The Plant Thread

[BlackCurtains]

Plants do actually communicate with each other and it's across the board; grass talks to trees, vines talk to bushes, etc. They also like certain colors better. And yes, they will reach for each other - except trees. There is always room between the tops of trees, but it's thought that they are being polite to each other, basically not overtaking their neighbor to not risk themselves, so they cooperate and give each other room. Plants are fascinating

Ben had another soak. He loves them. A few of his branches are brown near the bottom but have new growth further along. Some were dead, I clipped those off.

I'm going to get another desk and make myself a craft cubby. I've already decided the top of the one bookcase will have plants on it. Definitely a spider plant and maybe a small snake.

[Beth3346]

the mint seems to be making a comeback! i guess they are pretty hardy. i think it likes all of the rain and the cool temps keep the bugs away.

[Taffeta]

Plants do actually communicate with each other and it's across the board; grass talks to trees, vines talk to bushes, etc. They also like certain colors better. And yes, they will reach for each other - except trees. There is always room between the tops of trees, but it's thought that they are being polite to each other, basically not overtaking their neighbor to not risk themselves, so they cooperate and give each other room. Plants are fascinating

They so are! There are some odd people who think they can have human language communications with their plants, and I think their antics sometimes pushes other people away from realising that actually plants are living critters who have their own means of communicating and so on. I know when you cut grass, the smell is a distress signal. There are plants who do that when they're being eaten, to attract the predator of the bug. I get really upset when people gratuitously mutilate trees or plants in tv shows or in real life - or joke about making them suffer Obviously they're alive. Just because they don't scream in pain doesn't mean they can't suffer.

My old spider plants are quite quiet, though. They destroy pots with their huge roots, but aside that they don't do anything particularly notable. The young plant, Maggie, has had a personality from the start. She was just a baby last winter, and in the spring, she and the baby morning glories were constantly befriending each other.  I always put my spider plants out for the summer months, and she hated it at first, because she was on her own. When I put her back with the other spiders, she perked up. And now she's watching my TV. Again.

I'm sitting down here on my beanbag, writing and watching TV...and I just realised her second stem is pointing right at me. I note this only because I got a new mattress recently, and haven't been working on the bed so much. Before, that second branch was pointing to my bed, now it's pointing at my beanbag. I wonder what she's trying to tell me.

I'm going to clip the stems because they spawn pups and I have no room for more spider plants. BUT I won't do it until after Strictly ends, just in case she's enjoying it

[Ponyfan]

Mint 1 and Mint 2 keep trying to reach each other too.  I have to check the runners every once in a while to make sure they're not tangled up together.


Here are this week's pics of the mints.  I think Mint 1 is looking a little better now.

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Mint 1

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Mint 2

[Beth3346]

@Ponyfan the mints look good

i want to get back to my landscaping projects but it's still rainy and gross outside. I need to finish the rock garden and i also want to put in a flowerbed before the spring. then i can add plants in the spring/summer. i find when i'm stressed out doing projects helps me feel better.

[Taffeta]

Oh, Mint 1 looks a lot happier! Seems like you solved the problem with the water! Heating can definitely dry out plants more quickly than you think, (so can aircon) so worth keeping tabs on!

[BlackCurtains]

Ben needs another soak and the cat grass is done. I'll make another one, Aster really likes it

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You can kind of see where Ben lost a bunch of leaves. But new sprouts are coming in, so I'm not worried anymore. I just need to soak him more often. Dude loves water.

[Taffeta]

So, an update on my impromptu morning glory seedling rescues.

One of them has lost a leaf. I am not sure it will survive as I'm not sure it still has the mechanism to produce new leaves. The lost leaf was damaged before I brought them in.

The other two, I had to manually help them remove their seed casings and separate their leaves (not something that you should normally do but they were starting to have issues). I was a bit worried it might damage them but both are now growing and have put out 2 more leaves each.

And, a surprise. An additional seed has sprouted in one of the pots, and is now heading for the sky. This one is growing very normally as it has been inside in the warm the whole time.

We'll see how they go on.

Maggie the Spider Plant's roaming spikes got her into trouble yesterday. One got knocked up against the radiator and the end is now singed. I'm upset I didn't spot it sooner, I don't like having my plants in pain unnecessarily. She's doing okay, though.

It was very cold here these last couple of days, but fortunately my room is south facing, so everyone's managing fine even on the windowsill.

[Ponyfan]

Thanks everyone.   I'm happy Mint 1 is doing better.  Part of me is still afraid that I will end up killing the mint plants accidently.   I took off part of one of Mint 1's runners that died.

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Mint 1


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Mint 2



Ponyfan

[Ponyfan]

It's going to get bitterly cold where I live.  Temperatures will be close to 0 F and wind chills will be around -15 F.  I hope the mints will be okay. The sunroom has a heater, and it gets pretty warm in there sometimes, but I'm not sure if the mints will survive the cold even inside.


Ponyfan

[Beth3346]

i brought the plants in today since it's going to get cold here some time tomorrow. sadly the basil looks dead now. it had a few green leaves yesterday but today it's all dried up. it's been cloudy and wet for days and days.

the mint is still trying to come back so that's good. hopefully the plants do ok in the house. usually they don't like being inside.

[Ponyfan]

I skipped watering the plants today, since it was so cold outside.  We're also going to stay below freezing tomorrow.


Ponyfan

[BlackCurtains]

It's going to get pretty cold here too. 40 degrees at night, maybe lower. It's also raining every day, which makes the humidity 100% which in turn makes it feel a lot colder than it really is. Ben is by a window I usually keep open. I think I'll move him to the inside wall. I know I won't be turning on the heat (it's not THAT cold) but by the inner wall should be the warmest area.

[Taffeta]

I saw on the news this afternoon about the winter weather going on in the US. That's some seriously cold weather (and up in Canada too). Please stay safe, everyone, whether caring for outside plants or otherwise.

It's mostly just rainy here. We had our cold snap, and we didn't get any snow (sob) even though three miles away they did. My windowsill plants are quite happy at the moment - I need to go down and water my dragon tree though.

[Lady Frostbite]

I got my Blue Bhut Jolokia (Ghost) chilli seeds in the post at last!  I got a really neat hobby storage box that will be great at holding seeds, I've put in a question to my work chat asking who would want a baby chilli plant, I thought no-one would want one but I've got requests for 3 Peach Ghost Scorpions, one Pink Tiger and one Blue Ghost, plus I think I have a White Naga seed that I'll give to someone else.

I will plant on New Years day as is tradition!