The Plant Thread

[Ponyfan]

I've used the dish soap spray on the mint plants yesterday and today.  There's some kind of insect trying to make its home in the plants.  I thought it was gnats because my dad loves to buy bananas, but the insect I saw today wasn't a gnat.  It doesn't seem to be harming the plants that I can see.


I wanted to get a strawberry plant today, but I didn't find any at the store I was at.  I'm also thinking of getting a lavender plant. 

Has anyone else noticed that plants seem more expensive this year compared to last year?


Ponyfan

[Ponyfan]

The mints have moved back outside.

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Mint 1



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Mint 2


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Long runner on Mint 2

My mom said that she thinks I'm overwatering the mint plants.   I'm going to try to cut back on watering them.  I only water them every few days.

One of the runners that was really growing is almost broken off. I know the mint will survive, but it still makes me a little sad and angry.  I'm pretty sure I know how it got broken, but I can't say anything to the person that did it.  If I do they'll just get mad. I'm sure it wasn't done intentionally.

Ponyfan

[BlackCurtains]

Sorry someone messed with your mints! I think they look very healthy.

The spider plant is really growing! It seems like it sprouts a new leaf every other day. I'm being very careful with watering it, because I think I overwatered the fern and that's what killed it.

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[Ponyfan]

Thanks, BC.    Like I said, I'm sure it wasn't intentional and the person that did it would be really upset if they knew they hurt the plant, but I'm still not happy about it.

Here's a pic of the broken runner. 

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I'm pretty sure it was pulled too far when someone tried to thread the runner through the lattice.  You can see in the other pic that I posted before that it wasn't like that.   

I checked on it today and the broken part of the runner is dying. When it dies completely, I'll either tear or cut it off and hope the runner can regenerate after the dead part is removed.


I finally got a new plant.  It's lavender.  Here's a pic.

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I'm assuming since it was with the herbs, that it takes the same type of care as the mint plants?

I also planted the strawberry seeds from the growing kit.  I don't know if they'll grow or not since the kit is a little old and past the guaranteed grow date, but I decided to try anyway.  Here's a pic of them.


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Ponyfan

[Taffeta]

I think it's worth trying the strawberry seeds! The worst that can happen is none germinate, right?

With the mint, I would cut (not tear) off the damaged branch below the area it's damaged. It's quicker and cleaner for the plant, and it will also stimulate new growth. Plants are designed for breakage because of their outside existence, but yeah, it's upsetting when something amiss happens. The best place to cut it is just above a healthy set of leaves, because they will often sprout from there.

But I agree that the mints look very healthy. If they're outside and it's hot they may need watering more, but maybe adjust that according to the weather. If it's raining and they are exposed to the rain, you don't need to water them as much.

Three years ago I grew some delphinium seedlings. Three survived into proper plants, but one of them got their stems badly broken in a storm. I ended up splinting the stems and the plant survived. Now it is in the garden with its fellows, and you can't tell any more which one was the splinted one. It's as big as the others and getting ready to flower. They're all over a metre tall already.

Our wisteria is also flowering madly. It's beautiful!

Helped Mum plant out her flowers today in her tub. All plants made it safely, though I had to correct her technique because she was grabbing the by the stems *eek*.

I also got my begonia outside. This was bought as an annual plant for basket/tub stuff about 5 years ago now, but it's such a nice plant we winter it inside and it's survived. It likes being outside more though. Its flowers go really red when it's out there. It's a variety that grows very big compared to others.

[BlackCurtains]

omg you guys! Ben has flowers! I picked him up to take to the sink for a soak and they were on the other side. Most of the petals fell out already, but they are little white flowers. I'll take a pick after he perks up from the soak. Aw, my little sad basil plant is mature This means that he's coming to the end of his life though

edit:

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[Ponyfan]

Sorry Ben is reaching the end of his lifespan BC.    The flowers are pretty though. 

There's an inside tower garden at work and some of the plants have grown wild. There was a plant that had purple flowers on it and someone told me that it was basil. 

I cut the damaged branch off of the mint plant.

Nothing new on the strawberry seeds.   They look the same as when I planted them a few days ago.

I guess the lavender is doing okay.  I watered it yesterday.  I think it had just been watered right before I got it as it was wet and leaving spots on the floor before I brought it home.   I read somewhere that I'm supposed to let the soil dry out before I water it. 

Ponyfan

[Marshie]

I've had my aloe grow kit for almost a month now. It said on care instructions that sprouts will start coming up in 14 days. Well, sprouts never came up UNTIL this past weekend!! I now have a tiny aloe sprout growing and cannot wait to see how it grows! I'm glad I held onto it a bit longer

[Ponyfan]

I finally found a strawberry plant.   I thought I'd try one more store and see if they had any and they had some.  If I wasn't an honest person I'd say this is the strawberry from the grow kit, but it isn't. 


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The grow kit looks like this.

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Edit:

Adding pics of the mints


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Mint 1


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Mint 2

Ponyfan

[Taffeta]

Little tiny plantlets are so cute!

Sometimes it does take them a little longer to grow than other times, I guess like any living thing they don't like schedules

@BC, Ben's flowers are lovely. Hopefully he hangs on a bit longer

My spider plants are flowering, I need to take off their runners before they decide to produce pups. THe two fuchsia cuttings are now back outside, flowering madly on the patio. Tomorrow I hope to plant up one of my tubs. The plants in the greenhouse are more than ready to go now.

Bethan the Streptocarpus is putting up new flower stems.

[Ponyfan]

It rained most of the day on Saturday.  The plants are still wet from the rain. 

I found a couple of pink/green leaves on the strawberry plant today.  Does that mean those leaves are dying?

I think the strawberry seed grow kit is growing mold instead of strawberries.    There's white fuzzy stuff on top of the growing medium and the bottom of the pot has a greenish spot that looks like mold too.  I thought about tossing them, but mom said to wait a little longer and she didn't see any mold.


Ponyfan

[Taffeta]

DIsh soap might kill any mould without hurting any seedlings. It's hard to know though...:/

Today Dad and I went to the garden centre. I've spent most of the rest of the morning/early afternoon so far planting up the hanging basket, the side tubs and now there is nothing in the greenhouse except the basket itself, everything is planted out.

Mum's plants came early this morning so she planted them out. She hates doing it and has been complaining about it vociferously xD. She did do it herself though

Dad and I are gardeners. Sister is a bit of a gardener. Mum likes to oversee more than to do

[BlackCurtains]

I forgot what I named this guy. I'll call him Steve. Steve the spider plant.

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Ben still has flowers.

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And yes, the dead corpses of the other plants are still there. They block Aster from getting to Steve. I need to find somewhere else to put him.

[Taffeta]

You can get hanging pot frames for spider plants, but that may encourage Aster to climb up, especially if Steve gets bigger and has trailers coming down towards the ground.

Plant naming is fun

I still have no names for my two old spider plants. Just the young one, Maggie, that planted itself two summers ago. Maggie is short for Magure, which means fluke in Japanese, because I usually cut off all the runners and they don't get to root anywhere, but this one not only escaped me but found somewhere to root before I spotted her.

Maggie grew very quickly, though it was about a year before she put out her own runners/flower stems. It may be that when Steve gets to be a bit bigger in a few months time, it won't matter so much if Aster can get at him and nibble the odd leaf.  Providing it's not toxic for her but I'm assuming you checked all that already

Is there a scent she doesn't like that you could put on the pot to dissuade her from coming near it? So long as it didn't distress her of course - just something that would make her find it unappetising to chew on?

[BlackCurtains]

Hmm. I would get a hanger, but I don't have a step ladder or anything to hang it high enough. It's on my list of things to get, but it's $40-50 depending, and I don't have that much or when I do it goes somewhere else I'll take a lot at hanging pots anyway though, maybe I can find one I can do.

A smell... most cats don't like menthol. But I'm not too fond of it myself. I think I will just clean off the top of my other set of craft drawers and put him there. Aster doesn't jump on furniture... usually... and he'll still get sun there.

edit: and yes, spider plants are non-toxic, but they have a slight hallucinogenic effect on cats. I don't want her to get hooked