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mediaphage posted:perhaps i am misunderstanding the term. for example here’s what i’m talking about : Generally the non-green colors on succulents come from sun stress. You can get some of it by pushing enough light but generally it's hard to get the full vibrancy that way that you can get by growing stuff outdoors in e.g. California without blinding yourself.
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Feb 16, 2021 22:39
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Wallet posted:Generally the non-green colors on succulents come from sun stress. You can get some of it by pushing enough light but generally it's hard to get the full vibrancy that way that you can get by growing stuff outdoors in e.g. California without blinding yourself. gotta get a grow tent + some high discharge lights if you want that perfect midsummer sun stress in winter
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Feb 16, 2021 22:43
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Ok Comboomer posted:gotta get a grow tent + some high discharge lights if you want that perfect midsummer sun stress in winter Basically, but what am I bothering for if I can't even see the plants?
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Feb 17, 2021 00:06
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yes; we’re on the same page then. this doesn’t happen only in succulents; it’s a pretty wide-ranging effect. i don’t think you’re going to get much redder colours than that first succulent i posted, at least in that species. and it’s not a function of only how much light a light source puts out, it’s also about how close you can put the plant to the light source. those plants are in our dining room and we’re hardly blinded. you can definitely achieve this sort of thing with artificial light, you just need to have a strong source that is also very close to the plants (like less than six inches, if possible). if you also then put the lights and plants well below your average sight line it becomes much less of an eye strain.
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Feb 17, 2021 00:14
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mediaphage posted:i don’t think you’re going to get much redder colours than that first succulent i posted, at least in that species. and it’s not a function of only how much light a light source puts out, it’s also about how close you can put the plant to the light source. those plants are in our dining room and we’re hardly blinded. I'm not sure I get your point. You can either put it closer or get a stronger grow light, those accomplish the same thing. You need some serious grow lights if you want to hit full summer sun levels of light without having the lights basically touching your plants. E.g. 10-15 of these or these at 8 inches away. One of these at 8 inches will get you close, but because of the beam angle you're going to need to set up one per plant pretty much. Some Schlumbergera can get to a really deep, rich maroon with enough light, and you can accomplish that without a ton of trouble with grow lights, but Schlumbergera are mostly epiphytic cacti that grow in shaded environments with high humidity. Accomplishing the same thing with, as an example, the Euphorbia tirucalli that comboomer was talking about is going to be a lot more difficult as they are adapted to growing in full tropical sun.
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Feb 17, 2021 00:29
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Worth noting that stress doesn’t just have to come from sun. The tirucalli apparently are known for turning red in winter, but also in midsummer, with dryness, with wetness, and some indoor keepers report having it turn red indoors for them no sweat without them really knowing what they did. Here’s some mini Phals and some Birkins (like five, omg. I love how both prolific and small that pot’s been, it’s a nice contrast to my other Birkin pot where the plants are much bigger and leggier and there’s only three of them) and an Acanthocereus fairy castle that needs to be moved, and possibly repotted so that it better fits with the other four fairy castles because of course I’d wind up with 5 fairy castles (in my defense 3 started out as gifts that were either ungiven or politely rejected for good reason, and they may still end up that way): 
trilobite terror fucked around with this message at 02:09 on Feb 17, 2021 |
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Feb 17, 2021 02:06
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Wallet posted:I'm not sure I get your point. You can either put it closer or get a stronger grow light, those accomplish the same thing. your point was that it's functionally impossible to do this sort of thing at all at home without blinding yourself. i don't think that's true. i grow a lot of tropical plants, some succulents among them (they're mostly my SO's bag). it's not quite the same thing. a lot of people don't put their lights very close to their plants because they're used to old-style HIDs which would burn the poo poo out of your plants if they got remotely close. and frankly if you can do math, i don't recommend either of those options. especially the latter. you want to get some of the modern high-efficiency strips from a company like samsung or bridgelux, grab a meanwell driver of the correct specs, and go to town. actually good plant growth LEDs are pretty expensive to get pre-made, and you can roll your own pretty easily. plus you can get substantially higher light density. i'm aware that my examples weren't exactly difficult plants, but they're under about an 8-inch section of a single strip. Ok Comboomer posted:Worth noting that stress doesn’t just have to come from sun. The tirucalli apparently are known for turning red in winter, but also in midsummer, with dryness, with wetness, and some indoor keepers report having it turn red indoors for them no sweat without them really knowing what they did. these all look so good.
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Feb 17, 2021 02:44
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mediaphage posted:your point was that it's functionally impossible to do this sort of thing at all at home without blinding yourself. i don't think that's true. i grow a lot of tropical plants, some succulents among them (they're mostly my SO's bag). My point was that you can't match the intensity of full sun without putting the lights very close or using intense lights, not that it's impossible to do so.
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Feb 17, 2021 14:19
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These are beautiful.
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Feb 17, 2021 14:22
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Wallet posted:My point was that you can't match the intensity of full sun without putting the lights very close or using intense lights, not that it's impossible to do so. i never said that, you took umbrage at my suggestion that you can sun stress plants indoors. but whatever.
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Feb 17, 2021 14:50
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for actual content, i finally got around to making a spreadsheet of all the new and old seeds we've got kicking around so it's easier to plan:
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Feb 17, 2021 14:56
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mediaphage posted:i never said that, you took umbrage at my suggestion that you can sun stress plants indoors. but whatever. My original point was just that people growing succulents outdoors and getting perfect sun stress coloration in California or Florida are clearly cheating and using those pictures as the standard against which to measure succulents being grown indoors in the Northeast is silly. I'm not sure we're arguing about anything here—you can sun stress plants indoors, it's not always easy for all plants.  I like your seed spreadsheet. I have an unhealthy spreadsheet addiction and I can't stop putting things in spreadsheets. Outdoor plants...  Indoor plants...  They all go in a spreadsheet somewhere.
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Feb 17, 2021 15:16
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Wallet posted:My original point was just that people growing succulents outdoors and getting perfect sun stress coloration in California or Florida are clearly cheating and using those pictures as the standard against which to measure succulents being grown indoors in the Northeast is silly. I'm not sure we're arguing about anything here—you can sun stress plants indoors, it's not always easy for all plants. maybe i can graduate to fully tracking plants like yours someday! half the reason i did it was so that i wouldn't buy seeds again when we had a sealed package from last year :V really want to go gangbusters on herbs this year. i have an unhealthy fascination with basil species and varietals because they can be soooo different from each other. thinking of doing a whole big section of them. mostly indoors because i won't remember to go out in the garden to collect them when i need them.
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Feb 17, 2021 15:26
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tildes posted:Could someone recommend a grow light for me? I don't need anything crazy, I just want something to put on my little desk where my succulents live to stop them from stretching out so much looking for light. If you don't want to spend a fuckton of money, get generic white 4000k LEDs. They usually have both the blue and red ends of the spectrum covered well enough and don't look like poo poo. 3600K or below are heavily biased to red, 5000K+ cold lights are biased to blue.
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Feb 17, 2021 17:00
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I CANNOT EJACULATE WITHOUT SEEING NATIVE AMERICANS BRUTALISED!
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Organised a part of my garden yesterday Got a bit over grown and under utilised I'm going to try and propagate yakon and dragon fruit for profit 
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Feb 21, 2021 11:47
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Jestery posted:Organised a part of my garden yesterday that's fun! excited to see how that goes for you. feeling real jelly of a verdant, snow-free setup right now, haha.
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Feb 21, 2021 17:19
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Hello all, I was referred to this thread by the good people on Discord because I have a poo poo ton of questions about a poo poo ton of indoor plants and apparently, y'all might be able to provide some answers. I'll try not to bombard you with too many questions, but if someone can shed some light as to what the hell is up with my (already very etiolated) aloe (juvenna or zanzibarica, not sure :/ ) I would be really grateful. I've had the thing for years and even though it is very very leggy, it is still producing offshoots even after I repotted it last November. I recently moved so I've changed its location - it used to be close to a window and now it's directly in front of a window, for information - but since I moved it's been going slightly brown. I've done a lot of research on the internet but other than potential sunburn, I haven't found anything that might explain its sudden change in colour. I removed some dead and shrivelled leaves the other day and put it back into the soil proper because it was kind of... falling out of the soil? I'd hate to see the thing die but I genuinely don't know what is up with it and what to do to make it at least regain its greeny colour. I don't expect it to become all compact again (unless I do some trimming and propagating but I'm not experienced enough to mess around with that). Any insight would be greatly appreciated!  Aloe in question. 
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Feb 21, 2021 17:45
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Babby Satan posted:Hello all, I dunno, my personal and completely unscientific experience is my aloe goes brownish but stays healthy when I put it close to the window. I have often tried and failed to kill aloe, even by over watering. After musing a little, I have wonder if the gravel you use as a top dressing is having a negative effect. My reasoning is if the layer is too thick and the stones too large and irregular then the soil my stay damp for longer (regardless of if you have a good, free-draining substrate) and the plant will struggle with that or even to just to grow through from its base. There are really capable house plant experts here, so I am sure they will give some real advice!
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Feb 21, 2021 18:42
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You know, I never thought that the white pebbles might be affecting the drainage. Afaik they don't because the water does still seep down but I did put some smaller gravel-esque pebbles on the bottom of the pot too. But you make a really good point! I'll take the top ones out and see what happens. Thanks for the tip! 
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Feb 21, 2021 19:17
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Babby Satan posted:You know, I never thought that the white pebbles might be affecting the drainage. Afaik they don't because the water does still seep down but I did put some smaller gravel-esque pebbles on the bottom of the pot too. But you make a really good point! I'll take the top ones out and see what happens. Thanks for the tip! More they may hinder evaporation. Welcome!
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Feb 21, 2021 19:35
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Babby Satan posted:Hello all, I think I have your aloe's twin and its identity has been tripping me up for years (got it from a friend's grandma). No matter how much sun it gets it grows long and viney instead of upright. juvenna and zanzibarica both look too thicc to be correct to me. This one has lived in both west and south windows and under grow lights. I would also lose the topdressing though. 
uranium grass fucked around with this message at 23:36 on Feb 21, 2021 |
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Feb 21, 2021 23:26
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that doesn’t look like any zanzibarica I’ve seen
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Feb 21, 2021 23:29
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Babby Satan posted:You know, I never thought that the white pebbles might be affecting the drainage. Afaik they don't because the water does still seep down but I did put some smaller gravel-esque pebbles on the bottom of the pot too. But you make a really good point! I'll take the top ones out and see what happens. Thanks for the tip! The brown doesn't look terribly concerning to me—it's not unlikely that it's an adjustment to more light and a bunch of Aloes get that kind of brown in them. As far as the top dressing goes you really want something porous like pumice or even pearlite that lets the soil underneath it breathe and doesn't retain water. It's not a bad idea with a water sensitive plant like that that's flopping over onto the top of the medium. I know people have been doing it forever but putting gravel on the bottom of a pot isn't a great idea. It's fine if you have a very freely draining soil with very limited organics but with anything that retains water you're likely to create a perched water table which does the opposite of what you're intending. There's a good illustration of this here (I'm sure there's better ones, that's just the first that popped up with pictures on Google). RickRogers posted:I have often tried and failed to kill aloe, even by over watering. You can definitely do it. The difficulty is going to partially depend on what you're planting it in, what species, and what the conditions are like in your house. The home depot here always has a shitload of Aloe in the garden section and as far as I can tell they manage to give them all root rot within a week or so of their arrival. subpar anachronism posted:I think I have your aloe's twin and its identity has been tripping me up for years (got it from a friend's grandma). No matter how much sun it gets it grows long and viney instead of upright. juvenna and zanzibarica both look too thicc to be correct to me. This one has lived in both west and south windows and under grow lights. I would also lose the topdressing though. It doesn't look like any juvenna I've ever seen. People really like to hybridize Aloes for whatever reason so it could be almost anything, but it kind of looks like ankoberensis or bakeri. Wallet fucked around with this message at 01:09 on Feb 22, 2021 |
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Feb 22, 2021 00:39
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Wallet posted:The brown doesn't look terribly concerning to me—it's not unlikely that it's an adjustment to more light and a bunch of Aloes get that kind of brown in them. Yeah, the brown doesn't look like it's harmful but I don't know enough about succulents to know and it got a bit worrying. My research told me that some aloes go a little bit brown out of sun stress (which I'm guessing is like when an echeveria turns pinkish) but they mentioned the tips of the leaves going brown and nothing was said about the whole thing kind of changing hue so I wanted to be sure. I did put it under a grow light for a couple of days and then I read that aloes don't particularly like grow lights because they scorch? As far as the top dressing goes, I'll take that one off to start with and maybe get something more likely to actually help the drainage process in due course, and the gravel at the bottom is going to have to go so repotting will be in order. Welp, I may not know what it is for sure but if I can keep it from dying I'll be happy. Thanks for your input guys
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Feb 22, 2021 09:35
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Wallet posted:You can definitely do it. Thanks for believing in me
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Feb 22, 2021 09:45
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Hey thread! I couldn't find a discord link so hopefully it's okay to just ask here, looking for some general advice on 3 succulents that I have. The first is this long fella, I want to just repot him - I think he's an aloe of some sort? What concerns me is the lean - I assume it's sun-seeking - is there any recommended way to sort that out?  The second is an identification question - we have this extremely long lad and... No idea what it is. It doesn't seem right that he's growing with no support but really no idea. Any thoughts? Just on wtf it is and then if there's any obvious care needed.  Lastly we have this big Gasteraloe "Green Ice" - it obviously needs repotting and I was going to switch it to a nicer mix (it's just multipurpose at the mo) but I also wondered about cultivating some babies from it? Is that wise? Does it look healthy enough? It flowered once but never again and ive had it for about 6 years I think.  All three of these currently live on the window sil in our attic office, so they get a TON of sunlight, but I'm in the UK so that might not mean a whole lot. Thanks!
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Feb 24, 2021 19:31
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Mr_Chicken posted:The first is this long fella, I want to just repot him - I think he's an aloe of some sort? Mr_Chicken posted:The second is an identification question - we have this extremely long lad and... No idea what it is. It doesn't seem right that he's growing with no support but really no idea. Any thoughts? Just on wtf it is and then if there's any obvious care needed. Mr_Chicken posted:Lastly we have this big Gasteraloe "Green Ice" - it obviously needs repotting and I was going to switch it to a nicer mix (it's just multipurpose at the mo) but I also wondered about cultivating some babies from it? Is that wise? Does it look healthy enough? It flowered once but never again and ive had it for about 6 years I think. You can certainly try to vegetatively propagate it—it looks like it's doing just fine and one or two leaves isn't likely to cause major problems. Some (most?) Gasteraloes will produce offsets eventually that you can just pop off once they have enough roots to sustain themselves.
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Feb 24, 2021 21:20
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Mr_Chicken posted:Hey thread! I couldn't find a discord link so hopefully it's okay to just ask here, looking for some general advice on 3 succulents that I have. looks like an Aloe zanzibarica the way it looks isn’t unreasonable at all for the species, you can try hitting it with more light if you want it to stay squat and compact-ish, but it’s not the type of aloe to stay short over the long term
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Feb 24, 2021 21:25
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Thank you both. Glad to have some idea what the long one is, will try and get it into a hanging pot or at least in a better position. We also plan to pick up some more succulents and a monstera tomorrow - which is I guess very basic but we need some greenery somehow and I don't want anything I can kill easily...
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Feb 25, 2021 11:54
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anyone recognize these beasties, and are they a problem? They're soil based, because I found them underneath the pot, around the drainage hole and on the saucer Very tiny, this is quite zoomed in  
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Feb 25, 2021 14:13
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Anybody got any insights into why my 8 year old pothos stopped growing? I've trimmed it and moved it to a smaller pot because as I understand it, if the pot is too big the plant can't get enough nutrients from the soil(?) I'm also attempting to water propagate some vines in a long term attempt to get it back to its previous bushiness but the mother plant isn't looking better after the trimming. 
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Feb 25, 2021 15:15
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Babby Satan posted:Anybody got any insights into why my 8 year old pothos stopped growing? I've trimmed it and moved it to a smaller pot because as I understand it, if the pot is too big the plant can't get enough nutrients from the soil(?) I'm also attempting to water propagate some vines in a long term attempt to get it back to its previous bushiness but the mother plant isn't looking better after the trimming. Does it look fine but it's just not growing or does it also not look super happy? My pothos decides to cull leaves every few months but then they grow right back. Did you repot it in new soil or did you use the old soil and, if old soil, when's the last time you fertilized it? Wallet fucked around with this message at 17:30 on Feb 25, 2021 |
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Feb 25, 2021 17:24
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Nosre posted:anyone recognize these beasties, and are they a problem? They're soil based, because I found them underneath the pot, around the drainage hole and on the saucer maybe fungus gnat pupae? It's hard to tell, but if you've got fungus gnats flying around (and you probably do) then you've got their larvae and pupae around too If you're worried you can try underwatering for a bit and really letting the soil dry out between waterings, you should also put up traps to catch any adults and stop them from reproducing. Finally, you can do a hydrogen peroxide soil rinse, off the top of my head I can't remember what the peroxide/water ratio is (maybe 1:1?) if any. Babby Satan posted:I've trimmed it and moved it to a smaller pot because as I understand it, if the pot is too big the plant can't get enough nutrients from the soil(?) this doesn't make any sense. How long has it been since you trimmed it? Did the root nodes that got buried look healthy and alive or dry and dead? How much light is it getting? Are the vines staked up? It can take like 2-3 months for trimmed vining plants like pothos and monstera to reestablish themselves and really show vigor.
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Feb 25, 2021 17:27
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Ok Comboomer posted:maybe fungus gnat pupae? It's hard to tell, but if you've got fungus gnats flying around (and you probably do) then you've got their larvae and pupae around too I know them buggers (unfortunately), and it's not them. I had them in previous years but it's been under control for a while. Thanks though!
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Feb 25, 2021 17:34
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Nosre posted:anyone recognize these beasties, and are they a problem? They're soil based, because I found them underneath the pot, around the drainage hole and on the saucer
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Feb 26, 2021 00:41
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Agreed looks like springtails.
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Feb 26, 2021 10:01
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Wallet posted:Does it look fine but it's just not growing or does it also not look super happy? My pothos decides to cull leaves every few months but then they grow right back. It looks okay, just not growing and only some leaves on one vine look droopy. The other two vines look fine actually. I repotted in fresh soil that was bought recently (like a month ago, just in case that makes a difference). Ok Comboomer posted:How long has it been since you trimmed it? Did the root nodes that got buried look healthy and alive or dry and dead? How much light is it getting? Are the vines staked up? It can take like 2-3 months for trimmed vining plants like pothos and monstera to reestablish themselves and really show vigor. Last trim I gave it was a long time ago, in years :/ Root nodes looked relatively healthy afaict. I've put both the propagation attempts and the mother plant next to a window so lots of light but the vines aren't staked up. I staked them up about a month ago and that's when it started looking a bit sad. Maybe I'm just being a bit impatient  As a side note, it looks like the unnamed aloe plant that I asked about is getting new shoots soooo.... I'm at a loss now but at least it seems to be growing still.
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Feb 26, 2021 11:18
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snailshell posted:Are they sort of translucent and really, really tiny, like < 1 mm? Judging by the second picture, they could be springtails, an evolutionary precursor to insects. They contribute to soil breakdown/quality, are everywhere in moist healthy soil, and are harmless to plants. That looks like the ticket, thanks guys. I'll leave them be unless they start multiplying too crazy, and then cut back on water in that case.
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Feb 26, 2021 12:40
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Babby Satan posted:It looks okay, just not growing and only some leaves on one vine look droopy. The other two vines look fine actually. do the vines have nodes of new growth at their tips? Nosre posted:That looks like the ticket, thanks guys. I'll leave them be unless they start multiplying too crazy, and then cut back on water in that case. you can tell if they're springtails easily (they probably are, I agree with everybody else) because they'll "jump" into the air (they don't use their legs, it's literally a mechanism in their tail ends) as a defense/mobility mechanism
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Feb 26, 2021 16:35
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Wallet posted:Did you repot it in new soil or did you use the old soil and, if old soil, when's the last time you fertilized it? Not who Wallet was responding to, but I'm new to houseplants and was wondering the best method for fertilizing. I am used to growing things outdoors and my main method of fertilizing outdoors is a biannual layer of compost. I don't really want to do this indoors (seems messy) so I figure I will have to invest in some sort of liquid / powder fertilizer. What kind of fertilizer is best for houseplants? My current houseplant collection includes: - 5 spider plants (started with 2 but then had fun with propogating!) - a pothos - a jade plant A reference I saw said to fertilize my spider plants every 2 weeks (!) which seemed like a recipe for nitrogen poisoning to me, but maybe it's some sort of extra dilute fertilizer? What sort of schedule should I be on for my other plants?
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Feb 26, 2021 16:58
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