The Plant Thread

[BlackCurtains]

Lovely new additions, Ponyfan!

Today I learned that my peacock plant is a relative of the rattlesnake plant, and my hurricane fern is also a bird's nest fern. Two plants that I tried previously that died. They both have brown spots but I think it's old leaves? The ponytail palm also has a lot of brown. I think it needs a lot more water than what they say. It was so happy when I soaked it in the shower. 

I don't know if I mentioned this but I fertilized everyone last week. I mixed one pump with water to fill my can and watered like normal. I know some plants need more than that but I don't want to overdo it either.

I also discovered yesterday that I've been under fertilizing my aquarium plants. I think my duckweed was obstructing too much light as well, so I scooped a bunch of it out and now it's a lot brighter in there. I need to keep an eye on that duckweed. I read that's it's like glitter, once you have it you can't get rid of it Guess it's lucky I like it.

[Beth3346]

yay for new plants Ponyfan

thanks Taffeta. so far i've had better luck with the plants in pots. it is easier to control the water and i can move them around if they need more/less sun. we also have rocky, clay soil here so that's not great so potted plants seem to have an easier time.

i'm trying to remove grass wherever it makes sense. so i would like to add more rocks and stone pathways on the side of the house. i have to leave some grass for the dogs. even though they don't like it. i think a bunch of grass with nothing else going on is boring

[Taffeta]

Grass is good for water drainage, though. Don't know how much excess water you get (if you do, I know you have hot spells), but here there have been increased issues with flooding in areas where grass has been removed for other things (admittedly often concrete. Makes me mad when those people whine about the flooding and such when they're partly to blame).

[BlackCurtains]

I agree, Beth. If I owned my own home (though I wouldn't want to continue living in Florida) but if I did live in my own home here, I would do away with what people call grass and put in interesting plants and stones and stuff. But it's not really grass, not like in Wisconsin where it's lush and green and soft. Here it's weeds and some type of thin, prickly ground cover. It's not nice to step in. The soil is mostly sandy so real grass can't grow unless you lay a foundation of soil down. Giant grasses do well; pampas and the like. Those are neat.

[Beth3346]

@Taffeta we do get flooding here. we get more droughts here but we can also get heavy rain too. the rain tends to come all at once. i do worry about drainage with DIY projects. i know that was a big reason I read that astroturf grass (which some people have ) can cause drainage issues. i'm not interested in that at all. it also looks weird when the "grass" is bright green while everyone else's is brown.

i mainly want to get rid of grass because it didn't grow in well to begin with since it was put in right before we went into a drought. it's a lot like what you described, BC. mostly thin and prickly with lots of weeds. there are a lot of areas where the grass didn't take at all. the side yards get muddy when it rains and we track in a lot of dirt. i would like to create a shade garden with a bench. it might be our backyard project for next spring. changes will be slow because we're doing it ourselves

[Ponyfan]

Thanks everyone.    It looks the dill is growing already.


Pic from earlier this week:

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Pic from today

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Ponyfan

[Beth3346]

wow the dill has grown a lot! 

[BlackCurtains]

It looks great! I love dill with cucumber

[Ponyfan]

I'm surprised it grew so quickly too.  I hope it does okay once I move it outside.  I was wanting to put the plants outside this weekend, but I'm going to wait a little longer.

I was watering plants today and I accidentally broke off a branch of the Ficus when I was reaching over it to water another plant.  Then I overwatered the Ficus.  I usually mist it, but it's been really dry lately, so I decided to water it  like I do the other plants and accidentally put too much water in.


Ponyfan

[BlackCurtains]

Aster went to town on the spider plant

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Poor thing. I'll have to move it to the top of the craft drawers.

[Taffeta]

Ponyfan, if the Ficus is draining a lot of water out, so long as you make sure it's not standing in that water it will probably be okay.

@BC, knowing Spider plants, it will probably take it as a challenge and grow even more. I guess Aster has a green tooth

I repotted Bethan the Streptocarpus today, and cut off her old and worn leaves, so she's looking a bit confused right now. Plenty of flowers though.

My mother planted her seeds today. "I'm going to only put a few in" she says, then proceeds to empty four whole seed packets into the tub xD It will be funny to see what comes up.

Dad's avocado plant seems to be alive I think it got a bit cold, but it has a lot of new growth coming, yay!

[BlackCurtains]

@BC, knowing Spider plants, it will probably take it as a challenge and grow even more. I guess Aster has a green tooth

It's a fighter. It was a tiny little thing when I got it.

Aster was leaving it alone, but yesterday she jumped in the window to get closer to a dove that was on the railing. I guess she figured I was okay with her being up there because today I saw the plant. Spider plants are a mild hallucinogenic to cats. She likes trippin'.

[Taffeta]

Something is nibbling the seedlings in my greenhouse. I can't find what it is. I've taken them all out and cleared all the slugs and snails that had crept in but it isn't them. There's no slime trail.

Last night it ate the whole of one of the seedlings. There is nothing left but a stalk. I know it won't survive.

I feel really guilty that I didn't bring it in last night when I first saw nibbles on the leaves of some of the other plants. This one was much smaller than the others, and so I thought about it. If I had, it would be ok now. I do a lot to help and save my plants when they're struggling, so I hate to think of it being eaten alive out there in the dark with nobody there to rescue it.

People say plants don't feel, but there's plenty of science that proves they can emit distress signals, and interact, and respond to stimuli. They don't feel or communicate like humans do, but they are still alive.

I already lost two datura seedlings to germination issues (stuck seed cases and underdeveloped stem/leaves) that they could not overcome. So to lose another one is gutting. Especially since this one germinated in adversity, and was perfectly healthy.

...I wish I had brought it inside last night.

Losing a plant, especially one I grew from seed, and particularly in avoidable circumstances, is something I find really upsetting. It's never 'just a plant' to me.

[Ponyfan]

I'm sorry that happened Taffeta      I feel the same way about the Ficus.  My friend gave it to me because she thought I might be able to keep it alive and she was afraid she would kill it.   I've tried really hard with the Ficus, but so far there are still no new leaves.    It also moved a bit when I picked up the pot for the picture.  I hope that's not a bad sign.

Pics

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Dill


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Lemon Thyme



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Sage

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Lavender


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Ficus


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Poinsettia


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Lily

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Aloe

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Strawberries



Ponyfan

[Taffeta]

Thanks Ponyfan. I hope your Ficus comes through <3.

I did a forensic investigation on the greenhouse today and it looks like the culprit was slug or snail. I evicted a LOT of slugs and snails from the greenhouse after the rain (this is a closed greenhouse, but they still get in), hopefully that will make things better.

I also found another seedling that had unexpectedly sprouted, so I now have a second tiny on my windowsill. We'll see if it makes it.

The gooseberry is in flower and there were lots of bees and ladybirds around today.