A thought for growing non-native houseplants in tainers outdoors

14 years ago

You know, just a side thought for those of us living up here in the north..

Years ago when our parents and grandparents were using MG mix, Hyponex, and other bagged stuff, they basically grew native houseplants that they rarely if ever put outside for the whole summers. My grandmother never stuck hers outdoors..lol NO root rot, no knats and pests, she says...

Therefore, they had complete control over watering for these plants. No rain storms, nor extreme temps.. Most houseplants, native to our area if you call them, were only kept indoors. In this case, Mg might work for some. You can let your pots dry out as long as you want for these..

This acoording to my mother.lol

Now a days, look at how many of us grow plants not native to our areas, especially tropical,such as plumies, citrus, gardenias, and ect..., that we must put outdoors at the mercie of the weather elments. They thrive there after a long winter indoors.. Now they are also at our mercy to provide the right type of soiless mix to compliment the extremes in weather, especially ours which can be very long cool and rainy days, even in summer.

NOW, MG is not a good compliment to our now outdoors plants that do not like constant wet feet. If we insist on keeping them outdoors all summer, we must then think of soiless mixes that allow these poor babies to be rained on consistanly, and even dry out without killing them.

If I have anything in MG, it is plants kept indoors such as pothos, peace lilies, spiderplants,preyer plants, and so on. You know the kind I mean.. These never go outside.

I keep all plain ole native ones inside while all my non native ones go outdoors, ones that you typical grow in the deep south..These non-native ones are never in MG..No way Hose....

Thank God for this container forum. You learn of mixes that allow you to make the best of the outdoors,without scarificing your plants vitality and then eventual death. MG is no longer the choice for most of us, unless you are planning on sticking with just the plain ole indoor houseplant able to even take wet feet...:-)

Al's mixes are perfect for plumies and all my others...Thank God for the gritty mix, and the 5.1.1.

Thankyou Al for making life alot easier for those of us that are determined to grow the challaging plants of all kinds. You have made it work for many, such as I!!

Thanks..:-)

Who of us likes to be bored with with regular houseplants that seem to handle Mg anymore, you know, the ones I mean..lol

Mike:-)

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Comments (2)

rnewste
14 years ago
Mike,

I have been experimenting with various soiless mix combinations to see if I can come up with a formulation of off-the-shelf products optimized for a SWC environment. So far, a 5:1:1 ratio of Sta-Green potting mix, Perlite, and Turface seems to be looking pretty good. I have also set up some of my 'Tainers with a 5:1:1 mix with MG to see if this combination dries out the 'Taner sufficient for tomatoes. As you observe, MG on its own is too wet.

Raybo
justaguy2
14 years ago
What i have noticed from the grandparents in my family is that they don't expect much from containerized plants indoors or out.

They say they all grow fine, but none of them seem to be bothered by the fact their container plants don't do anywhere near as well as their in ground plants.

When it comes to containers they don't see any problem because their expectations are so low. They honestly believe a plant in a container can't do as well as a plant in the ground.

It's kind of like going to the store and buying a dozen roses and sticking them in a vase of water. We really don't expect anything from them other than they will look pretty for a week or two before fading away.

That seems to be the attitude of the elderly growers I know in real life. Granted they do expect their container plants to last longer than a week or two, but as they witness the slow motion death of their container plants they just accept that it's normal and unavoidable because after all, everyone knows container plants can't be expected to do as well as in ground plants.

Those of us who are a bit more savvy and educated on container growing know this isn't the case at all or at least it doesn't have to be, but try teaching an old dog new tricks. In my experience it is much easier to teach an old dog new tricks than it is to teach an old human new techniques.
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A thought for growing non-native houseplants in tainers outdoors

Comments (2)

rnewste

justaguy2

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