Were those fungus gnats? I found that this little thing works really well to trap and eliminate them!
https://www.amazon.com/Mosqueda-Fruit-Traps-Sticky-Pack/dp/B08MZN1K2Y
I used that initially, but I wasn’t getting rid of all of them, so I then used Garden Safe spread, and that did it.
1 Like
I love plumeria (frangipani), too, as you can see from my avatar. We had a gorgeous one in the front yard when we lived in south Florida. We moved to north Florida and it’s too cold here to grow one.
Do yours bloom inside? I might try that!
2 Likes
Yes, mine bloom indoors! They seem to like their very sunny location. This is the dwarf one from Hawaii blooming:
2 Likes
Bugs are inevitable! They can come in a a bouquet of flowers, a banana, your sweater…Fortunately I haven’t had anything worse than mealie bugs or fungus gnats so far. Some people get grossed out by mealies, but I just use a Qtip and rubbing alcohol. Instant death. I check every plant every time I water, which I think helps keep things from getting out of control. That is way more obsession than most people want!
Fungus gnats go away if you bottom water the plants (keep the top of the soil dry), use yellow sticky of Zevo traps to catch adults, and BTI drops/bits in the water.
Gave four plants to the broker for our synagogue sales broker yesterday. She was so excited. She is also brilliant, a sewist, plant fan, sports buff, travel buff and Canadian. I hope we stay in touch – she is a terrific hooman.
4 Likes
I’m not an expert, but this can get you some ideas:
pic 0541 – philodendron of some sort (I don’t have anything that large so am not as familiar)
pic 0543 – split leaf philodendron (Philodendron bipinnatifidum), but it might be another variety. At some levels, it depend on the color of the stem or the type of inflorescence (flower-like growth) it puts out.
pic 1117 (the shelf) – the big plant is a hoya carnosa ‘freckle splash’ – I was distracted by the one heart-shaped looking leaf and was thinking Hoya Kerrii splash, but realized it was the shadows making it look that way. (I have one of these two feet from where I’m sitting)
pic 0542 is a peperomia obtusifolia – these come in many varieties – solid green, green & white variegated yellow and green variegated, red margin, green-on-green marble (that’s what I have). Yours looks nicely pruned – it gets bushy like that when stems are trimmed. New growth comes back on lower branches. I propped two of mine last year and they could use it again, as I want more fullness.
Thank you for identifying my plants, the last one has a cool name!
1 Like
Does anyone have a good self watering system for your houseplants?
I have tried the wicking cords in the past but it didn’t work well- flooded some of my plants and others were totally dried out. My D has tried the inverted glass bulbs with poor results too. I’ve been researching the terra cotta spikes that you invert a bottle into but the reviews are mixed.
Any thoughts? Anything that has worked for you?
Do you want it for when you are traveling a not home? Inside I only water once a week.
Yes when we travel. I also water once/week
I bottom water and Idon’t do it communal tubs. Takes forever. Most of mine have paracord wicks, so I can water and let it take up – but I also dump the excess water after about 24 hrs. Most of mine go about 10 days between waterings, but I find it better to under- rather than over water. Some are faster, some take three weeks. I check with a bamboo skewer. Ws getting really stressed about whether I’d skipped a plant til I started a watering spreadsheet in December. I color code for “around now", “do it NOW” and “past time, but still damp – check in three days.”
Like much in my life, I overthink this.
2 Likes
Oy vey, the typos in my last post!
Chopped up a pothos this afternoon that had gone bald everywhere except the new growth at the end of the very long stems. We’ll see if the mother plant survives the chop. I propagated the leaf nodes in a couple of small boxes. They usually do pretty well. Will give some to friends and family, assuming they don’t run from me at the sight of me with plants in hand. Should be able to put the propagations on the screened porch in about a month – it needs to stay over 55 degrees at night.
Have a couple of plants that need repotting, as they have gotten too big for their britches. Am always nervous about doing this!
Re: watering – I bottom water, and do a top watering once a month to flush out the salts that accumulate when bottom watering. Bottom watering reduces fungus gnats (they like damp soil) and root rot. I can better control the amount of water the plant gets, too. About half of mine have paracord watering wicks. I find wicking doesn’t make much of a difference unless it’s a semi-hydro setup. I have two heartleaf philodendrons in small pots inside tall vases. I have long wicks for those and it’s working well. One of them was in a pot climbing my wall and kept losing leaves. I suspect that the vertical climb was too much for the thin stems. Instead it’s now in a vase and climbing a smaller trellis. The extra moisture from the semi-hydro and the decreased climb seem to be doing the trick. But darn, I liked the long trailing leaves across my wall! Pothos has sturdier stems for climbing, but will sink the aerial roots right into the drywall. Not going there!
2 Likes
Anybody here?
My two large pothos plants survived the major haircut and are sprouting leaves out of old growth points. Am going to put some of the propagations from the haircut back into the pot with them.
Planning to get rid of a couple plants that are slowly dying. They just aren’t thriving and I can’t give them the conditions they need. Hoping this will enable me to handle the rest of them more efficiently. The heartleaf that didn’t want to trail is among htem. Een when it wasn’t on the wall, it was still dropping leaves. I have two of them. The other is prolific, so I am going to let #1 go to the compost pile in the sky.
Has anyone put a spider plant in LECA or semi-hydro?
1 Like
I just gave our monstera a big haircut. It grew so large that what I had cut almost filled our yard waste bin!
2 Likes
I’ve only had a spider plant once and it’s didn’t do great! What is LECA???
2 Likes
Spider plants are love ‘em or hate ‘em on the plants forums I frequent. Mine are dying from the center as they put out leaves. Have no idea why! Am about to yank them out of their pots and try semi-hydro. LECA is small clay balls that absorb water and allow good oxygen flow to plants. You should rinse them well before using. Do it outdoors, in a lingerie bag or bucket, to remove the dust. You don’t want that getting in your drain pipes. I tried them when I propagated pothos and the roots did much better than usual when I put them into soil later. Plants in water grow water roots, which are different than what they need for soil.
Fill a container with enough LECA balls to cover the roots (or hold up the cutting if you are propagating). Fill the water so 1/3 of the LECA balls are covered. Because you don’t have soil, you‘ll need to add nutrients. I use Superthrive Foliage Pro (NOT the vitamins!) – I use it on all my plants. It’s well-balanced fertilizer and I use a half dose with every watering.
1 Like
Reviving this thread cause of all the plant talk on Life In Retirement…
My Flaming Katy finally bit the dust - or I should say I ended things for it lol - I started to notice some white sticky stuff on it and that’s a no go for me so outside it went and then in the trash along with all the soil it was in.
Speaking of Monstera’s and large leaves, this beauty in our upstairs loft room
4 Likes