Author: getting2knowplants.com

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My Failures With Plant Care.

I could easily go through this one, because there are so many. I put this here, not because of what I did wrong, but because the plants simply didn’t want to adapt, or because other catalysts left them unable to survive. Many unusual instances have occurred, where I found myself dealing with dying and eventually dead plants. Here are a few instances of these failures.

One failure was with a small air plant that I had, and it involved something I tried, with my tank setup. The humidity was perfect. It became green for some time, and was this way for at least a month or more. When it’s green, it’s getting what it needs, because they start off grey (or grey-ish) showing how dry, and in need of water and open air.

I tried one of the various methods of hydrating my plant, but I really didn’t need to. I’ll say this though, I noticed that the middle leaf on the plant was still brown, more like a rust color. That may have been an indication of the water used. This was the case before trying one of the other methods. After some time, I decided to let it dry out in open air, which was something I should have done more often. This is where things went downhill. I figured at the time, there was a loose leaf, and I pulled it off, only to notice some dark browning at the base. This was a sign of rotting. It didn’t end there. It happened with another leaf. Then another, and another, and another, until there was nothing left.

Now, considering how very dry my apartment is on a normal daily basis, it made sense this would happen. So, it may be a long time, before I decide to bring one of those back in again. Now, part of this result I attribute to keeping it in a humid environment for far too long. This may have resulted in the rotting of this, but whatever. Mistakes happen.

Another failure I can’t really attribute this to anything that I did wrong – not yet anyway. I had a couple of lavender plants, and for a while, they did okay. One was by the window sill with bright light, and the other was by another window, with low light. Neither survived after a month or two. Tried propagating them prior to their demise, and that backfired as well. You know it’s not working when you see the fuzzy mold envelope the entire stem; that’s not a good sign.

Were there others? Yes.

I’ve had several venus fly traps, and not all of them lasted very long. I had several and much of the failures came around the time I purchased them. What do I mean? I purchased and received them in January. Most plants, especially carnivorous plants, have a tendency to go dormant, where it appears to almost die, but it’s really not. Once it’s in a much warmer setting, dormancy may not occur.

Once I received my fly traps, and a sundew, I had so many settings. One by a window, with low daylight, and some in the tank setting, where they had lots of humidity and grow lights; this was my red dragon, typical VFT, and the sundew. All had their instances of growing well for some time, but after some time, they just didn’t. The one by the window, was a pinnacle, and it began to shoot up a flower stalk within a few weeks, just as the red dragon. The typical, didn’t really fair that well to push a flower stalk.

Trying to get these to grow further, for some reason was difficult, even in their settings where they grew quite well. The pinnacle, didn’t last, but I cut the flower stalk before things got worse. I may have waited too long to do so, because after that, it was gone within a couple of weeks. The red dragon faired a bit better, but I tried bringing it out sometime after I cut the flower stalk. Believe it or not, it lasted much longer than all of the others. The typical VFT somehow, just didn’t take, and eventually just died. The sundew, this particular one, was the most difficult of the rest, because I had to move it to another smaller terrarium setting where it could be dormant. It didn’t recover, and well, it was pretty much over with.
Long story short, for those in particular, it’s better to buy them in the spring and summer months, but there was one set of sundews that let me know it wouldn’t be easy. I tried again with this particular breed, and it started producing flower stalks right away. It stayed that way through the majority of its overall lifespan. This one I kept in a terrarium to keep the humidity up for it to grow, so that helped, but it also backfired, when I opened the terrarium to give it some air. This is where it began to dry up. I made one mistake prior to repotting them, which was to not separate them, so that aided in the cluster to not grow as well, after the flower stalks were cut.

After some time, that set of sundews were reduced to maybe one. For a cluster of sundews, generally you can separate maybe between eight or ten separate sundews. I realized this for the next time I went to get some more. That’s for another story, not in this section at this time. Anyway, that sundew reduced to one, eventually shriveled up, even after separating, and just didn’t recover. It had enough water, and sunlight, but it just didn’t want to survive.
A few have came and gone, and another I tried to grow, was the string of pearls. It’s a succulent type of plant, and it’s often best to hang them to grow long. For me, it did last for a little over two months. For a while, I had it under low light setting, but bright enough so that it got enough light from the window, but also from a nearby plant light (not a grow light). This was just fine, for a while.

Eventually, I tried another setting, which was my mistake. I put it to hang by the bathroom window, where it got humidity from the shower. If I did this from the beginning, I may have had different and better results. It wasn’t working so I brought it back to its original setting. It was still a bit stagnant, and eventually I saw it becoming a bit fuzzy, with the mold, clearly a bad sign.

A few weeks later, it was gone. All of the pearls dried up. When I saw this, it was time to call it a day.

I have a couple of cacti and I had my issues with at least one of them. Now, for the one that I was successful with, I won’t discuss here. What I will discuss, is the one that I failed with. I tried keeping this in a setting with sand and soil. I made separate layers, and hoped that the sand would be more suitable for it. It wasn’t. I saw the cactus browning, not just the needles, but the cactus with the green flesh turning brown. I think it’s safe to say, it was over for this one.

I had another prior to this, where I never repotted it, and that’s why it didn’t last.
Another, involving more venus fly traps. This involved me putting them in terrariums, but this time, the issue was more about acclimating them back to regular temperatures. Acclimation is a fairly slow process, and for this one, it wasn’t working because it was a bit too fast. Long story short, it died due to shock.

A different one died from shock, after I moved it from the tank setup, and although it was from that to a terrarium, it still didn’t take, and eventually stopped growing. I didn’t really notice until I didn’t see the traps forming, and I went to take a closer look, only to see clear rotting at the base. There goes that.

With the many failures here, many lessons were learned. One thing to understand, is that carnivorous plants aren’t that easy to grow, for long periods. If you keep them in constant conditions, you could have them for several years. I’ve yet to have that result, but I’m working on it. As for the plants that didn’t work out, just know that some plants simply don’t like where they are growing. Once you find out why they won’t work out, you can then decide whether or not you should pursue replacing them, and doing so, with different ways or placement for growth.

Hopefully, there won’t be that many more stories of failures, but only time will tell.

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Hacks For (Some) Home Planting.

There are occasionally things that aren’t available all year ’round, especially if you live in an urban area such as NYC. In knowing this, there will be times where you need to be creative, or get some helpful tips from others.

This involves almost everything, especially hobbies like planting.

Oddly enough, one of the best hacks out there for plant enthusiasts, for some applications, is the pet store. I say this, because it helped me out for quite some time in the past, and should things be seen as seasonal once more, it can help you out too.

Although I really don’t like using the word, “hack”, for such instances, it seems appropriate for things like this, so I’ll just run with it.

NOTE: Although most of these can be found in their online equivalents, I’ll be focusing on stores you can walk in and out of physically, for those that still want to do it this way.

So, what are these likely hacks you can implement, should trying to find other things elsewhere become difficult? For starters, look at things like for example, finding sphagnum moss. Often, you’ll see sphagnum moss in hardware stores regularly, until the cold weather comes, and that’s when you have to improvise a bit. I got this hack when looking in a plant shop for this stuff, and they told me they didn’t have it, but before I left, that’s when I got this advice. Makes sense, because pet stores often will have sphagnum moss, but not always in large enough amounts.

What they have in pet stores, often will cost more for a small amount. For example, you may pay somewhere around $15 or so, for a package located where the reptile equipment is. Regular large bulk amounts are really only found online, all year ’round, but if you happened to be out and about, and need this right away, this is where you would go to get it fast.

To add to this, and I found this out from personal experience, this type of sphagnum moss, is more likely to be used to grow live moss, once left moist enough, for a long enough period. This will take patience, but not as long as the bulk versions normally found in hardware stores. Why? Well, another set of plant experts told me that the process is different for the types sold to pet stores, where it’s not treated as much in comparison to the other types found elsewhere. So, the likelihood of growing live moss (eventually) will happen much faster.

Let’s say you want to find certain types of food, if you have carnivorous plants, such as venus fly traps or pitcher plants (of any variety). The pet store is great for stuff like this. You can find everything from live crickets and mealworms, to dried versions of both, and more.

Since they sell lizards, fish, turtles, and so on, it’s quite easy to find something for the occasion. In fact, fish food such as dried bloodworms are perfect for carnivorous plants, but the key to feeding most carnivorous plants like venus fly traps, often come from re-hydrating these somewhat, so it’s not hard for them to consume and digest.

In regards to other carnivorous plants such as pitcher plants, that create their own liquid to digest their prey, you won’t need to re-hydrate the fish food, or other types of dried insects, and worms.

Oddly enough, another, for an odd enough reason (as far as I’m concerned), is also finding certain plants there also. I found one bamboo plant, that I separated to three plants. Only two of the three survived, because of initial placement where one didn’t adapt, but whatever – it happens. The plants seem to be thriving, and doing just fine. They are rooting quite well because of how I chose to place them. Often, these plants aren’t hard to take care of, as long as they sit in some type of clean water, they’ll be just fine. Which leads to another hack.

Finding things like pebbles, gravel, or small stones, you do find in the pet store regularly, and since most are made for being in water, for fish tanks especially, all the more reason to get some from there. It doesn’t have to be fancy, but those do exist, but usually those will be in small amounts, so if those are the kinds you are looking for, hope that they are available, and on sale. These can be useful for growing “lucky” bamboo plants, by keeping them stabilized, regardless of its shape. If you have a container that’s deep enough, and you’ll be able to fill it with pebbles or small stones and clean water, and you’ll see results over time. What results? Leaves coming out of the bamboo stalk for one. This is often a clear indication that it has rooted in that setting, and the leaves growing are often that next step. For some, flowers may come also, but it depends on the environment. (I’m saying this from my experience, but it can vary from person-to-person, if done right.)

You could also say, just look outside and pick up some small rocks. Sure, but for this, you will still have to wash, and make certain they are smooth enough to not cut the plants. With most of the pebbles, gravel, or small stones in the pet store, this is less of an issue, especially if you are using this as your primary medium for planting bamboo plants or similar ones.

Lava rocks are an option to find at pet stores also, but the problem there, is that they aren’t always easy to break apart. I’ve went through some difficulty breaking up some of these, and it’s not always easy. If this is something you want, you can go to a pet store also, but be very discerning of what types you buy. I say this, and it will save you time and money should you go this route. If you buy one type that needs to be broken apart, do so with a small piece that’s sold separately, where the smooth edges are not where you want to start chipping away at it. The under side of the rock, is where you need to chip it away with either a hammer and chisel, or some tools you’ll find in hardware stores, to chip away and get smaller pieces of lava rock. Notice I didn’t mention things like drilling or sawing, because it will lead to accidents and other problems.

Generally, lava rock is best for those that want a creative setting, but they are also good for aiding in drainage, If they are small enough pieces, and for plants rooting in humid environments. This isn’t a must, but it’s an option to look at. By the way, if the lava rock is smooth on all sides, trying to break it apart may be much harder, so hopefully this isn’t what you’ve run into, especially with a large enough stone.

Let’s say you want to maybe use some water sprayers, for large sets of plants, instead of using the typical handheld sprayers, which can take its toll on your fingers after a while, when watering large sets of plants in your home. Pet stores will have some pump sprayers available, and they are often found with other equipment for reptile care, such as terrariums. These will come in handy, especially if you have bushy plant growth in your home.

This may or may not be seen as a hack per se, but I’ll put it here because it worked for me. Fish tanks make for great alternatives to terrariums, because they are strong and hold large amounts of water. Keep them covered, and you have a great little environment for tropical plants especially. Why? It creates a humid environment where tropical plants can grow, root faster, and potentially bloom also. Many carnivorous plants do love these areas, and I know this firsthand. When I had a red dragon, it didn’t take long before seeing flower stalks surface. I’ve had other tropical plants grow fast and comfortable in that setting, and I’ve witnessed a few of them flower, and the rest spread out over time. Also, because these types of plants love humidity, their growth will be fast, and constant, and the likelihood of successful propagation there will occur more frequently as well.

Should you decide to buy a new fish tank, it can be on sale at the pet store. Some places will have a sale price for example, a 10-gallon tank for $15 (plus tax) (that’s what I paid for mine in 2022). This is if you don’t have one already sitting around in your home, and you don’t want to throw it away, or give it to someone else.

What’s also good to get from the pet store, are humidity gauges. These will be needed, especially if you have carnivorous plants and tropical plants, because monitoring humidity is a must. This is optional, but for something like a fish tank or a small terrarium, these would work best; for me they do anyway.

Right now, these are the ones that come to mind, and how they worked for me in planting, so if this helps you, then great. I just know that it saved me a bit of time and frustration, in finding certain items often discussed and/or shown by others that have these items themselves.

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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.