Tag: hacks

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Hacks Revisited.

When it comes to some items where I discussed in the previous journal of the name “Hacks”, I talked about getting humidity gauges from the pet store. This is still a good idea, but eventually, they do not stay fully functional after some time. If they are combined with temperature gauges, you have to worry about some things. One of those things being, if one goes bad, you have to replace the part that’s not functioning.

Also, most of those that still work, may appear to go bad, and some instances, what you need to do, for both separate temperature and humidity gauges, is to recalibrate them. Since these are standard analog/needle gauges, I can shove them in the freezer (or fridge) for maybe an hour or less. If either of them is completely unable to reset, then it’s gone.

The advantage for using these analog/needle gauges, is that they can deal with various temperatures and humidity ranges, and they are waterproof, which is a big plus. This is why they may be a bit more expensive, in the sense of being around $10 or $15 each.

There are some plant stores that may sell some small digital ones, but they aren’t waterproof. To my knowledge, this is the case, and they are also battery-powered.

If you are fortunate enough to find some plant stores that sell these, then you’re golden. I was lucky to encounter this result in NYC where I buy my plants and some accessories. I found some humidity readers/gauges, for $5 each. They do sell them in sets online, but what you may need to worry about is the longevity and consistency of each. If they go bad early, then you will have an issue, and will soon have to replace them.

Sometimes they are referred to as hygrometers, when they are either separate or combined with thermometers, and for some the displays are larger. That’s fine, as long as they do what they were made to do, then there is no issue.

Currently, I’m using a few of these, one for each area where there are plants that didn’t have these before. First thing I will look for, is to see how long they will last, and if they are in need of calibration, should it appear that nothing is changing on the display.

Speaking of calibration, I mentioned putting them in the freezer or refrigerator. Not sure if this will be the same, if I were to go about doing this with the digital ones, but I do know that since it’s battery-powered, the best thing I can do, is remove the battery and leave it out for maybe 30 minutes to an hour, and place the batteries back in, or replace the batteries if it’s needed.

So far, this is an interesting change for what’s available, and I know it can be very convenient to have these around. Some areas with lots of humidity, and wet environments like, “The Tank”, will need to waterproof gauges; so for that, the digital ones that I currently own are out of the question.

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Environments.

When looking at plant care, you should first understand the type of plants you want to buy and care for. Certain plants will thrive in pretty much any setting, but others will not be so easy to grow and maintain. Most of us find this out the hard way, when buying certain plants they deem to be their favorite, or one they would like to have in their homes.

Some apartments will be in good enough shape, when it comes to temperature and humidity, while others may have their issues with both throughout the year. It’s not just the apartment on the inside, but its overall location can also be a factor.

For example, if your apartment is well above ground level, you may have to deal with dryness at its worst. This will be noticeable to those who especially have dry skin, dry hair, and nosebleeds. Think about many sporting events, where certain areas are referred to as the, “nosebleed” section. They happen to be so high up, you may need binoculars just to see the action. In other words, the higher up you are, for your living space, the drier it will be for you and your plants.

To verify the dryness of your apartment, get a humidity gauge. You have several places where you can find these, and they will be very helpful. Let’s say you get one, from the hardware store for example. These will often show you at what percentage will show how dry it is, what’s seen as normal for humans and some animals, and what’s humid. If it’s very dry, you’ll need a humidifier, and preferable a heavy duty device. Let’s say you get one from a pet store (see hacks). It will show something different, more tailored towards animals like turtles, frogs, and snakes. The readings show three sections, which match similarly to other types of humidity gauges. The dry setting is labeled desert, which is good for those animals that prefer this kind of environment. The normal setting is labeled moderate. The humid setting is labeled tropical.

Depending on what you are looking to get, you have to be aware of how these plants can and will grow. It’s not to say if a plant is tropical, that it won’t thrive in a moderate environment. Often, the tropical humidity will aid in speeding up growth of those types of plants. It will also help with rooting faster, and potentially producing flowers. In fact, there are many plants that will thrive in various environments, and high humidity will aid in making those plants happier, and they aren’t designated as tropical plants.

If your apartment is a certain way, you have to be aware of that, before you purchase plants. The same goes, for being in an area with various seasons. Your plants will adjust accordingly, and often it may not be how you want. Some plants go dormant in late autumn and winter weather, so it’s best to keep them away from open windows during such weather changes. Also, keep the areas warm enough; generally temperatures above 70 degrees will be just fine. Just like with humidity, if you are comfortable with it, your plants will be comfortable with it.

Also, understand this one thing. Drier environments will require plants to be watered more and more often.

As a default, before getting a plant just to get a plant, if you get one, get one from a plant store, and ask about the type of environment that would be best for the plant you will choose. You can do your own research to verify or compare and contrast what’s being said. If you don’t, you may struggle a bit, or altogether, and in the wrong environment, that plant may die.

Now, there are some plants that simply are so fickle, that no matter what you try, it doesn’t want to live. Those types of plants need things to be exactly how it likes it. If that doesn’t happen, it will die very fast, no matter what you do to revive it. You will know why this is, if it happens. In some instances, it’s a case of trial and error for some plants, but for those that are simple, it’s because it is okay with the environments they are in. It may take some acclimation to new residences before they can be anywhere near a window with bright sunlight especially. Some plants do best with indirect sunlight throughout its lifespan, while others will be better in a window with bright and direct sunlight. You have to be aware of that also.

There are many factors needed to care for plants, and the environment is one that’s often not look at properly. Remember humidity/dryness, and direct/indirect sunlight, are factors you need to look at for where you live, and to what plants you want to get. You try to do so, with a random plant, then good luck, you’re gonna need it.

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More Successes With My Plant Care.

Some things I need to add to my successes in this area. I mentioned in the previous entry, that my coleus, was growing so well, that it started growing flowers at the top of a couple of them. That’s what I said previously after discovering two. It turns out, it’s three of them now. Two of the original red plant and propagations, and one of the original green plant, in the same window planter.

Also, using the pump sprayer aided in some instances, gaining extra humidity when spraying the plants. The temperature hasn’t changed that much in the apartment internally, so I’m quite certain spraying these plants like the coleus, rose the humidity significantly. The day before I saw the humidity at around 40%, which happens from time to time, but it’s now at 70%.

I’ve noticed this in other areas in my apartment, where the humidity dropped near 50%, no temperature change indicated. Using that pump sprayer added humidity for the plants in that window as well. The humidity around the plants there, including the “lucky” bamboo plants, both of them, the nepenthes plants, both grounded and hanging, and the other plants, all saw some slight improvements. That’s because the humidity increased to near 60% to 70%.

Obviously, this has to be continuous, with the aid of a humidifier or an evaporative air cooler, which does work quite well.

In regards to my current crop of sundews, specifically the spoon leaf variety, there are a few, because of the grow light settings, beginning to turn red, and push out flower stalks, which are also red. As far as the cape sundews, they are starting to create some visible dew on a few leaves, so that’s a good sign.

My previous instance with spoon leaf sundews, I saw flower stalks push out, long before they turned red, but they stayed green, and it was quite interesting, but that didn’t last, because it dried out way too fast, and died possibly because of shock derived from being in a strong humid environment, to just airing out, in an already dry area, for a little over a day. I didn’t make that mistake again. This time, these sundews are placed in open area pots, where they can adjust and grow much easier.

I can add to this, from one of my hacks, to a successful set of results. This one wasn’t really expected on my end. I initially tried sowing some pitcher plant seeds, and I expected to see something after several months. I didn’t see anything from the seeds, but I did see this happen with the sphagnum moss.

Sphagnum moss is normally sold dried, but not necessarily dead. Leaving them to soak and sit in water, eventually after several months. Some advise to squeeze out the excess, which will make sense in order to not have any mold issues occur. This is especially good if the quality of the sphagnum moss isn’t processed all that much. This is the case for what’s often found in the pet stores (see Hacks entry).

I’ve began seeing what looks like weeds sprouting, and I’ve seen that before, and dismissed them. These “weeds” look closer to lemongrass, which shows more good things to come. What I’ve also seen, and still see to this day, are live sprouts of sphagnum leaves, in little patches scattered around the moss. I wasn’t expecting this, but I was welcome to seeing this, knowing that normally, I would have to buy live moss, in order to get enough to propagate, in order to get any long term. So far, there aren’t enough sphagnum sprouts for me to begin trimming just yet, but now that I know this method does work, I’ll definitely go a bit further, and push for something more.

That’s leading to the best results that I’ve seen with these plants. I hope for those results to only continue. If I play my cards right, I’ll be able to propagate some of them successfully. Once again, 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.