Filed under: Indoor
Sometimes I get frustrated with certain plants and I reach one of two conclusions: either I’m not cut-out to own it or its a pain-in-the-arse to maintain.
Take two examples: A Cordyline I bought from Jawads (our Tesco). It looked pretty healthy and happy there. In fact, all of them looked happy there! and I still think I can provide it a better home than a coldstore! Found out I’m mistaken. Instructions say 1) moist (not wet) soil 2) Sunny spot. Did both, but its still not happy. Moved it to a sunnier location (sun from wall and roof windows) and placed the ugly plastic tray under it so it can bottom feed and stay moist. We’ll see. If I keep cutting the dead leaves I’ll end up with a twig.
My second example is this Peace Lilly. It’s my second time around with these and I consider myself more experienced this time around. The leaves seem to be ok, but the flowers are dying. This plant likes humidity so I placed a water tray next to it and I mist it once or twice a day, but no luck. They say its natures best air purifier, but it looks like it’ll end up as compost. I’ll try cleaning the leaves but I won’t move it since it’s partial to direct sunlight and can withstand being in shaded areas.
Filed under: Outdoor
My outdoor sunflower plants are starting to flower – so far I have a bright yellow and maroon. I ordered these since I didn’t want the same dull local sunflowers. They seem to be doing well in our weather, although the yellow sunflower plant is tall and lanky and may topple over if the flower becomes to big!
Enjoy! The bee certainly seems to be enjoying itself.
Filed under: Indoor
These are very common house plants. I got this plant a couple of years ago and I really neglected it. It ended up having 1 leaf and was borderline dead. Since I didn’t have optimum lighting in my previous house I decided to bring it to work. It has now recovered, growing small leaves followed by slightly larger leaves.
You will notice the fact that it has a long cane-like stalk (where the name dumb cane came from). While looking into ways to fix up this plant, I came across a method of repotting known as air-layering (Click for more info). This is basically making a clean cut (1/3 length of the stalk) anywhere in the cane and powdering with a rooting hormone and surrounding the wound with moist sphagnum moss. This method allows roots to come out from the cut so you can then cut the plant off right under the new roots and replant. this will make the plant shorter and better looking. Some plants will even regrow from the original stalk.
Tried to get my hands on long-fibered sphagnum moss locally but no luck, so I had to order it. Just received it in the mail today.
I’m going to take the plant back home over the weekend and work on air-layering. Will post pictures.
I got my seeds today! Included in the package was:
1. Birds of Paradise – These have to be soaked in water for 4-5 days so didn’t sow them yet. The orange fuzz on the seeds is funny (bottom of the pic).
2. Polka Dot
3. Stevia (Sugar Plant)
4. Coleus – Black Dragon
5. Coleus – Giant Exhibition
6. Coleus – Mix (Didn’t sow them)
I think my Coleus obsession is due to the fact that my father grew them when I was a child and I was fascinated by the colors. Anyhoo..
General rule of thumb – if you are sowing tiny seeds then you shouldn’t cover them with soil. My approach is I spread them over the soil and then mist with water.
I heard that Sugar Plants are difficult but I’ll try my best and hope they grow.
I will update the blog with weekly pictures so we can see the progress. Wish me luck.
Filed under: Uncategorized
Just took a few shots and thought I’d share
1. VFT trap opening after consuming its prey
2. Baby VFT that split from its parent (next to my Sharpie) – I’d estimate this is a 1 year old plant
3. More grown and mature VFT (next to Sharpie)
4. A couple of plants are flowering – need to chop them off!
I’ve read that traps usually die after a while, which is completely normal. In my case, I’ve noticed that they turn black around where the fly is and then the trap completely looks burnt. Not sure if this is normal.
About two weeks after planting the seeds, they are growing.
And showing some color!
The rest of the batch is still lagging in growth, but thats always the case.
I read somewhere that these are the “weeds” of carnivorous plants. Apparently they grow easily and make alot of seeds. My Burpee growing kit and seeds arrived. I spread the seeds onto my peat/perlite mix. Will keep you posted.
As you can see, not many seeds so I didn’t need to use the whole thing. I’ll use the other cells when my new seeds arrive.
These are really beautiful carnivores. (Click for more info)
Mine are going through the stratification period in the fridge. This is a requirement if you’re growing them from seeds as they need to go through a damp cold period prior to growing. I basically filled two pots with my peat and perlite mix and spread the seeds on top and placed the pots in plastic bags and placed them in my vegetable tray. It was the 2nd of June, and given the four week requirement, I may remove them on the second week of July. Hoping for the best.
I started a new batch of Coleus from seed about two weeks ago. Yesterday I repotted them from their first home to individual cells. Some are already showing some color!
Below are the only survivors from my first batch. Really goes to show you that they are strong plants when they want to be because i did everything wrong the first time around.
Basic method is filling the potting cells with a good commercial potting soil and spreading the seeds on top. I then place the cells in a container with some water in it. Close it up with transparent film and leave under a bright light. They enjoy the humidity and moisture and grow in no time. Since these are all locally bought they seem to have the same patterns, however I am expecting a shipment from Amazon.com! Once those are in I’ll write a new post on the process and progress.
