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My Experiences With Plants.

My Newest Hobby.

I’m just getting started on trying to enter into a hobby that’s helping me learn a lot. Since my mom’s passing, I remember one of her hobbies was planting every now and again. Whenever she got a plant, I helped her repot them, and even water them from time to time. Most of the time, I would watch her do it, and if she needed something, I would be there to aid her fixing those plants.

Some plants needed more watering than others, while others needed much less, obviously. I do know most plants are different, but all of them need the basics to survive: Sunlight, and water. Having a proper place to grow, also helps.

Before her passing, my mom saw another type of plant, where she never really looked into growing or maintaining, mostly because she’s never heard of them, nor seen them before. This was my introduction to carnivorous plants, and that first one was a nepenthes pitcher plant.

With these plants, and others that are often not looked at all that much, I will go into making this a priority, to have as a learning experience, and to also gain some inner peace while caring for them. I do know that for most this will be hit and miss, because caring for certain plants requires more attention compared to others, while other plants can just be left to grow with little to no help from me. I’ll just see what happens along the way.

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Maintenance: Plant Propagation.

I’ve had some difficulties with propagations with my “string of turtles”. It’s more because of its placement, and to add to that, the humidity had dipped well below 50%. Understandable, at this point, there’s the solutions going towards giving this plant a humidity dome, or any covering that traps the humidity. This can be as simple as using plastic wrap to cover the tops of the plant pot. For some plants, this works. For others, it doesn’t and often results in the development of mold, and the end of the plant’s life will soon follow.

I’ve gone the route of looking through the pot with the “string of turtles”, and what I’ve seen is that the plant is well rooted into the top soil, and is still currently growing. For the vines and exposed leaves on the vines, I chose to remove those and put them in another location.

This location, was another terrarium, where I filled it with both sphagnum moss and sheet moss. I of course soaked and squeezed out the excess water, prior to placing them inside of the terrarium, followed by the “string of turtle” cuttings. Since the humidity levels are still quite low, it has to be covered at all times, maybe I’ll remove the cover for an hour or so, on a weekly basis. I’ve decided to do so once a week, after discovering one terrarium I didn’t open for a bit, and well, the smell wasn’t pleasant. Now, it’s not to say that terrariums should always be aired out, because some terrarium designs are permanent, and they are closed permanently. When this happens, you need something extra for its longevity. This is for another topic, and I will discuss this in another entry.

This isn’t the only set of changes with propagations I’ve looked at. The sundews, a good majority of my spoon-leaved sundews died, but from what I found out, sundews of most varieties, can be propagated easily, because they really don’t need much to multiply themselves. In the right conditions, sundews can create clusters of themselves. I know this, because my first, and second, set of spoon-leaved sundews, came in clusters when they were shipped to me.

The conditions I had some of my sundews in, were an open terrarium, where the bottom and surroundings were made up of a similar combination of what I chose for my “string of turtle” cuttings. I used those, with also a couple of parlor palms, just for a different look. I didn’t see what was coming, which were ferns growing out of the sheet moss. Since the terrariums are clear glass, I can fill the bottoms just enough with water, so that the mosses can be soaked in water, along with the sundews. The sundews are also comfortable in boggy conditions, and the sphagnum moss holds lots of moisture, this is perfect to protect the plants from the drops in humidity outside of the terrarium. Win-win!

This worked so well, I’m trying the same template with some more sundews, that are separated from the ones in that open terrarium I just discussed. Since those developed clusters of sundews, all the more reasons to try this out, in another setting. Granted, this will be a bit smaller, but they will still have wet sphagnum moss, and sheet moss, as the base of the setup. For this however, I’ve placed some plastic wrap over the top of the container to start.

Before I’ve tried all of what I mentioned, I also had some other sundew propagations in water, that I transitioned in a mixture of sand and peat moss, and a lot of water. This was placed in a clear container with a lid. For a bit, I had them covered, but as soon as I removed the cover, many started drying out very fast. This may be due to the very low humidity, which made the timing quite bad, so, I replaced the lid that covered these plants. I periodically check on them to see if they will recover. If not, then I know what my mistake was, and I won’t make that mistake again.

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Maintenance: “The Tank”.

Every now and again, plants need to be trimmed, pruned, and cut, for the sake of the health of the plant. This is no different for the plants within what I refer to as, “The Tank”. This is especially true for any instances of neglect, major or minor, as well as general care for the plants in there.

There are quite a few varieties of plants that I have in there, it’s often difficult to just cut what’s in there. When you have plants that have the tendency to grow continuously like a vine, you already know that those need to be trimmed.

I wasn’t feeling well, and when I was sitting out a month ago, I had some time to look at what I could not address right away. For one, during this time, my grow light wasn’t working properly, so I turned it off. As a result, because the plants didn’t get proper lighting, the leaves became a pale green, which isn’t a surprise. However, they continued to grow, because they still had their humidity. That eventually began to dry up, because of the continuous growth of the plants. Also, the plants weren’t getting enough light, and some of them trapped underneath one another, some leaves were withering away. Other plants and their leaves continued to grow without a problem.

The end result of it all became a decision of where to start trimming, and cutting. Most of the vines were of course the first priority to cut and trim. They were all over the place. Normally, letting these plants grow isn’t a problem, but because of a month’s hiatus, I had to go back to assess the situation. The issue comes with seeing just how much humidity was left in the tank. Surprisingly, there was still enough in there for the plants to thrive, prior to trimming and cutting.

While trimming and cutting, I of course reset the grow light to stay on 24/7, not because this is the plan, but because the light is damaged and needs replacing. It’s better for me to leave it on like this, and not to just leave off the light altogether. This way, the plants won’t be as pale as they are currently.

When I was finally able to see soil in enough areas within, “The Tank”, then I rehydrated the soil a bit more. I grabbed my pump sprayer to mist the area quite well. Then I replaced the lid on, “The Tank”, to keep the humidity inside and consistent.

My biggest challenge was to keep from trimming or cutting the wrong plants. It still happened, but not in such high frequency. There are some plants that are still quite tall, and are beginning to widen quite a bit. I have to make a decision of what’s going to happen next. I can trim and propagate, but that will mean removal of other plants that are especially growing tall, where I don’t want to remove nor replace. So, this will take some time to think about.

Until then, I’ll keep watch of the progress of re-growing some of these plants, and deciding potential locations to place some other plants. As long as they can be reacclimated properly, it will be a good result going forward.

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New Developments.

I have been under the weather as of late, and this resulted in some of my plants being compromised. However, for the ones that were not, I have some very interesting news.

When it comes to my existing plants, the cape sundews especially, they began pushing flower stalks, and they were quite big. For the ones I had, they grew and showed some nice white flowers at the tops of the stalks. I left them there for nearly a month, and they did their thing. After that, I cut them, because I needed the rest of the plant to recover, and grow properly. Before I knew it, another flower stalk appeared, in both my capes. I didn’t hesitate to cut them this time.

There’s also a smaller pitcher plant that had some issues, due to my neglect, in not allowing the plant to breathe. This led to one of the main pitchers somewhat “foaming” at the top of the main pitcher. I chose to allow the rest of the plant to breathe, and before I knew it, I discovered a bigger pitcher, not yet opened up, yet it was much bigger than the previous pitcher. It looks great.

I also had some issues with some of my butterworts, and I have three of them. The main one took very long to root, before I saw anything happen. The other two, I’m starting to see some leaves begin to push more leaf growth. One of those two, also pushed a nice purple flower.

For the one that took longer to root, I’m starting to see some of the leaves lift up, which is a sign that it’s going in the same direction as the others; and may begin to either flower, or have bigger leaves added to it.

When looking at these plants, it does take time for certain things to occur. It’s not just the plants pushing flowers, but for the plants to settle into their pots and go from there. It’s very satisfying to see plants flower, because if you’re not used to it, it may seem like a surprise, and a welcome one at that.

Of course this also means I had to refill the trays, to make certain they don’t dry out. Using sphagnum moss, it does dry out, but not as fast. I think this is why most of my plants didn’t dry out, after not watering them for a while.

One thing I try not to do, is let my plants dry out. If it happens, that’s unfortunate. It’s not always avoidable when you are injured, or incapacitated in some form. This will mean I will have to replace some plants, or heavily rehydrate those that may still be able to survive this drought.

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Successes: Propagations.

So far, propagations haven’t been my best results, but as always, this takes practice. For some plants compared to others, this method of making new plants, through the leaf cuttings of a bigger plant, often should work, if you do things right.

With the coleus plants, this has never failed me, and I’ve used water propagations to make this work. It is possible to use soil propagations, which have also worked with my coleus plants, but it hasn’t really worked for me with other plants, such as any of my carnivorous plants.

It’s been hit or miss, for most of my efforts with carnivorous plants, especially for my venus fly traps; none of which has shown a successful propagation for me just yet. The sundews haven’t been so successful either, until recently.

I’ve went through putting some remaining leaf propagations, and this of course requires three things, besides the leaf cuttings: a small container with a lid, distilled water (which may need to be refreshed every now and again), and some patience. It’s also best to have them under some adequate light source, to aid in making the propagations happen a bit faster. Often it takes well into a month before seeing any results.

What I did was take a cutting from a cape sundew, and it has to be a healthy leaf for it to work. Then, I placed it into distilled water, and then just wait. If I check back and see any murkiness, then it’s time to change the water. After a while, should there be anything different, such as seeing a little something on the leaf or leaves that wasn’t there before, that’s a good sign. Now, it’s a matter of how long do I leave it, before I bring it out to transfer into a plant pot. I’ll have to do a bit more research, to figure that out for myself.

What’s interesting about sundews, they can propagate in many different ways, which makes them easy to replicate and multiply. It can happen with growing flower stalks and begin flowering. These flowers self-pollinate, which means it doesn’t need to mix with other flowers, through standard pollination, either by insects or by hand. This will create the seeds, and all that’s needed is to collect them, or to let them spread out on their own.
Sundews can also replicate new sundews through the flower stalks, which helps. I haven’t seen this work, but I’ll definitely try it sometime.

To add to this, some sundews have been known for multiplying on their own, where under an existing sundew, will appear a smaller one. I’ve seen this with my spoon-leaved sundews, on several occasions.

So, just know that if there are successful periods of growth, you’ll experience the likelihood of continuous sundew growth and replication, for some time. The propagations will only aid in making this result happen even more. You just need the right conditions, and you’ll be good.

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More On Grow Lights.

When using grow lights or even regular lights, we know that they can use up a lot of electricity. Grow lights do need to stay on for extended periods, at least 8 hours, and for some, at most 14 or so hours.

There are some grow lights that have their own timers. This isn’t the case for all of them.
For the ones that do have internal timers, you have the option of setting those timers to turn on and off for a several durations. Some have as few as 3 to 4 hours, some have 6 to 8 hours, others have 9 to 12 hours. It varies from manufacturer to manufacturer.

For the ones that don’t, you have only one option, to manually turn on and turn off the grow lights. This is where you’ll need external timers to plug them into.

For those grow lights that have USB plugins, as long as you have a USB adapter to plug into an outlet, you may be just fine. Just plug them into the plugin timer, and you should be on your way.

For plugin timers, you have the option of setting the on times and the off times, so that it can turn on and off automatically. You plug the lights into them, then plug the timers into the wall and it should work just fine.

For example, you set your timer for one light, to turn on at 7 am, and to turn off at 7:30 pm; you set your timer for another light, to turn on at 9:30 am, and to turn off at 9:45 pm. See how that works?

For the grow lights that already have timers, they are set for specific 3, 6, or 12 hour intervals (I’m discussing the ones that I have), but it does experience wear and tear, with the timer occasionally resetting, without you realizing when it happens. In some instances, you’ll need to give that grow light a break, or replace it altogether.

When it comes to the separate external timers, they can run as little as $10, to as high as $30 or more, each. It’s a good investment, especially if you want to conserve energy.

The advantages of having timers, I’ve already discussed. The disadvantages, is that you need one timer for each grow light. This means one timer for each light, and setting each light to turn on and off individually. That’s more time consuming than anything, but in the end, it’s worth it.

You’ll know this when you look at the difference in your electric bill between the previous month prior to buying these timers, and the month after you buy these timers. These will be most beneficial, in the colder months, when sunlight isn’t as prevalent, compared to the spring and summer months.

So far, I only have three separate timers, but I do need a few more, because I have at least three more lights that need timers. Guess what I’ll be doing in the near future? Yes, getting more plugin timers.

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Top Dressing: Good or Bad?

Depending on what types of plants and plant pots you are using, it’s generally a good idea. Why? Often to prevent fungus gnats and other pests from laying eggs to later infest your plants.

Top dressing, is usually a light coating of sand, small pebbles, and certain types of tree or orchid bark, on the surface of the medium where plant is growing up and outward. Where the stems meet your medium, where you cannot see the roots, that’s where you add your top dressing.

Just as I stated previously, with preventing fungus gnats from laying eggs, top dressing can also be used for decorative purposes, to give the appearance of your plant something extra.

It’s a good idea to top dress your plant, specifically if you have the option to bottom water your plant. For some that use sand, you can occasionally water the top, where the sand is, to make it a little heavier and this will make it even more difficult for bugs to lay eggs.

Generally, when bugs like fungus gnats encounter this, they’ll often go to another plant, without this issue. This is where you’ll need mosquito bits to counter this problem also, by making the “tea” or to have your plant medium mixed with mosquito bits.

Can this be a problem? It can, but mostly with planters that have no openings at the bottom. You may have to watch for how much water absorbs into the plants, because without the hole(s) in the bottom, you won’t know if you over did it, until you see that water surface, which will lead to having to dump that excess water. This will ruin your top dressing and it can lead to that mixing into the soil; which can be a good thing for extra drainage later on, but I digress. In this case, you’ll need to keep an eye on the plant, but to also check with a chop stick, or bamboo skewer, to check the soil for dryness, just to make certain it isn’t too dry for too long.

Sphagnum moss is also good for top dressing plants, and it’s good for absorbing water also. Just as the rest of the medium uses water, so does the sphagnum moss, but the moss can eventually liven up, and even turn green. When this happens, the dried moss can become live moss.

All of this is optional, but many people swear by it, so before you go about this, do a little research and practice, practice, practice, doing it right. What do I mean? Well, if the plant is very close to the soil/medium, then you may have to lift the leaves up, and put the top dressing of choice under those leaves. Also, when repotting, you can also add the top dressing, prior to adding the plant, by putting a pen or something slightly wider, like a marker, to make that hole, but only remove it, just before you will place the roots of your plant in that hole. This way, you won’t have to need to brush off the top dressing from the leaves of the plant very often.