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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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The only thing I've seen work crazy well is those big CO2 traps. They're expensive though. I live in a buggy area too and I just deet myself and hope nothing painful lands on me. An old place I used to work used to stock their ponds with dragonfly larvae, which was pretty effective at cutting the mosquito population down at all life stages. You need a water feature though, and there's a bit of redundancy in that.
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Mar 5, 2020 02:06
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I'm really not ok with spraying insecticide indiscriminately. That's just going to kill all the beneficial insects at the same time, and at that point what am I even pretending to accomplish by gardening, you know? Repellent sprays and stuff like permethrin clothing just aren't good enough. I'm talking about swarms of the things all up in your face when all you're trying to do is pop out back to water things real quick.
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Mar 5, 2020 02:21
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Fitzy Fitz posted:I'm really not ok with spraying insecticide indiscriminately. That's just going to kill all the beneficial insects at the same time, and at that point what am I even pretending to accomplish by gardening, you know? What’s your yard like? When we moved into our house, the vast majority of the property had been treated as a giant trash bag for god knows how long by former residents. The mosquitos were thick as a fog thanks to all the extremely clutch breeding pools from that trash collecting standing water. I spent literally months taking truckload after truckload of the most random poo poo to the dump, which significantly included 35 old tires. In addition, I also located natural still pools (like tree hollows etc) and put larvae killer inside. I’ve also irritated my neighbor by getting her to let me root around in her woods and property as well to find anything else that could serve as a breeding pool. Point is, I’ve seen the mosquito population drop precipitously ever since I began this jihad. I still have some outstanding goals (and still mosquitos...) but between loving up their ideal environment and doing typical anti-mosquito maintenance like diligently cleaning gutters, I think I’m really beating their asses. Not nearly as titanic an issue as they used to be, and you can sit outside more or less without worry if you’re at all near the sunlight. So while I doubt you live on big rear end pile of garbage, it might be worth scoping out good habitats and loving them up proactively. Also I bought one of those expensive propane powered mosquito traps and never had much success with it, so buyer beware with those things imo. Maybe someone else has had better experiences with them Sorry for long post; owning these fuckers has been a multi-year passion project for me rofl. And they STILL plague me in the shade garden, so my hanzo is not yet sheathed....
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Mar 5, 2020 12:14
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Dense urban/suburban neighborhood backing up against a forested stream corridor that runs down to a stagnant pond in a park. My neighbor hoards garbage that she thinks she's going to use to renovate her house. All the other houses are rented by college students who can't be bothered to take care of anything. There's no hope for prevention here, and small-scale stuff just isn't enough. This is why I'm at my wit's end! In the past I've actually maintained a small pool with mosquito dunks to attract breeding attention and cancel it out. It killed plenty of larvae but didn't seem to affect the population. btw tese are Asian tiger mosquitoes. I need to figure out if co2 traps work on them, because apparently those traps' effectiveness varies a lot by species.
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Mar 5, 2020 14:15
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Have you tried investing in frog-tech?  Seriously though, maybe try contacting the city/county? They can probably give you good advice and possibly also get on your neighbors' collective asses to clean up since this sounds like an environmental health issue. Where I live, the county actually delivers buckets of mosquito-eating fish free of charge if you have standing water on your property. No idea how much it helps but the fishies were cute. 
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Mar 5, 2020 23:29
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So back to Crocs ChatRexxed posted:I concur, I used to wear sandals outside to take the dog out several times a day but after getting some poison ivy on my foot I switched to crocs without holes in the front. They're ugly but they're comfortable and really good for walking around the yard. I just don't wear them anywhere else. What kind of Crocs do you have without the front-holes? Because Amazon sells a bunch of different ones.
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Mar 6, 2020 00:23
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How much of a Pandora's box is a drip watering system for flower beds? Would one be even beneficial? In my mind I'm thinking of those tiny sprinkler heads that cover a small area, but the drip systems I'm seeing just feed directly into the plant's base. Maybe I can mix and match based on perennial/annual and amount of ground coverage? I don't know. Irrigation is never as simple as it seems.
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Mar 6, 2020 00:33
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The run times you’d want for drippers and micro sprinklers don’t overlap. Either the sprinkler area will flood or the plants on drip won’t get enough water. You need at least two lines.
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Mar 6, 2020 00:39
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I. M. Gei posted:So back to Crocs Chat I have these: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B000ZP9QUK/ I got them in 2017 according to amazon. I wear them outside for maybe 20-60+ minutes a day depending on how much sniffing around the dog is doing and while the soles are wearing down a little, they're holding up well overall. I don't love the swinging strap thingy but when they were new I wore it on the back and now that I'm used to them I just keep it on the front.
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Mar 6, 2020 00:43
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^^^OH YOUI. M. Gei posted:So back to Crocs Chat The croc you're looking for without the holes is the Specialist. They also have a bistro model but more for cooks. https://www.amazon.com/Crocs-Mens-Womens-Specialist-Black/dp/B071FBKVPY/ref=sr_1_12
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Mar 6, 2020 00:46
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Platystemon posted:The run times you’d want for drippers and micro sprinklers don’t overlap. Either the sprinkler area will flood or the plants on drip won’t get enough water. That makes sense. I'll have to make a list of all the components I need and see if it's worth the time I'll save over hand watering.
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Mar 6, 2020 01:00
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My Nepenthes has started growing bulbs again!  I guess keeping the medium moist and misting actually does help. E: or maybe it was the little bit of fertiliser I gave it... Red_Fred fucked around with this message at 03:53 on Mar 6, 2020 |
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Mar 6, 2020 03:51
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I give my indoor nepenthes some fish food or osmocote pellets every now and then, and they seem to do great.
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Mar 6, 2020 04:12
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Fitzy Fitz posted:I give my indoor nepenthes some fish food or osmocote pellets every now and then, and they seem to do great. Yeah I gave mine some fish based stuff last weekend so i reckon it was that. The label always said that the pods catch enough to feed them but then when there’s no pods how does it eat?! So I fixed that.
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Mar 6, 2020 06:20
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Bees on Wheat posted:Have you tried investing in frog-tech? Bats and chickadees are also meant to be good mosquito eaters, if you can attract them.
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Mar 6, 2020 08:33
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I've neglected my health and my windowsill for too long. I picked up an African Violet, an air plant, and a succulent that's starting to flower. I forgot to pick up a second saucer, and fingers crossed I didn't gently caress up re-potting the Violet or the succulent. Edit: Yes, I know the window sill is disgusting. It needs to be cleaned and repainted. But plants first! RandomPauI fucked around with this message at 08:33 on Mar 7, 2020 |
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Mar 7, 2020 08:31
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Lead out in cuffs posted:Thanks, that's a good reminder. A few pages back, but I was thinking about this earlier. There's a front garden near me that's been neglected for years, it's covered in rubbish and the most I've ever seen anyone do to it is park their car over it, but every year around this time it comes up absolutely covered in crocuses and snowdrops. It works!
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Mar 7, 2020 14:49
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One of my voodoo lilies decided to surprise me with it's first ever bloom! The thing was 5" tall yesterday, and nonexistent a couple days before that. Hope it doesn't smell too bad cause it's still too cold to put it outside.
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Mar 9, 2020 17:19
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If I always manage to kill all my plants, would an aerogarden just be a very expensive way to kill my plants?
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Mar 9, 2020 19:31
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Killingyouguy! posted:If I always manage to kill all my plants, would an aerogarden just be a very expensive way to kill my plants? Do you have any idea why your plants keep dying?
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Mar 9, 2020 19:45
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I have an aerogarden, and it's been pretty foolproof for me. Plants just take off in it. What are you trying to grow though? They aren't ideal for everything.
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Mar 9, 2020 19:49
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Tremors posted:One of my voodoo lilies decided to surprise me with it's first ever bloom! The thing was 5" tall yesterday, and nonexistent a couple days before that. Hope it doesn't smell too bad cause it's still too cold to put it outside.
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Mar 9, 2020 19:53
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Hirayuki posted:Ooh! How can you tell it's a bloom and not just a regular leafstalk? I just repotted mine in roomier digs (and with rich soil) and was pleased to see even the tiniest babies that popped up last year were starting to wake up. I'm also waiting for it to warm up outside, because I'm running out of room in the one indoor place all these drat pots will fit. :/ You can see the general shape of the spathe if you look closely. If it were the leaf section it would look a bit more otherworldly at this point. 
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Mar 9, 2020 20:07
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Cool, thanks! Post more pictures once it blooms. 
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Mar 9, 2020 20:12
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Solkanar512 posted:Do you have any idea why your plants keep dying? They either grow mold or they just spontaneously turn colour one day, I'm not really sure how to keep it from happening
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Mar 9, 2020 23:24
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Yellowing and mold can be symptoms of overwatering, the most common cause of houseplant death.
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Mar 9, 2020 23:28
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sometimes they die of overwatering even without actually being watered  Seriously, no water since september and the whole thing fell apart into rot over a few days 
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Mar 9, 2020 23:38
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gently caress lithops.
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Mar 10, 2020 00:05
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I can only imagine what the mortality rate is on the trays of them you seen in garden stores (much less big box stores), given that they're this difficult even when you do the research and make an effort
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Mar 10, 2020 00:17
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Nosre posted:I can only imagine what the mortality rate is on the trays of them you seen in garden stores (much less big box stores), given that they're this difficult even when you do the research and make an effort What is it about plant people that makes us only want to grow the things that don't grow well in our climate? I could effortlessly grow 87 kinds of spider lily and amaryllis and native asters and stuff here but no I WANT TO GROW TULIPS that just won't do here. I have this dumb rhododendron I've been trying to make happy for 5 years in 2 different spots and it's obvious it's just too hot but damnit I'm gonna pretend it's 2 zones colder and will that thing to thrive. (I tihnkit might finally be dead this year and I can move on)
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Mar 10, 2020 03:26
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Kaiser Schnitzel posted:What is it about plant people that makes us only want to grow the things that don't grow well in our climate? I could effortlessly grow 87 kinds of spider lily and amaryllis and native asters and stuff here but no I WANT TO GROW TULIPS that just won't do here. Yeah, I'd love to grow citrus here. Random question - I'm building raised beds. I have a bunch of cut up sod from some other projects I've been working on, can I fill the bottom of the raised beds with that sod, then cover with actual soil? Or will the grass just grow through and make a huge mess?
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Mar 10, 2020 04:48
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Kaiser Schnitzel posted:What is it about plant people that makes us only want to grow the things that don't grow well in our climate? I could effortlessly grow 87 kinds of spider lily and amaryllis and native asters and stuff here but no I WANT TO GROW TULIPS that just won't do here. Jfc just get a bougainvillea or something.
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Mar 10, 2020 05:22
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Nosre posted:sometimes they die of overwatering even without actually being watered  To be fair though, those things are literally desert plants, so unless your indoor humidity is like 20%, it's probably outside their optimal range. Fingers crossed that I don't kill my lithops too.
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Mar 10, 2020 05:25
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Solkanar512 posted:Yeah, I'd love to grow citrus here. In 8b, there are a handful of citrus you may be able to grow. Kumquats are the hardiest of the ordinary citrus groups and of those, Marumi is hardiest. Allegedly it can take ten to twelve degrees Fahrenheit without harm and survive even lower temperatures. One source says survival to zero Fahrenheit, but if it were my tree, I’d be sweating at twelve degrees, if not sooner. It wouldn’t be my tree because I don’t care much for kumquats. What I do like are mandarins. Mandarins are a close second to kumquats in cold tolerance, or at least the pure ones are. An Owari Satsuma may withstand fifteen degrees Fahrenheit when mature. Hybrids like Clementines don’t do as well. Mandarins are one of the primal, wild species of citrus. As such, they have high genetic diversity and grow true from seed. What this means for us is that there are tougher seedlings out there. One such prodigy is the “China S-9”, a clone from a tree that survived what was reported as a negative twelve Celsius (ten Fahrenheit) freeze. Take that figure itself with a grain of salt because there are other environmental factors to consider, but it can beat Owari for sure. These aren’t sold in any nursery, at least not yet, but if you have suitable host (any hardy citrus tree), twenty dollars, and the patience to graft, you can order budwood and roll your own. You know you can’t grow oranges. Why? Oranges are hybrids of mandarins and pummelos. They partially inherit the pummelo’s worse cold tolerance, and that’s no good. This is a two‐way street. Let’s take it the other direction. The Ichang papeda is a wild citrus species that can take temperatures of fully zero Fahrenheit. Hybridise a mandarin with a papeda to get Yuzu. A mainstay of Japanese cuisine, it’s a trendy “upscale” ingredient in American lately, so you may come across the fruit as well as dishes that use it. Sudachi has a more complicated ancestry, with Yuzu as one parent. Yuzu is said to be hardy to negative twelve Celsius (ten Fahrenheit), with Sudachi perhaps slightly less tough. Sudachi is something like a lime in culinary use. It’s a personal favourite of mine. In Japan it is nearly as common as yuzu. No one outside of Japan seems to have heard of it, yet it is does exist in the nursery trade, which is more than can be said of every other Japanese citrus variety.  You may recognise this dog(e). His name is “Kabosu”, same as Japan’s third great acid citrus, because his head is round and yellow‐orange like the ripe fruit.  Unlike meme images, kabosu fruits and plants are totally unobtainable outside of Japan. tl;dr: Get sudachi plant delivered, graft the Satsuma mandarin “China S-9” to it, plant it against your house on the south side, and actively protect it from the coldest winter nights for a few years. Platystemon fucked around with this message at 06:59 on Mar 10, 2020 |
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Mar 10, 2020 06:56
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Killingyouguy! posted:They either grow mold or they just spontaneously turn colour one day, I'm not really sure how to keep it from happening Big time sounds like overwatering to me as well. What kinds of plants are you trying to keep alive?
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Mar 10, 2020 10:52
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Oil of Paris posted:Big time sounds like overwatering to me as well. What kinds of plants are you trying to keep alive? Mostly herbs (I was doing really well at basil until it, too, grew mold), sometimes those dumb 'regrow vegetables from scraps!' lifehacks, all in pots in my apartment window sill bc I don't have a porch. It's a wonder to me that any plants grow outside if they're so finicky under human care
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Mar 10, 2020 13:44
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I have more dumb plant questions for you, plant thread, because the entirety of my impractical plant knowledge came from three botany classes in college. I picked up this tall boy who was labeled as a cactus  the other day.   Unless I'm even stupider than I think (a distinct possibility), it's a Euphorbia. It looks like Euphorbia ingens to me but I don't know poo poo. Hopefully it isn't going to take over my entire house because there's no way it's going to survive outdoors here. It's a bit pot-bound already so I am afeared. For bonus points the hybrid Echeveria in the bottom left of the first picture was sold as 'Dick's Pink' but it doesn't really look like one. Here's an actual picture of it:  Anyone know what it is? Wallet fucked around with this message at 14:28 on Mar 10, 2020 |
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Mar 10, 2020 14:22
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Solkanar512 posted:Yeah, I'd love to grow citrus here. I love my Owari satsuma tree. It produces a ton of delicious fruit for its size, and it's done fine down to 18F, though if it gets that cold all the leaves will fall off and it won't really flower that year. Even if it didn't fruit, it's a handsome small tree and the flowers smell incredible. Most citrus will do well in a big pot and you can bring them indoors on really cold nights if you're in a marginal climate or throw some blankets over it and hang a lightbulb or three inside. Thanks for all the info Platystemon-that's got me wanting to explore some of those Japanese things. Lead out in cuffs posted:Jfc just get a bougainvillea or something. 
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Mar 10, 2020 14:50
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Platystemon posted:In 8b, there are a handful of citrus you may be able to grow. Christ, you're such an enabler! Thanks for such a great rundown. Citrus is really loving weird in how distinct the different fruits are yet can be easily crossbred. I've heard that Yuzu and Meyer Lemon does well in 8b in green houses, so that's kind of my long term plan. The more unusual fruits sound really interesting, so thanks again for the heads up.
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Mar 10, 2020 18:58
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Solkanar512 posted:Christ, you're such an enabler!  I don't know if cold hardiness tells the whole story or not with citrus. Just because a satsuma won't freeze there, I have no idea if a satsuma would like the cloudy, wet, cool PNW as much as southern California or the gulf coast.
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Mar 10, 2020 19:45
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