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What type of plants are you interested in growing? This poll is closed. |
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| Perennials! |
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142 | 20.91% |
| Annuals! |
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30 | 4.42% |
| Woody plants! |
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62 | 9.13% |
| Succulent plants! |
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171 | 25.18% |
| Tropical plants! |
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60 | 8.84% |
| Non-vascular plants are the best! |
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31 | 4.57% |
| Screw you, I'd rather eat them! |
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183 | 26.95% |
| Total: | 679 votes | ||
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I had an absolutely terrible fungus gnat infestation after I moved many of my plants inside for the winter. I'm talking real bad – when you went to water, several dozen would fly up from underneath the mulch per pot. It was gross, I used the sticky yellow gnat paper and it worked wonders. I personally liked this style of stake because I found it really easy to use, and this sort of paper. I cut the paper short-ways across into about 1in wide strips that I folded and attached to the stake like you see in the example images and they were all absolutely covered with gnats in about a week. I have zero gnats in there these days.
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Jan 4, 2018 15:42
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I got rid of the fungus gnats by sterilizing the soil and repotting pretty much everything, which was drastic but they were really bad. but I think they came in the bag of potting soil and not from outside, since I brought my plants in this fall and I didn't have any problems with bugs. I think at that time, I had a couple pothos and some smaller plants, though, so it wasn't as bad as if I had to do it now with over a dozen plants...
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Jan 4, 2018 15:49
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EagerSleeper posted:
Thank you very much for the writeup!!!
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Jan 4, 2018 17:03
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SpartanIV posted:Sounds like fungus flies. They eat microscopic fungus from the soil. I had a coworker bring in an infested plant and they spread to mine. I finally got rid of them by putting a half inch layer of sand on top of my soil. I wonder if a little diatomaceous earth would work even better?
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Jan 4, 2018 18:07
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You know what works wonders for fungus gnat control? Forgetting to water your houseplants for a week-and-a-half over and over again*. * Many plants will HATE you for this
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Jan 4, 2018 19:28
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Shame Boner posted:You know what works wonders for fungus gnat control? Forgetting to water your houseplants for a week-and-a-half over and over again*. Destroy all life in your plant pots with this one ~WeIrD~ trick!
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Jan 4, 2018 21:04
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What is this? It grows in the herb beds of my apartment...
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Jan 4, 2018 22:24
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Bina posted:What is this? It grows in the herb beds of my apartment... It looks like epazote gone to seed. Does it smell/taste sort of like a herbal combination of moth balls and diesel? Nosre posted:Yea this works for fruit flies but I tried cider for Fungus Gnats and they ignored it. I've used neem oil (watered into the soil) with good success against fungus gnats. It's a general insect repellant but also fungicidal. Of course your plant pot will gain the weird peanuts-and-garlic neem smell for a while after, but that's worth it in my opinion.
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Jan 5, 2018 02:56
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Lead out in cuffs posted:I've used neem oil (watered into the soil) with good success against fungus gnats. It's a general insect repellant but also fungicidal. Of course your plant pot will gain the weird peanuts-and-garlic neem smell for a while after, but that's worth it in my opinion. Nice, I'll keep that (and sand) in the back pocket if the current stuff doesn't take
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Jan 5, 2018 13:38
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Fungus gnats: I tried yellow gnat paper, soil excavation, sand top dressing, drying out my pots, mosquito dunks, and probably a few other things that I don't remember. Finally tried neem oil and those fuckers died. Unfortunately I didn't follow the instructions about keeping the plants out of direct light immediately afterward, so my seedlings died too. Neem oil is great for lots of things, but be aware of that.
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Jan 5, 2018 15:33
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Hey guys. I found this guy abandoned in my laundry room and was hoping someone could id it so I can look up how to take care of it. It's grown a bit but not sure what's up with it in the first place.
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Jan 5, 2018 18:10
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I suspect you might have stolen someone's plant ducks, It's been eaten or frost bitten and somone has cut the dead parts off, watered it, and added perlite to the compost.
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Jan 5, 2018 18:18
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learnincurve posted:I suspect you might have stolen someone's plant ducks, It's been eaten or frost bitten and somone has cut the dead parts off, watered it, and added perlite to the compost. The trim and water were me, thought I remembered you were meant to cut away any dead.  I found it up in my laundry room (place for my apt where people leave all kinds of weird things they no longer want in a specific place) and the poor thing was bone dry. Frostbite is possible- got down to -40 the last two weeks and it might have gotten left too close to a poorly sealed window.
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Jan 5, 2018 18:55
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Update on my plant. It's been another week. All the leaves are basically dead and just haven't fallen off. The tops of the trunks look a little gross, but it's still relatively rigid so I'm seeing how it does on it's own before I do something drastic like try and prune it. The tree on the right has started to discolor on the rest of the trunk which I think is a bad sign. Hopefully it stops progressing. The tree on the left seems to be doing pretty well aside from the very top, and it may be developing shoots. There's some areas of the trunk that appear to be bulging like it's going to bud, but it could just be my hopeful imagination. I haven't watered it since I brought it inside, and the soil still seems damp under the sand. I'm worried the roots are going to rot with the damp soil, but there's nothing I can do about that at this point. 
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Jan 5, 2018 22:18
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Lead out in cuffs posted:It looks like epazote gone to seed. Does it smell/taste sort of like a herbal combination of moth balls and diesel? It's either that, or Tarragon.
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Jan 6, 2018 07:51
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Bina posted:It's either that, or Tarragon. Agreed. In which case it'll smell like licorice/anise.
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Jan 6, 2018 08:18
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Fitzy Fitz posted:Fungus gnats: How did you apply the neem oil? I imagine if you've gotta drench the top couple inches that's going to be pretty expensive. I've got 5-6 medium size pots that could use it and I'm seeing 10-15 euro for a small bottle of the stuff
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Jan 6, 2018 17:12
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Nosre posted:How did you apply the neem oil? I imagine if you've gotta drench the top couple inches that's going to be pretty expensive. I've got 5-6 medium size pots that could use it and I'm seeing 10-15 euro for a small bottle of the stuff Usually you dilute it in water and then use a spray bottle. How much you dilute it will depend on the concentration you get, but I think the stuff I use is about 1 tsp per quart of water. Even a small bottle lasts a really long time.
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Jan 6, 2018 17:33
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kedo posted:Usually you dilute it in water and then use a spray bottle. How much you dilute it will depend on the concentration you get, but I think the stuff I use is about 1 tsp per quart of water. Even a small bottle lasts a really long time. For fungus gnats, don't you need to take care of the larvae in the soil? Maybe I'm misunderstanding, I wasn't thinking it'd be a spray solution
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Jan 6, 2018 17:41
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Right, dilute it and spray the soil. It just needs to soak the top layer of soil because that's where the larvae are. Keep the plant out of the light for 12-24 hours to prevent leaf burn. Rinse it off with water. Return to the light. That may be overly cautious, but I did nuke my plants that one time and I don't really want to do that again.
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Jan 7, 2018 15:57
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I've been doing some planning. I think I can make a small raised bed on my apartment patio and grow some different vegetables. Based on the height of the patio fence and the placement of the patio I should be able to get full sun a fair amount there. I was thinking of some herbs, tomatoes, carrots, peppers, and I'm not sure what else. Was thinking of getting a dwarf lemon tree too. I'm in north Texas btw. Luckily I do have my mom to draw on who is an excellent gardener. I used to grow stuff all the time as a kid, but never on a patio and never really by myself.
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Jan 7, 2018 22:12
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I would try diatomaceous earth. It is super passive so there is no danger to pets or people and it is pretty cheap.
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Jan 7, 2018 22:13
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Lots of people container growing in the veg thread https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3085672 I bought a buddleja white profusion on an eBay auction, I'm not overly fond of them but my garden is missing butterfly friendly plants and I have an awkward corner that can take something massive which has poor soil owing to the loving overgrown half dead conifers next door - happily a new person just bought the house and he hates them too, he's attempted to sort out some of the height problem but ripping them out is going to be one hell of a job.
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Jan 7, 2018 23:00
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Fitzy Fitz posted:Keep the plant out of the light for 12-24 hours to prevent leaf burn. Rinse it off with water. Return to the light. I've usually done it right before sunset so I'd have enough light to see what I was doing. I've never rinsed it off and have never had any problems with burn – I thought the whole point was that the neem oil needed to be on the stuff the insects are eating in order to muck up their reproductive cycle.
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Jan 7, 2018 23:54
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Fitzy Fitz posted:Right, dilute it and spray the soil. It just needs to soak the top layer of soil because that's where the larvae are. Keep the plant out of the light for 12-24 hours to prevent leaf burn. Rinse it off with water. Return to the light. I diluted mine into water and used a watering can, but spraying the top of the soil works too. Since it's oil you probably want to put a tiny, tiny amount of biodegradable detergent in to help it dissolve.
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Jan 8, 2018 01:17
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If you plant can handle it, just immerse the pot in a bucket / plug the drainage and flood the pot for an hour. drown all those gnats.
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Jan 8, 2018 02:45
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I ordered a bottle of neem oil. How much water should I mix it into roughly? eg 1:1 parts or 1 tsp per 1 cup of water or anything else? I have no idea if my plants can handle being drowned in this stuff and I'd rather just play it safe.
Boris Galerkin fucked around with this message at 09:06 on Jan 8, 2018 |
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Jan 8, 2018 09:04
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If you follow the directions on the bottle you'll be fine. I've yet to meet a plant that has a problem with neem oil, and my method has been to absolutely soak them with it.
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Jan 8, 2018 15:38
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kedo posted:I've usually done it right before sunset so I'd have enough light to see what I was doing. I've never rinsed it off and have never had any problems with burn – I thought the whole point was that the neem oil needed to be on the stuff the insects are eating in order to muck up their reproductive cycle. I've sprayed it on outdoor plants without rinsing and they were fine too. I'm just giving a cautious recommendation because I don't want someone to go into it not knowing that there can be complications. I've heard enough stories of leaf burn, and experienced it myself, that I'm careful with the stuff. It's too useful not to use though. I actually wonder if there's a specific issue with grow lights. That was the case where I had burn problems, and every time I google neem oil burns I get pages about indoor weed setups.
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Jan 8, 2018 18:49
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Boris Galerkin posted:I ordered a bottle of neem oil. How much water should I mix it into roughly? eg 1:1 parts or 1 tsp per 1 cup of water or anything else? I have no idea if my plants can handle being drowned in this stuff and I'd rather just play it safe. Definitely follow the directions on the bottle. I'm pretty sure it's closer to the 1 tsp in a cup end of the spectrum.
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Jan 8, 2018 19:35
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In more massive plant purchases, I bought 5 twisted weeping willow cuttings for coppicing. (Although one will be allowed to be a proper tree) Left to their own devices they will get infinity big and infinity wide. I've seen one over 100 years old that makes the fencing around it look like it's from a dolls house. Weeping willow will grow at at least 1m a year, with the right conditions it can grow 4m a year. What you do is take a 12 inch branch or cutting, slam it into the ground or a pot so 4 inches is above the surface and in 2 months you will have a tree. They have a special hormone that means they root incredibly quickly, and if you soak and boil the wood you can use the water to propagate all your other cuttings. Another neat trick is that they suck up water, if you have a boggy garden and plant a weeping willow it will suck up all of that excess water, you just got to keep on pruning it yearly or else. After a year when the plant is established and dormant you cut it down to a stump and harvest the whippy branches, the next year even more branches grow from your stump (coppice stool) and you repeat harvest. The long whips can be used for a huge number of things - I'm going to be making frames for climbing plants and vegetables, with it being twisted it will give more places for tying things onto.
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Jan 8, 2018 20:18
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Nosre posted:Yea this works for fruit flies but I tried cider for Fungus Gnats and they ignored it. Seconding the mosquito dunk/b. thuringiensis solution. I got the stuff you shake into pools and put it on the surface of the soil. It wiped out my fungus gnat infestation almost immediately. Just be aware that there are two main strains of b. t. - the one for caterpillars and the one for mosquitoes and flies. The caterpillar one won't work on fungus gnats.
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Jan 10, 2018 03:53
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listrada posted:Seconding the mosquito dunk/b. thuringiensis solution. I got the stuff you shake into pools and put it on the surface of the soil. It wiped out my fungus gnat infestation almost immediately. Mine hasn't been that good, so maybe it's the wrong one. It's knocked them down but hasn't eradicated, and all it takes is a couple of the buggers to lay more eggs and keep it going  Synthbuttrange posted:If you plant can handle it, just immerse the pot in a bucket / plug the drainage and flood the pot for an hour. drown all those gnats. Was this serious? That'd be by far the easiest solution if it kills the larvae, but I've never heard of it before my infested pots and lemons and avocados
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Jan 10, 2018 21:30
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The neem oil finally got delivered today and the only instructions on it are for cosmetics, nothing about plants. I really can’t imagine wanting to put this stuff on my skin, because it smells really… distinct. I wouldn’t say it smells awful, but it’s really noticeable. It actually reminds me of something like a snack but I can’t remember what exactly. So soil drenching: can I just mix this stuff with water in my watering can and water my plants with it like I would normally do (take it outside and just completely flood the pot and bring it in when it’s stopped draining)? I tried mixing it with water when I got it earlier but I think it was just too cold so the oil was really viscous and impossible to mix really. Are there any immediate effects or will I just see less and less insects flying around? I’m googling each of my plant + neem oil to be safe but are there any known plants that will get damaged by this stuff?
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Jan 12, 2018 16:45
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Boris Galerkin posted:The neem oil finally got delivered today and the only instructions on it are for cosmetics, nothing about plants. May be helpful: https://www.planetnatural.com/wp-content/uploads/neem-oil-label.pdf Per that, mix 70% NEEM OIL at the rate of 2 tablespoons (1 fluid ounce) per gallon of water. Then water it in. I'm pretty sure the instructions I've had suggested to use a tiny amount (maybe half as much as the oil) of a biodegradable detergent (dishwashing liquid -- just make sure you get the biodegradable stuff) to help the oil emulsify in the water. Edit: Also wash your hands well afterwards: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK234639/ Lead out in cuffs fucked around with this message at 22:32 on Jan 12, 2018 |
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Jan 12, 2018 22:29
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They’re poisonous to bees? Poor bees 
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Jan 13, 2018 13:28
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 x Begonia rex-culturums are Devilman Crybaby: the House Plant. Super fussy about the cold weather, and needs a misting every other day. EagerSleeper fucked around with this message at 00:52 on Jan 14, 2018 |
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Jan 14, 2018 00:50
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I'm glad I found this thread, it took some digging. Lol soil joke I would like to invest in some privacy bushes. I'm not even sure that's a term, but I think you know what I mean. Do I need to check with the city ordinance for height/width allowances for something like that? Or can I just put in whatever I would like? (Texas) Most importantly - where would one purchase such a thing, and how much do privacy bushes, or large bushes in general cost?
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Jan 16, 2018 04:09
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Dennis McClaren posted:I'm glad I found this thread, it took some digging. Lol soil joke There's all kinds: privet, yew, arborvitae, boxwood... Find something you like that will survive in your climate. In general, most cities and HOAs care more about you removing plants, particularly the safe and timely removal of dead ones. If your plants will be blocking a neighbor's view though, they could always raise hell. For stuff that large, look up landscaping suppliers, or even just larger plant nurseries. They will be expensive though. You might just want to buy the small ones and wait. kid sinister fucked around with this message at 05:59 on Jan 16, 2018 |
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Jan 16, 2018 05:55
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| # ? May 15, 2024 17:45 |
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I would be okay with saving some money, in favor of waiting for small ones to grow bigger. Where would one even view pictures of such bushes online? So that I could know what to look for when I contact nurseries.
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Jan 16, 2018 21:04
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