know each individual mandrake root has his/her own spirit, but I feel the “group soul” of all the roots under my care is telling me to focus on taking care of them, instead of talking about them on social media. Maybe it’s my lack of dedicated energy for the roots; maybe it’s the external energy rubbing the roots the wrong way. Whatever it is, I will refrain from posting about the mandrakes publicly. I do not posting actual ritual or spell in progress to avoid unwanted energy or influence affecting the outcome of the ritual or spell; and now I will keep those outside influence away from my mandrakes as well.
