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

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I want to find a better balance of patience vs wanting something pretty there right now
Could you move some potted plants into the area (not directly on top of)? Maybe some temporary garden decor to help prettify the area while you wait for things to grow back?
 
My looooong boy Steven hunting for new things to grope:

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Happy healthy leaves on Pandora compared to the old, miserable ones:

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Have any one of y’all ever had any bonsais? I’ve tried those grow your own-kits but I fell into a depressive episode and forgot them so none of the four I planted succeeded… (:_(

While I was grieving them, I found that somebody abandoned a huge ficus ginseng in my blocks garbage room. All of its leaves were dried up and covering the soil in its pot. It was so thirsty and I think it had spider mites, too.
There were still a couple of green leaves and signs of life so I took it up to my apartment. I gave it a good shower, cut down all the dried up branches, removed all the dead leaves and sprayed it with pesticide (not sure what it is but it says it’s some kind of fatty acid).
It’s been in quarantine for maybe 2-3 weeks now and I’m going to give it another treatment soon.

While watering it today I discovered some of the bare branches I trimmed have started growing out little shoots! Like, tons of them! I think I managed to save it! 🥳
~1 month update: I wish I had taken pictures right when I got it but trust that it was almost completely naked. Here’s how it looks today:
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Still haven’t done another pest treatment but I haven’t seen any mites so I’ll just leave it be for now. Also might trim the branches some more in a month or so.
 
I love the Grandpa's Weeder (please say in Toki Wartooth voice): it goes in like four metal fingers, you step on the lever and then pull it out, and it takes the weed and root like it's being pinched by a robot. In clay soil this is imperfect (better if it's wet) and you'll probably have to whack dirt off the weed roots and pull it out of the weeder, but this is easy to get into a rhythm with. More of a lawn or a bulk weeding tool; I'd use the hand prong weeder if it's amid delicate/crowded plants.
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Seriously this is a great tool; I've had one for almost a decade, use it all the time, so much so that it's on its second handle.
I FINALLY got one of these a couple days ago and it has CHANGED MY LIFE. The clumps of grass that have colonized my flower beds over the winter are simple to pop out now and my lazy ass doesn't have to bend over. Thank you, Auntie Carol!

Note: I bought a cheap (but sturdy) one off Amazon and the only thing I dislike about it is that since the handle screws together it also has a habit of unscrewing itself during use, but that's an easy enough fix. And I can easily replace it with a wooden handle if I so desire. You can also just buy the tool end for $10 if you've got a handle already. V. recommend.


Sadly it cannot help with the grass that has grown all around and through my lavender, so I'll be digging those up, removing all the weeds, and replanting them. I should probably wait until the weather warms up, but I like to live dangerously and I don't even like lavender so if they die I won't be heartbroken.

Also the tulips I planted last winter are emerging and I'll be damned if I let the deer eat them this year so I went out and cut some willow withes (thanks to CalTrans for regularly coppicing the roadside coyote willows), bent them into hoops over my front flower bed, and covered it with wildlife netting. The feral cats are unamused.
 
I FINALLY got one of these a couple days ago and it has CHANGED MY LIFE. The clumps of grass that have colonized my flower beds over the winter are simple to pop out now and my lazy ass doesn't have to bend over. Thank you, Auntie Carol!
Ahaha; you are now the fourth person whom I've personally convinced to buy one of those weeders. First one didn't really count, though; elderly neighbor watched me for a while and then came over to say "what is that, and where did you get it?"

Nothing like having a really good and efficient digging stick to make you feel in tune with generations of humans and proto-humans before you. Same way that having a nice long-handled farm tool in your hands makes you start thinking you and some buddies really could knock some fancy asshole off of his horse.

I like to live dangerously and I don't even like lavender so if they die I won't be heartbroken.
I know what you mean; I'm not a lavender person, but it sure likes to grow here so I can't be mad at it. Have to trim it back when it starts attacking the mailman.
 
My hardy gardenia survived the extra cold (sub 20) that we had about 2 weeks ago. Even my blackberry and raspberry are alive but I'm afraid my blueberry bushes, all 2 of them, are dead. My hibiscus is half alive from being not rescued soon enough and it' s blooming on the alive part. The hellebore are blooming madly and finally my Jane magnolia has burst into somewhat stunted by last year's drought conditions bloom. It's spring kiwisisses!
 
I’m declaring war on my fungus gnats. I’ve officially had enough of them flying into the nearest moist area once the plants start to dry out after waterings, which are usually my nostrils, my ears or straight into my mouth. Also there are a shit tone of them in the ginseng ficus I’m trying to nurse back into health so I’m bringing in the heavy arsenal.

I searched in this thread and found some tips for remedies, but ended up just getting what was available at the store. I got Nematodes, which are some kind of organism that are supposed to eat the larvae of the gnats but leave the plant unharmed.

I nuked all my plants with the solution today so the holocaust has begun. They should be exterminated within 14 days.

Has anyone else dealt with these assholes?
 
Anyone else make the huge blunder of planting mint directly in their yard rather than keeping it in a pot? I did this a few years ago and then way afterwards read everyone saying to never ever do this. Yes it does spread fast but I just hack at it until it's back down to the size I prefer.. It comes back each year and is like a small shrub lol. Is it really that big of a deal?

I also like it because it keeps rats away and I live in a city that is absolutely infested ugh
 
Anyone else make the huge blunder of planting mint directly in their yard rather than keeping it in a pot?
I did, multiple times, and it all eventually died off. At this point I feel like I could plant kudzu and it'd last two years, max.

I had one plant of lemonbalm that seems to like it here, so I've been dividing it and trying to convince it to become a border.
 
I have a question from husbando. Since "his boy" Steven The Stephania Erecta is being a horny pest again and trying to pollinate everything, can we get him a lady friend? Can you gender a Stephania Erecta? And how would that work? Do they make little seedlings?
 
I have a question from husbando. Since "his boy" Steven The Stephania Erecta is being a horny pest again and trying to pollinate everything, can we get him a lady friend? Can you gender a Stephania Erecta? And how would that work? Do they make little seedlings?
You should be able to identify the sex of the plant based on the flowers I believe, in most cases. (I'm waiting for my American persimmon to bloom to do this so I can get it a partner to make fruit with.)
The biggest difficulty would probably be finding someone selling a specific sex of a plant. Your best bet may be a niche Facebook group.

That's a fun experiment and I hope you get lots of seeds to play with.
 
~1 month update: I wish I had taken pictures right when I got it but trust that it was almost completely naked. Here’s how it looks today:
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Still haven’t done another pest treatment but I haven’t seen any mites so I’ll just leave it be for now. Also might trim the branches some more in a month or so.
OMG! Thank you. I bought one of those a couple springs ago from a city greenhouse sale and had no idea what it exactly was until now. Caught my eye then and now. They are finicky little guys especially if you live in an area with longish winters. I've found mine likes to go completely dormant from fall to early spring then wants to go ape with strong sunlight and tends to tucker itself out if I can't keep it fed and watered. Whereas it might not need more watering than once a month in winter, in summer it wants it twice weekly and with some fertilizer, otherwise tends to grow then shed new leaves. It loves to grow in the summer tho, fun you can see it almost day to day.

It's a very attractive houseplant, people like it the most of the half dozen I have. Congrats on nurturing yours back!
 
Ostatnio edytowane:
otherwise tends to grow then shed new leaves
You have confirmed my suspicions! This is exactly what’s been happening to mine. I’ve watered it too much, making a paradise for fungus gnats and its now unhappy and dropping leaves. I’m letting it dry out for at least two weeks or more until it’s not as heavy, then I will divide the amount of water I would normally give in 2 and water more often instead so it has time to properly dry out between waterings. It’s still sending out little shoots though so I think I caught my mistake pretty early before I completely drowned it lol.

What kind of fertiliser do you use?
 
Doing a typical lazy pot garden. I overwintered my Carolina Reaper. I scattered the seeds over the pot. I also threw other random seeds. I wonder what will happen.

The reaper plant is still brightly green and grows towards the light. Everything else died.
 
I was given a tradescantia fluminensis variegata (also known as wandering jew lol) by a family member, and one of the stems broke off the other day by accident. I panicked and googled what to do, and apparently you're supposed to put it in a glass of water until it roots and then re-plant it. I didn't expect it to work so fast, but it's only been three days and it's putting out little roots! So exciting!

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The first image is after two days, while the second and third are from this morning. It's got three tiny root nubs now. I can't wait to do this with more cuttings so I can make the whole pot look full and bushy.
 
Ostatnio edytowane:
I’m declaring war on my fungus gnats. I’ve officially had enough of them flying into the nearest moist area

I nuked all my plants with the solution today so the holocaust has begun. They should be exterminated within 14 days.

Has anyone else dealt with these assholes?

The war is ever waging. My plants are like my cat.. never allowed outside. Yet these fucks find a way.

Their latest takeover was of my catgrass... which I didnt notice as it was near the floor for said cat until the INFESTATION was entirely gross.

I nuked them to death with a combination of dryness followed by peppermint and neem oil.

Realizing their defeat they seem to have called in reinforcements from a new plant acquisition... red spider mites. Which are less ugly but much more plant devastating. Being so small they managed to spread throughout everything.

Spider mites LOVE dryness...which makes me think the bugs formed an alliance to counter my most devastating weapon against the flies.

Considering importing 600 ladybugs to fight them biologically.

I wish you best in your battle. Neem oil them to death (its stinky though).
 
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