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gently caress! Orchids are hard!!!!!!! I now have three little friends, two Phalaenopsis hybrids and one Oncidium (which I was told was a Cymbidium, so I left it outside, then the back bulbs all started rotting...). The yellow Phalaenopsis I received for free when it was close to death, then spotted mold on all the uppermost roots and discovered why it was close to death--the roots were completely packed in soaking-wet sphagnum moss, and not in one plastic growpot as I had thought, but secretly crammed into ANOTHER inner growpot with one teeny drainage hole! And the crown basically broke off, so there's only one leaf at the base of the crown desperately clinging on for life. I picked off all the moss and laid it out to dry, razored off the hosed-up moldy roots, and repotted in coarse fir bark. Gonna leave it to dry out for a couple weeks or a month then start lightly watering again. If all I can do is keep this thing alive for another year, let alone the poor frostbitten Oncidium, I will praise our dark orchid god with, I don't even know, human sacrifice or something
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Dec 17, 2020 18:36
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| # ¿ May 14, 2024 07:33 |
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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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Anyone have luck growing native California honeysuckle in a container? Mine has had the worst aphid infestation for months, after repeated treatments of insecticidal soap and just spraying the aphids off manually. (Doing aphid control and spraying on adjacent mint and sage too, which seem to be acting as reservoirs.) Even the soap seems to be making it suffer too; I picked off the dead leaves to see where the aphids were continuing to damage, and 30-40% of the remaining, formerly green leaves are now dying. I'm tempted to get some Bt for the soil, if Bt for aphids even exists. I already killed a trailing Clinopodium through scale infestation and neglect, I don't want to kill this one too 
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Mar 27, 2021 04:04
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Someone please tell me if this is a terrible idea. My space is a smallish east-facing walled patio in zone 10a. I foraged some Quercus agrifolia acorns last October and tried to germinate them overwinter using various techniques (stratification vs. non-strat, sycamore leaf vs. pine needle mulches). Only one 3gal pot (non-strat w/ sycamore mulch) survived, and there are now three baby Quercus ranging in height from about 7 to 16 inches. They are healthy and have been pushing out new growth all spring and summer. I would love to grow them as big as I can in this space. I've heard they really dislike being repotted and frequently die. HOWEVER, I know that it's also better to repot sooner rather than later so that the taproot has room to do its thing. I'm also extremely emotionally attached to them as my only surviving babies. Here's where the bad idea may come in. I have a Penstemon heterophyllus planted off-center in a 14"d x 11"h terracotta pot, which I am also emotionally attached to since I have killed many many CA native plants over the last couple years. I previously had a small Fuchsia californica and Erigeron glaucus in that same pot as well, but they died fairly swiftly. The Penstemon hasn't flowered yet, but it's looking nice and seems to appreciate the space without the Fuchsia and Erigeron crowding it. I only have room for one terracotta of this size on my patio, so getting another pot of similar size for the oaks would mean that I would need to downgrade the Penstemon to a smaller pot. I also read that Penstemon is a nice understory species under oak, although of course it will be years til that happens. Would it be a terrible idea to pot out the baby Quercus (one or all) into this big terracotta along with the Penstemon? Perhaps by taking the Penstemon out and resettling everyone, or would it be less disturbing to make planting holes and pop the oak(s) in since the Penstemon is already off-center? Should I transfer the baby oaks into the pot and put the Penstemon somewhere else? And if it'll be okay to put them all together, should I make this happen sooner rather than later, or should I wait until fall to reduce the heat stress and grouchiness of being moved? Thank you 
snailshell fucked around with this message at 18:37 on Aug 15, 2021 |
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Aug 15, 2021 18:35
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Trip report, the oak seedling transplant went great!!! Two weeks later, 2 out of 3 survivors
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Sep 13, 2021 06:23
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Hutla posted:My orchid decided to flower normally last winter, grow a new leaf in March, then reflower in May. That spike finally dried up in September, and now it's growing another leaf. What do you people do for your orchids to get them to flower????? The woes of only a north-facing window or a brutal east patio with sub-40 temps in the winter... I froze half the bulbs off my Oncidium before I realized what was happening ;(
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Oct 15, 2021 23:29
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subpar anachronism posted:I put a fiddle leaf fig in my apartment vestibule last night because I had a plant trade coming by and I've been sniffly and gross. It was there like half an hour and by the time my trade arrived someone had absconded with it. Who just steals a tree?? We have places in our building we place free stuff and that is not one of them. I felt terrible when she arrived with stuff for me and it was gone so I ended up running down a smaller ficus altissima and starting more stuff for her this morning. I put a drawing of it on our bulletin board and noted a reward, so I'm hoping it comes back to me so I can still give it to her. I thought my neighbours were better than that but I guess that's on me. Disappointing. I'm happy to share plants but this is a bummer.
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Oct 25, 2021 03:55
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My Oncidium and very first orchid that I almost killed last winter has finally flowered!!!!! The first orchid I've ever gotten to rebloom!!!!! Any ID ideas? I was thinking Oncidium x 'Purple Queen,' but the center has a little mottling, which the other photos I've seen don't have.
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Dec 15, 2021 21:43
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| # ¿ May 14, 2024 07:33 |
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Jessica Lucas writes for Input Magazine that "the online plant community has a hoarding problem."quote:“I’ve definitely needed to get rid of stuff because it got to be too much,” says the 25-year-old De La Paz, who lives in Missouri and owns over 100 plants, including prayer plants, snake plants, and a monstera vine that towers over her. The influencer noticed her collection, which she spends most of her time caring for and filming, had spiraled out of control at the start of 2020. quote:According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Americans spent 18.7 percent more on gardening-related items in 2020 than they did in 2019 — an increase of $8.5 billion. quote:“Auctions on Facebook work on the basis of who can get there the fastest,” she says. “When I first started using them, I purchased plants that I didn’t really want, because it was exciting to win. It’s like gambling.” She believes the speed of the highly competitive auctions makes things worse. “You have to immediately commit without having any thought, and you’re unable to make a critical decision,” she explains. “You can buy the wrong plant because it all happens so fast.” (In addition, some online retailers have shifted toward a hypebeast-style “drop” culture.) Not my 30 monsteras and 15 pothos... how will you ever be able to choose between them..... I guess it really is an unwise spending decision to get the same 10 normie plants when you could just get cuttings from an acquaintance, unlike me who only ever smartly spends an appropriate and reasonable amount on finicky species orchids.
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Dec 27, 2021 04:10
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