I've had some of those. Now I only have a fragile-looking cactus.
And I have a problem with everything growing too much every time I look away for a second.
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RankenphilePassersby were amazedby the unusually large amounts of blood.Registered User, Moderatormod
Re-potted my tomatoes into bigger pots this evening, and started some herbs in pots in my little bump-out window. Growing two pots of basil, some thyme, rosemary to transplant outside next spring, and some dill.
My zucchini is in a big black pot outside because I haven’t made a good spot in the garden yet for it, and we’ve harvested off of it twice but it’s leaves are pretty sickly and yellow.
I’ve harvested a lot of blueberries this year though, and a shit ton of beets and lettuce. Onions are doing okay, but we’re really just sort of experimenting this year with the garden space, learning what goes well where. This is the first year in this house we’re gardening, so it’s a lot of trial and error.
SO, I made the mistake of mixing a potting soil that holds water for too long and doesn't dry out in my apartment. This same mix was fine when I was in New England, but apparently it's so humid here that the top of the soil in some of my plant pots just.......never dries out (I mean it does, but it may take 2+ weeks, which is crazy).
This has resulted in some of the low-light plants gathering a bit of white mold/fungus on the top layer of the soil. Luckily it's a very common type of fungus/mold, and doesn't hurt the plants at all, but I've had to buy materials to create a faster-draining mix for even the "prefers moist soil" types of plants to avoid this. Having a fast-draining soil for the plants that, on paper, prefer more damp soil is...not intuitive! But hopefully after mixing enough sand and gravel and chunky bits into this new mix, I can remove the top soil of the Problem Soils, add this new mix on top, and life will be good.
All of my pots have a healthy dose of the white fungus on them. The clay ones, anyway.
Yeah, I had one terracotta pot and not only did it develop the white mold/fungus, it started developing black mold on the outer surface of the pot ...so that was an immediate no-go for me.
I don't want my plants smelling like mildew, but I also was concerned about the air quality if I let the mold/fungus proliferate. Also makes a solid breeding ground for fungus gnats.
Replaced the top inch+ of soil on all the problem plants last night, so we'll see how this second round goes. I got a "fast draining" mix made for cacti and succulents...it still felt/looked a bit too peaty, so I added additional gravel, sand, and perlite. Crossing my fingers!
NightDragon on
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Shortytouching the meatIntergalactic Cool CourtRegistered Userregular
my thyme and dill both died, I think due to the creatures that have infested all of my herbs (except the oregano, when they do not care for, apparently)
the basil is surviving still
I should probably get something to take care of the bugs though
my thyme and dill both died, I think due to the creatures that have infested all of my herbs (except the oregano, when they do not care for, apparently)
the basil is surviving still
I should probably get something to take care of the bugs though
If the answer to your bug problem isn't "more, different, bugs", my father and @BugBoy will be very disappointed.
Children's rights are human rights.
+1
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Shortytouching the meatIntergalactic Cool CourtRegistered Userregular
my thyme and dill both died, I think due to the creatures that have infested all of my herbs (except the oregano, when they do not care for, apparently)
the basil is surviving still
I should probably get something to take care of the bugs though
If the answer to your bug problem isn't "more, different, bugs", my father and BugBoy will be very disappointed.
I can't really introduce a bunch of bugs to the inside of my apartment
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BugBoyboy.EXE has stopped functioning.only bugs remainRegistered Userregular
Ladybugs love to hang out in apartments, and they’re good friends to plants. Depending on where you are, some will probably show up free of charge when the weather gets cold.
Bugs: the cheap, natural solution to every problem
Ladybugs love to hang out in apartments, and they’re good friends to plants. Depending on where you are, some will probably show up free of charge when the weather gets cold.
Bugs: the cheap, natural solution to every problem
Found this on imgur while looking for gifs to post and thought you folks might appreciate it.
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Lost Salientblink twiceif you'd like me to mercy kill youRegistered Userregular
Okay plant thread, I'm back.
On Saturday or Sunday morning this weekend I plan to go up to the massive street of plant nurseries here and buy some greenery finally. Buuut I don't 100% trust the opinions of plant salespeople and I'd like some advice, if any of you have any, on what to buy.
First, space - I've got five spots where I'd like to put plants:
1. West-Southwest facing outdoor window planter. About 12" deep and probably 12" in depth?
2. West-Southwest facing indoor floor-to-ceiling bay window area. Needs to be a single-pot something because I'd like it to go behind or beside my armchairs.
3. South-facing outdoor window planter, same dimensions as no. 1
4. On top of my bookshelves - indoors, no direct sunlight, something that grows more horizontal vine-y than vertical or else it will hit the ceiling.
5. On my apartment doorstep - it's a partial-shelter (open to the outdoors but with glass blinds that can open and close to keep out rain) with no direct sunlight.
Next, climate - I live in Singapore. The outdoor temperature is between 26 and 32 (Celsius, obviously) every day 365 days a year. The humidity is around 80% every day, sometimes higher, rarely lower. Almost every day is equatorial-sunny with a bout of thunderstorms/rain at some point. The outdoor window planters get direct sunlight at least part of the day. The bay window gets a ton of direct sunlight in the afternoon to evening, but I keep my living room at an air conditioned (read: NOT humid) 25 degrees so the dog doesn't overheat while I'm at work.
Last, attention - I'm at the office 5 days a week and travel overseas at least once a quarter for work, so please don't recommend orchids, as I will surely kill them.
Orchids aside, does anyone have any thoughts or recommendations on what plants might fit these spaces? Singapore is often called the "Garden City" because it's so tropical and green, and the majority of outdoor balconies in the city are overrun with plants, but short of standing outside of the homes of strangers with my Trees and Plants of Singapore book, I'm not sure how to figure out what they're growing in such abundance.
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
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RankenphilePassersby were amazedby the unusually large amounts of blood.Registered User, Moderatormod
You should probably trust the plant folks, unless you've got a particularly good reason not to. They tend to know the region pretty well, in my experience, and are good at recommending plants that fit the level of maintenance and the climate you're in. Just tell them what you're looking for and what your environment is you'll put them in and how much care you're able or willing to provide.
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Lost Salientblink twiceif you'd like me to mercy kill youRegistered Userregular
Ehhh I just feel like they're always like "Buy this expensive one! It's expensive!"
I guess I don't like going in from a position of ignorance and trusting someone whose job is to get me to spend as much money as possible.
It's possible that working with contractors and external vendors has permanently soured me on trusting any salesperson for anything at all.
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
Might be a good idea to take pictures of the plants they have to offer, and look up the plant type and care needs afterwards. That's what I did here, just to make sure I knew what was available to me first (and also so I could independently verify the specific requirements for each plant, and make sure it would be happy in my apartment).
#4 would be a great fit for a pothos plant though...I have mine on a shelf that gets bright/ medium indirect light, but they're supposed to be some of the easiest and most resilient indoor plants you can get, and can handle lower light environments from what I remember. When it gets long and viney I'll either move it to a higher shelf or extend the vines along the shelf horizontally.
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Brovid Hasselsmof[Growling historic on the fury road]Registered Userregular
Thanks to this thread I went out and bought a plant friend today. Also because I'm studying a horticulture course but don't have my own garden so I should probably have some houseplants to practice keeping green things alive. So now I have a Spathiphyllum study buddy on my desk.
Indoor plants make me happy to be around them and look at them
Mood-boosting is a very useful trait
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Lost Salientblink twiceif you'd like me to mercy kill youRegistered Userregular
Hmm yeah plant shopping was a huge bust. Apparently you can have an entire city block worth of plants and not one employee who can tell you anything about anything.
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
I'd have more indoor plants if only my cat would stop eating them and then puking all over the place.
"Simple, real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time." -Mustrum Ridcully in Terry Pratchett's Hogfather p. 142 (HarperPrism 1996)
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JedocIn the scupperswith the staggers and jagsRegistered Userregular
I just took most of my plants to live with The Former Mrs. Jedoc. I'm down to two pots of some kind of immortal angel wing begonia my parents got for their wedding, but I've got a swap situation with my book club that should get me some aloe and a baby spider plant. Just need to get some cuttings started.
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lonelyahavaCall me Ahava ~~She/Her~~Move to New ZealandRegistered Userregular
I bought some strawberries yesterday!
They're in a planter!
I also got some sage and parsley.
And I'm planning on getting a lemon tree, and a jacaranda.
I like that view, is that like a small park or something?
not a doctor, not a lawyer, examples I use may not be fully researched so don't take out of context plz, don't @ me
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Lost Salientblink twiceif you'd like me to mercy kill youRegistered Userregular
Thanks! I love my view, it's one of the reasons I just renewed my lease. It's actually just that my building property is on a street corner that's shaped like a pie piece, and my unit faces the... pointy end of the pie? - so rather than a building right next door, I look out over the pool and then the trees lining the streets to the left and right before they meet up. It's really nice!
Also it helps that it's equatorial, so trees all grow like crazypants here.
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
UuuuuUUUUGH I was wondering why my otherwise healthy-looking ivy plant was starting to have some leaves curl downward...upon further inspection, they're curling because there are HELLA spider mites all over the goddamn thing, and their webs are pulling the leaves. FUCK SPIDER MITES. They've just about ruined my palm over the last few weeks too. That palm started out rough - I bought it for ~$30 from Home Depot, while remembering that the last time I'd bought a plant from Home Depot, it had pest issues...and then learned quickly there were pests in the soil. Luckily not a type of pest that will harm an established plant, but once I realized it had spider mites, I went nuclear on the leaves with dish soap spray and some areas of the plant are not looking...great. On the plus side, I can't detect any moving bugs on the leaves, so once I rinse the leaves off it miiiiight be okay?
Just ordered some Neem oil for the first time...luckily my ivy is very small, so I can put the entire plant in my kitchen sink and blast the leaves to high heaven with the faucet sprayer thing. Going to do that and then hope I can get rid of the mites completely with the Neem oil.
I've moved into a new place and it has a big, weird, empty corner that is begging for something to be put in it. I don't need any more furniture, and I probably have enough lamps, so I was thinking of ... maybe ... getting a plant??!?
Only I need something really hard to kill because while I'm good at remembering basic stuff like adding water, I'm bad at paying attention to anything else, also I tend to go away a lot, and I have limited quantities of friends I trust with watering duties.
Something with the same care requirements as a bundle of sticks would be ideal.
Posts
And I have a problem with everything growing too much every time I look away for a second.
My zucchini is in a big black pot outside because I haven’t made a good spot in the garden yet for it, and we’ve harvested off of it twice but it’s leaves are pretty sickly and yellow.
I’ve harvested a lot of blueberries this year though, and a shit ton of beets and lettuce. Onions are doing okay, but we’re really just sort of experimenting this year with the garden space, learning what goes well where. This is the first year in this house we’re gardening, so it’s a lot of trial and error.
This has resulted in some of the low-light plants gathering a bit of white mold/fungus on the top layer of the soil. Luckily it's a very common type of fungus/mold, and doesn't hurt the plants at all, but I've had to buy materials to create a faster-draining mix for even the "prefers moist soil" types of plants to avoid this. Having a fast-draining soil for the plants that, on paper, prefer more damp soil is...not intuitive! But hopefully after mixing enough sand and gravel and chunky bits into this new mix, I can remove the top soil of the Problem Soils, add this new mix on top, and life will be good.
Yeah, I had one terracotta pot and not only did it develop the white mold/fungus, it started developing black mold on the outer surface of the pot
I don't want my plants smelling like mildew, but I also was concerned about the air quality if I let the mold/fungus proliferate. Also makes a solid breeding ground for fungus gnats.
Replaced the top inch+ of soil on all the problem plants last night, so we'll see how this second round goes. I got a "fast draining" mix made for cacti and succulents...it still felt/looked a bit too peaty, so I added additional gravel, sand, and perlite. Crossing my fingers!
the basil is surviving still
I should probably get something to take care of the bugs though
If the answer to your bug problem isn't "more, different, bugs", my father and @BugBoy will be very disappointed.
I can't really introduce a bunch of bugs to the inside of my apartment
Bugs: the cheap, natural solution to every problem
Please show your math.
On Saturday or Sunday morning this weekend I plan to go up to the massive street of plant nurseries here and buy some greenery finally. Buuut I don't 100% trust the opinions of plant salespeople and I'd like some advice, if any of you have any, on what to buy.
First, space - I've got five spots where I'd like to put plants:
1. West-Southwest facing outdoor window planter. About 12" deep and probably 12" in depth?
2. West-Southwest facing indoor floor-to-ceiling bay window area. Needs to be a single-pot something because I'd like it to go behind or beside my armchairs.
3. South-facing outdoor window planter, same dimensions as no. 1
4. On top of my bookshelves - indoors, no direct sunlight, something that grows more horizontal vine-y than vertical or else it will hit the ceiling.
5. On my apartment doorstep - it's a partial-shelter (open to the outdoors but with glass blinds that can open and close to keep out rain) with no direct sunlight.
Next, climate - I live in Singapore. The outdoor temperature is between 26 and 32 (Celsius, obviously) every day 365 days a year. The humidity is around 80% every day, sometimes higher, rarely lower. Almost every day is equatorial-sunny with a bout of thunderstorms/rain at some point. The outdoor window planters get direct sunlight at least part of the day. The bay window gets a ton of direct sunlight in the afternoon to evening, but I keep my living room at an air conditioned (read: NOT humid) 25 degrees so the dog doesn't overheat while I'm at work.
Last, attention - I'm at the office 5 days a week and travel overseas at least once a quarter for work, so please don't recommend orchids, as I will surely kill them.
Orchids aside, does anyone have any thoughts or recommendations on what plants might fit these spaces? Singapore is often called the "Garden City" because it's so tropical and green, and the majority of outdoor balconies in the city are overrun with plants, but short of standing outside of the homes of strangers with my Trees and Plants of Singapore book, I'm not sure how to figure out what they're growing in such abundance.
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
I guess I don't like going in from a position of ignorance and trusting someone whose job is to get me to spend as much money as possible.
It's possible that working with contractors and external vendors has permanently soured me on trusting any salesperson for anything at all.
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
#4 would be a great fit for a pothos plant though...I have mine on a shelf that gets bright/ medium indirect light, but they're supposed to be some of the easiest and most resilient indoor plants you can get, and can handle lower light environments from what I remember. When it gets long and viney I'll either move it to a higher shelf or extend the vines along the shelf horizontally.
As in something edible.
Like nightshade.
Plants convert the earth's atmosphere into a non-toxic form that is crucial for humans to exist. I'd say that's pretty useful!
So do edible plants.
But edible plants have the added benefit of being edible.
Yeah, that's why I eat all my cats and dogs.
Mood-boosting is a very useful trait
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
I'm running out of space. Do NASA make deliveries?
They're in a planter!
I also got some sage and parsley.
And I'm planning on getting a lemon tree, and a jacaranda.
Democrats Abroad! || Vote From Abroad
So now I have plants!
Pothos, at your recommendation, for the bookshelf:
This... tall man... which I don't know the name of, for the bay window:
Annnd Japanese laurel? I think?
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
Also it helps that it's equatorial, so trees all grow like crazypants here.
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
but after mulling it over for a bit, Planthos is the only clever one I can think of
Still could use help with the tallman and the laurel though
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
This is perfection
Just ordered some Neem oil for the first time...luckily my ivy is very small, so I can put the entire plant in my kitchen sink and blast the leaves to high heaven with the faucet sprayer thing. Going to do that and then hope I can get rid of the mites completely with the Neem oil.
#fuckspidermites
Only I need something really hard to kill because while I'm good at remembering basic stuff like adding water, I'm bad at paying attention to anything else, also I tend to go away a lot, and I have limited quantities of friends I trust with watering duties.
Something with the same care requirements as a bundle of sticks would be ideal.