c/botany-lovers

13

olivia_wilson•5h ago

My grandmother's jade plant finally bit it after 37 years

That old jade plant she had since 1988 finally gave up last Tuesday. I came home and the main trunk had just split clean in half under its own weight. I tried propping it up with bamboo stakes and twine but the rot had already set in down the middle. Ended up taking 14 cuttings from the healthy branches and getting them rooted in new pots. Has anyone else had a big old plant just fall apart on them like that?

18

veramartin•1d ago

Had to pick between a fancy grow light or a cheap one last month

I was setting up my indoor herb garden for winter and my wallet said no to the $200 Spider Farmer light. So I grabbed a $40 no-name LED panel off Amazon instead. Now my basil is all leggy and pale, barely 3 weeks in. Should I just bite the bullet and return this thing for the real deal, or is there a middle ground light that actually works?

11

jadep41•2d ago

I thought grow lights were all the same until I saw my friend's setup

My buddy in Portland has been raving about his full spectrum LEDs for months and I kept saying my cheap Walmart fluorescent tubes were fine. Then I went over to his place last week and his seedlings were twice as stocky as mine with way deeper green color. He's only running them 14 hours a day versus my 18 and his plants still outperform mine. Honestly makes me wonder if I've been throwing money away on electricity for nothing. Has anyone else switched and seen that big of a difference?

10

spencer_thomas4•2d ago

That one June when everything in my garden just exploded

I remember back in 2019, our community plot in Portland had this crazy two week stretch where it rained just enough and then the sun came out perfect. My tomatoes went from little green balls to ripe in like 10 days, and the squash vines took over half the bed. My neighbor got 47 cucumbers off three plants alone that same week, which is still the best I have ever seen in person. But then the powdery mildew showed up right after, and we had to rip out almost everything by July. Has anyone else had a season that started amazing and then went south that fast?

20

charles508•2d ago

Overheard a lady at the nursery say something about potting soil that made me mad

I was at the local nursery in Portland last Saturday, just grabbing some new soil for my ferns. This woman was telling her friend she only buys the cheapest dirt from the big box store because plants will grow in anything. I wanted to say something but I kept my mouth shut. I used to think that way too, until I lost three good houseplants to bad soil that held too much water and got all compacted. After that, I started mixing my own with perlite and bark, and the difference was night and day. Cheap potting soil just doesn't drain right for indoor plants, at least not the stuff I tried. Has anyone else had a plant die from using the bottom shelf bag of dirt?

18

brookethomas•3d ago

Found a cheap fix for aphids that actually worked on my roses

I was losing a whole row of rose bushes to aphids last spring and nothing from the garden center was helping. Tried blasting them off with water every morning for about a week straight and they kept coming back. My neighbor finally told me to mix a teaspoon of dish soap with a quart of water and spray the undersides of the leaves. Did that three days in a row and the aphids were totally gone by day four. Has anyone else had luck with dish soap vs store bought sprays on their plants?

15

rowanw31•6d ago

Tried watering from the top vs bottom for 6 weeks and bottom watering wins every time

I got really into my pothos and peace lily collection a few months back and kept seeing people argue about watering methods. So I grabbed two identical plants from the same nursery on Oak Street and ran my own test. Top watering left the soil uneven and I kept getting fungus gnats buzzing around. Bottom watering took a bit longer each time but the roots grew way deeper and the leaves got this healthy shine I never saw before. After 6 weeks the bottom watered plant had put out 4 new leaves while the top watered one only grew 2 and looked kinda sad. I measured the soil moisture with a cheap meter from the hardware store and the bottom watered pot stayed more consistent. Has anyone else tried this side by side and noticed the same thing with their houseplants?

7

elliot54•8d ago

Appreciation post: That one neighbor who swore by aerating bare root trees before planting

I thought my neighbor Jerry was nuts when he spent 4 hours poking holes around a sapling he got from the nursery. Then my backyard maple grew 3 feet taller in its first summer while his just took off, and I saw the roots had spread way wider than mine ever did. Anyone else ever dismissed oldschool gardening advice and later realized it had real science behind it?

6

kellyr18•10d ago

Overheard a guy at the nursery say 'succulents are just lazy plants' and it got me thinking

I was at Armstrong Garden Center in San Diego last Saturday grabbing some soil and I heard this older dude tell his friend that succulents are 'just lazy plants for lazy people.' At first I was kinda offended since I got like 15 echeverias at home. But then I thought about it and honestly there is some truth to it lol. I take care of my calatheas with a humidifier and distilled water but my succulents just sit there in the sun and thrive with zero effort. Has anyone else caught themselves putting way more work into fussy plants while your succulents just do their thing?

3

quinnj24•12d ago

Pro tip: watch out for invasive mint at community garden plots

I pulled 30 pounds of mint roots out of my 4x8 raised bed at the Elm Street garden last Saturday. That stuff took over everything in 3 months. Has anyone else had it choke out their tomatoes like that?

5

kair65•13d ago

My propagation station glass shelves gave out after 6 months

I had a glass shelf setup above my kitchen sink where I kept my pothos and spider plant cuttings. Last Tuesday I heard a loud crack and looked over to see the whole thing had collapsed into the sink. Water and broken glass everywhere, plus all my cuttings got smashed. I had about 12 jars of cuttings on there that I had been growing since February. Now I'm switching to a metal wire rack from the hardware store for $25. Has anyone else had glass shelves fail like this?

12

carter.thea•13d ago

Rant: That $250 humidifier I bought for my calatheas was a total scam

It quit after 3 weeks and just dumped water all over my floor, killing my favorite maranta. Has anyone found a cheap one that actually works without breaking the bank?

-1

marywells•13d ago

Am I the only one who misses plain old seed catalogs from 20 years ago?

I was flipping through a glossy garden center magazine last night and realized it’s all hybrid this and designer that, nothing like the simple catalogs my dad used to order from in 1999. Those old ones had maybe 50 tomato varieties, all open-pollinated, with no fancy photoshopped pictures, just honest drawings. Does anyone else think the simpler catalogs made choosing seeds easier, or am I just stuck in the past?

12

willow244•15d ago

I used to think tropical plants were boring until I got stuck at a botanical garden for 4 hours

Last Saturday my girlfriend dragged me to the Garfield Park Conservatory in Chicago and I almost fell asleep walking in. I figured all those big green leaves look the same, just different shades of green. Then I saw this one plant called a corpse flower that was about to bloom, and the guide explained how it uses smell to trick beetles into pollinating it. After that I spent 2 hours just staring at the carnivorous plants and how they trap bugs. Now I actually get why people obsess over things like leaf shape and growth patterns. Has anyone else had a random plant moment that totally flipped your opinion?

19

chen.luna•17d ago

Tried growing tomatoes in fabric pots vs. plastic nursery containers this summer and the difference was ridiculous

The fabric pots gave me roots that looked like a fluffy root explosion after 3 months in Calgary heat, while the plastic ones just had roots circling around like they were stuck in traffic, has anyone else noticed this with their own tomatoes?

27

anthony426•18d ago

Just realized my money tree was sitting in a puddle for 3 months straight

I kept wondering why the leaves kept turning yellow and dropping off. Thought it was too much sun or not enough fertilizer. Then I lifted the decorative pot and there was green sludge sitting in the bottom tray. That drainage hole was totally blocked by a pebble. Drained it, let the roots air out for a day, repotted with fresh soil. It's been 2 weeks and I'm seeing new growth for the first time. Anyone else ever overlook something super basic like this?

14

karenhenderson•22d ago

I finally realized my aloe plant wasn't dying, it was just thirsty every 3 days

For months I kept thinking my aloe was getting root rot because the leaves were going brown and mushy. I was only watering it once a week like every care guide for succulents says to. Then I moved it to a south facing window and it started drying out way faster. Took me like 6 weeks of frustration before I finally stuck my finger in the soil and realized it was bone dry after just 3 days. Now I water it every other day and it's totally perked back up with new growth. I guess my apartment is just hotter and drier than wherever those guide writers live. Has anyone else had a plant that just refused to follow the standard rules?

6

spencer_thomas4•22d ago

Had to pick between a sunny spot and a shady spot for my indoor ferns and I chose wrong at first

So I got this big Boston fern from my mom last spring and I kept moving it around my apartment in Austin trying to make it happy. I had this bright spot near my south window where my succulents were loving life so I put the fern there. After like 3 weeks the fronds started turning yellow and dropping off everywhere. I was so confused because I thought ferns needed tons of light like everything else. Then my buddy who works at a nursery told me ferns actually want indirect light and a bit more humidity. I moved it to my dark corner in the bathroom where it gets morning light for maybe an hour and it totally bounced back. Now it's putting out new fronds every week and I feel dumb for not realizing that different plants have totally different needs. Has anyone else killed a plant by giving it too much sun?

7

evac72•25d ago

My philodendron finally put out a leaf with perfect fenestrations after 8 months of waiting

I picked up a juvenile monstera at a little nursery outside Portland back in January and it's been growing like crazy but every leaf was solid. Then this morning I spotted the new one unfurling and it's got those nice deep cuts all the way through. I've been watering with filtered water and giving it 12 hours of grow light every day so maybe that helped. Anyone else have a plant that took forever to show its mature form?

26

lily_gibson13•25d ago

Vent: I just hit 200 houseplant species in my living room and my husband is losing it

I accidentally counted them yesterday while repotting my 12th philodendron, and now he's threatening to move the couch outside to make room for more shelves. Has anyone else's plant collection quietly exploded past a milestone like this?

13

kevin_wells46•25d ago

Rant: I was dead wrong about air layering being a gimmick

For years I thought air layering was just some fancy trick for people who couldn't get cuttings to root. Then I tried it on a rhododendron that was getting too leggy in my backyard. Wrapped some damp sphagnum moss around a branch in late May, checked it in August and had roots thicker than my pinky. Now I'm kicking myself for all the plants I could have saved. Anyone else have a technique they dismissed until they actually gave it a shot?

16

clairem38•26d ago

Used to baby my indoor herbs with fancy soil mixes now I just use whatever bags are on sale

I got really into growing basil and mint inside during the pandemic. Bought all these expensive potting soils with perlite and vermiculite and stuff. Drove 30 minutes to a specialty shop in Salem. Then last winter I was lazy and just grabbed a random bag of generic potting mix from the grocery store for $4. Guess what? My plants did just as good. Maybe even better. Now I only buy fancy soil if I'm doing something finicky like starting seeds. For mature herbs I just use whatever. Has anyone else found a big brand that's actually garbage quality so I can avoid it?

21

allen.william•26d ago

That cheap LED grow light I bought on Amazon actually worked for my succulents

Honestly, I was skeptical of a $30 full spectrum light from some brand called Hytekgro, but my echeveria started stretching last winter in my Seattle apartment and I had to try something. After 3 months of using it 12 hours a day, the rosettes are tight and colorful again. Has anyone else had luck with cheap lights or is it just beginner's luck with my setup?

24

smith.blair•28d ago

Showerthought: That $80 'rare' succulent was just a stressed out common one

I spent $80 on a succulent at a boutique nursery in Portland last spring because it had this crazy deep purple color. Turned out it was just a regular Echeveria that was stressed from too much light and no water. I kept babying it with shade and extra water, and within 3 weeks it turned plain green and looked exactly like the $5 ones at Home Depot. Felt like such a fool when my buddy pointed it out. Anybody else get tricked by a plant that was just stressed?

5

wadeg92•28d ago

Shoutout to hitting 50 types of native plants in my yard this spring

I started trying to add more native plants to my backyard about 2 years ago. Nothing big, just swapped out some old bushes and added a few wildflowers. This spring I took a real count for the first time. I was shocked when I hit 50 different species. That number really surprised me because I didn't think I'd get past 20 or so. The thing that mattered most is seeing how many more bees and butterflies show up now. I even spotted a kind of moth I had never seen around here before. Has anyone else noticed a big jump in wildlife after hitting a certain number of native plants?