Your houseplants and gardens - Yellow leaf means underwatered AND overwatered?! What a country!

[Freya]

>have cats
>be amazed when cats do what cats do

I should have expected it. The plants went unmolested for a whole 2 weeks. It was time

 

[one_time_user]

my plants came today and they are all beautiful but one needs special mention - the Alocasia Silver Dragon is breathtaking. I had not actually seen one in real life but I knew I love my Alocasia black velvet and took a chance. it's metallic irredescent. and I paid $5 for it! actually, my 9 plant order with shipping was just over $100 but it's ironic the one I paid the least for is the most beautiful. I literally went 'ooOo' when I unwrapped it

 

[NoReturn]

Alocasia Silver Dragon

 

[Yaks]

I found a packet of cactus seeds in one of my mom's drawers from 1996. I know cacti are a lot more hardy in waiting for water, so I'm going to give them a shot to see if any will germinate.

In the packet is potentially: Saguaro, Hedgehog, Fishook Barrel, Organ Pipe, Dollar Prickly Pear, Desert Prickly Pair, Christmas Cholla, Cane Cholla, Santa Rita Prickly Pear, and Cardo'n.

Edit: I'm mostly excited for the Prickly Pears, but since they're starting as seeds I'm assuming I won't see fruit for quite some time.

 

[The Skeksis Emperor]

I recently moved to a place with a proper balcony and a huge south-facing window with a large window sill and I've since gone plant mad. Started sowing all sorts of things to see if they would work out and turns out they all work out, and now I'm already out of room.

So obviously the next move was to order four types of coleus seeds from abroad. I want to make them into topiary, like below. Anyone growing coleus? They're ridiculously beautiful, but apparently they don't live very long, compared to other indoor plants? (Edit: at least in my region they are indoor plants, if kept outdoors they only live for one summer here).

 

[anliteralidiot]

I've managed to propagate 2 of my pothos cuttings, and I'm very proud of myself. I also have some rose cuttings that are similarly not desd yet, and it's pretty cool.

But, I recently got a Venus flytrap and the poor lil guy is turning black. I've had it outside near my chicken coops, so it's getting sun, and it should have access to flies, but I haven't seen any of the traps closed with one. I'm making sure the soil is moist, too. I might try repotting it tomorrow. If anyone has any tips, I'd greatly appreciate it.

And while not necessarily a garden question, I don't know if this is a good question for the pet thread but would love to hear feedback:
would anyone mind if their neighbor had a bee colony?

My husband had to leave his at my mother's house, and I'm always encouraging him to relocate it to our house for fun. I won't go in depth on our living area, but we don't have a lot of neighbors, and it's only one hive.

 

[NoReturn]

Recently ran an experiment and it was a great success!

Photo for illustrative purposes only.

Hypothesis:
If I leave a pothos cutting in some water, and then reuse that water on a different plant, then the next plant should grow roots faster even without the photos cutting in the water because there should still be enough rooting hormone in the water to affect growth.

Procedure:

1. Do my normal pothos thing of leaving pothos cutting in a bottle of water until the roots are at least 1" long. Remove and plant pothos cutting, save water.
2. Get two p. peperomioides cuttings. Put one in the leftover pothos water, put another in normal water.
3. Monitor growth, topping off evaporated water from both bottles until roots grow.

Results:
Holy shit guys the one in the pothos water grew 1" roots in like three days. The other one only had little nibs.
I've already put the test one into a planter because by the time the control started getting roots the test-cutting was already starting to crowd the bottle it was in and I didn't want to snap the roots when I pulled it out.

10/10 recommend

would anyone mind if their neighbor had a bee colony?

I would be THRILLED if someone had a colony near me. Free pollinators for my plants, maybe honey for me (I'd buy it off you).
Bees kick ass.
I fucking love bees.

 

[one_time_user]

I've managed to propagate 2 of my pothos cuttings, and I'm very proud of myself. I also have some rose cuttings that are similarly not desd yet, and it's pretty cool.

But, I recently got a Venus flytrap and the poor lil guy is turning black. I've had it outside near my chicken coops, so it's getting sun, and it should have access to flies, but I haven't seen any of the traps closed with one. I'm making sure the soil is moist, too. I might try repotting it tomorrow. If anyone has any tips, I'd greatly appreciate it.

And while not necessarily a garden question, I don't know if this is a good question for the pet thread but would love to hear feedback:
would anyone mind if their neighbor had a bee colony?

My husband had to leave his at my mother's house, and I'm always encouraging him to relocate it to our house for fun. I won't go in depth on our living area, but we don't have a lot of neighbors, and it's only one hive.

bee hives and bat caves, living the dream if my neighborhood!

 

[The Skeksis Emperor]

would anyone mind if their neighbor had a bee colony?

I'd be thrilled, I love bees, cute little buggers. However, some people are terrified of them, so I'd ask the closest neighbours just to prevent an issue.

But, I recently got a Venus flytrap and the poor lil guy is turning black

Is it in a windy spot, perhaps? I had one of these things yeeears ago, but I do remember it snapping shut a bit too easily for its own good. Maybe wind or specks of whatever travelling with wind are causing it to not get enough bugs.

 

[glioblastoma multiforme]

I'd be thrilled, I love bees, cute little buggers. However, some people are terrified of them, so I'd ask the closest neighbours just to prevent an issue.

i think they are cute but am quite severely allergic. i wouldn't care if someone had them nearby, because you're only really in danger if people aggravate them in your personal space. at the verge of environmental collapse we find ourselves on, i wouldn't sacrifice a bee or any pollinator (even wasps though they are fucking fuckers and i hate them) for someone being afraid. but my neighbours already probably hate me cos one of my cats is a terrorist.

anyone got any tips for mealybugs for orchids? my spray does fuck all, they are separated to avoid contagion, and the fuckers are particularly attracted to the buds. they are capable of making buds drop off even with careful washing and spraying to prevent them.

i have sentimental attachments to orchids i've nursed through many a tragedy, should i just ditch them for being pussies?

 

[AnOminous]

I'd be thrilled, I love bees, cute little buggers. However, some people are terrified of them, so I'd ask the closest neighbours just to prevent an issue.

Anyone who hates bees is evil.

(even wasps though they are fucking fuckers and i hate them)

I absolutely detest hornets. When I was a kid I would routinely knock their nests down, stomp them, then run off and jump in a pool to escape the angry swarm.

 

[anliteralidiot]

Our chicken-cultivated sunflower is approaching 5 feet. Here's a cute unspotted ladybug I saw in the buds.

 

[Lichen Bark]

anyone got any tips for mealybugs for orchids? my spray does fuck all, they are separated to avoid contagion, and the fuckers are particularly attracted to the buds. they are capable of making buds drop off even with careful washing and spraying to prevent them.

I have never met a bug that could survive a gassing, no really, gas them. Good thick garbage bag, + a few bucks for some co2 cartridges + adapter (from amazon), and zip ties.

Step 1: Resist/Don't resist the urge to put on your Uncle Adolf cosplay, and speak in a German accent. Water the plant a bit (to encourage any critter eggs in the soil to hatch). Put the whole pot and plant into good quality plastic bag (no holes!), squish out as much air as possible, then while holding the bag opening in one hand fill it with co2, zip tie it off (tight! tight!), and wait 3 days. Don't leave it in the sun obviously, somewhere away from direct light, we don't want the plant to get cooked. Add something in there as well so you don't crush the plant, like a small stool. 3 days in a mostly CO2 atmosphere = dead bugs. Works a treat for indoor things. Look up "co2 bike tire inflator" You would need a few cartridges to fill up the bag, but they are pretty cheap and usually come in multi packs.



Everything in the bag that relies on oxygen to breathe will be dead, including everything hiding in the soil. Plants don't mind.

But, I recently got a Venus flytrap and the poor lil guy is turning black. I've had it outside near my chicken coops, so it's getting sun, and it should have access to flies, but I haven't seen any of the traps closed with one. I'm making sure the soil is moist, too. I might try repotting it tomorrow. If anyone has any tips, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Bring indoors, put it in a small aquarium (5 gallon tanks are dirt cheap) with some kind of lid to keep in the humidity (saran wrap can work in a pinch), keep moist with distilled water (I kept a clear dish underneath to see the water level, and always made sure I could see some), and have a little 13 watt compact fluorescent shine through the top of the tank from like an old desk lamp. After it looks like it's growing you can feed it, but don't overfeed it. An ant here in there fed with tweezers is usually enough. It will eventually start to develop nice red traps from the light. I never repotted mine, but the little sphagnum moss cup it came in started to actually grow natural moss, it kept for years and years, until I forgot about him. and he dried right out, sad really.....I may just have to get another. Made for a good conversation piece.

 

[anliteralidiot]

Last week, a bad storm come through, and knocked over my big sunflower. I have it staked up, but I'm worried it's just slowly going. The leaves are starting to droop, and so are the heads. Stupid storm took it down for being too good.




I'm going to try getting some of the dirt that my chickens have been pooping on,diluting that with water,and see if it's a good fertilizer.

ETA @NoReturn your pothos experiment is rad, and I'm using pothos water now for my rose cuttings. My husband even told my MIL about your method, but he said he couldn't send the screencap because of the swearing.

 

[NoReturn]

ETA @NoReturn your pothos experiment is rad, and I'm using pothos water now for my rose cuttings. My husband even told my MIL about your method, but he said he couldn't send the screencap because of the swearing.

Now I'm imagining a little old lady swearing about cutting up pothos vines.

 

[Otterly]

LOVE the pothos water idea. I’ve got some sweet potato slips rooting in water, I will try it! Finally getting to growing season here, we have pretty short summers but the greenhouse is getting going and this weekend I think I might chance planting a few things outside

 

[Accept Only Substitutes]

I posted about some roses I planted a couple months ago. I'm very pleased to say that both plants have buds!!

I can't wait until they bloom so I can bring them in.

My backyard is full of a flowering ground cover called horseherb. I love it because it doesn't grow too tall and blooms little yellow flowers all over all summer long. This morning I noticed a bunch of it in the front yard as well! Yes my pretties, take over the lawn.

 

[anliteralidiot]

You've seen the sunflowers my chickens planted, but now I present: corn. Grown 100% by the chickens, for the chickens.

There are a lot of corn or sorghum sprouts in our backyard,but this is the only fully g rown corn. The shoots look very similar, but the leaves on corn are smooth, whereas the sorghum leaves are more serrated (I might have this backwards).

There are also a load of wheat plants.
And one that looks like kale.

 

[Layton Mysteries]

Ive planted a little vegetable garden and am propogating some cuttings, but ended up with a pretty bad case of leaf spot on roses and some other plants. Looks pretty much like fungal leaf spots you see online, but its killing whole plants. I keep disposing of the infected leaves, reducing previous over watering (it rains a lot so sometimes they do get really wet), and have tried some copper antifungal on the plants, but no luck so far. If anyone has any products they have had work against that please let me know.

 

[std::string]

Ive planted a little vegetable garden and am propogating some cuttings, but ended up with a pretty bad case of leaf spot on roses and some other plants. Looks pretty much like fungal leaf spots you see online, but its killing whole plants. I keep disposing of the infected leaves, reducing previous over watering (it rains a lot so sometimes they do get really wet), and have tried some copper antifungal on the plants, but no luck so far. If anyone has any products they have had work against that please let me know.

Chlorothalonil, but don't get it on the bracts. I think this is basically the strongest shit that exists and it will kill your plants if you're not careful. I've used it with success before though.

Although once you start seeing brown patches all across the entire plant it's a goner regardless. Fungicide will at least stop the spread though.