Hey, Mike! Great question!

My first consideration is probably pests....so I avoid things like Ivy.
Second consideration is space - and this is connected to available light. So that rules out giant plants like palms, et cetera. I do grow Monstera delciosa, but I hack the plant back whenever it gets too big....and I also move it off to the side where it doesn't get the best light.

Really common plants have lost my interest, too. Dieffenbachia, Peace Lily, Spider Plants. I just don't have the room or the desire to grow them. I still have a "Pothos" vining all over, but I'd sure like to get rid of it.

Lastly, the Cacti that have fine hair-like glochids. I find it no fun to work with these "pokies." I do have a Hylocereus (Dragon fruit), but I'm only keeping it because I started it from seed.

Josh

Oh no, you hate or avoid some of my favorite plants...cacti, palms, and Yucca! I agree that palms can be challenging in the average home, but some species are much better than others and all are helped by overwintering them in cooler, moister conditions. Most of my palms go into my garage for a winter then outside for the growing season but my real tropical palms (coconuts) go to into a bright 'basement' (it's above ground with artificial light). Cacti I mostly leave indoors expect for this Cereus that blooms in July or August, Yuccas I grow outside mostly, Pothos are terrific (you would be amazed to see what Pothos become in the tropics!!). As far as cats and plants...I have lots of poisonous plants and my cats manage to die from old age. Never has been an issue. Kids might eat them but animals are smarter. African violets actually seem to grow better under artificial light btw, and do have a bit of a love/hate relationship with them (kind of like gloxinias better).

Prickly Pears, yes, I do grow these outside though and wear gloves when dealing with them (easy to propagate and form a ground cover where nothing else survives). But not a good houseplant in my opinion. Ivy too best left outside. Dieffenbachia, I do like. There is really only one plant I hate...
Geraniums! Hate the smell, the garish colors, and the plants hate our humid, wet summers..or maybe just me. Stay warm!

Lithops I don't think I would try again. One slip up with watering, and they are jelly overnight. English ivy, needs cooler temps than I have indoors. Crotons, need more humidity than I can provide. Also, like Josh, I don't bother with most of the common houseplants. Have no room for big plants. Never knew why anyone would bother with a plant like the Cast Iron Plant, nothing to look at, might as well grow grass indoors.

But I personally like Cacti, and it is only the Opuntias which possess the nasty glochids, so there are plenty of others to choose from.

Christopher

Christopher

Regarding the Cast Iron, I planted mine outside---surprising cold hardy to Zone 7/6b, cool plants, very Edwardian and evocative. Kinda like giant Lilly of the Valley. Lithops though, do nothing for me. Crotons are okay but I actually prefer the cold hardy Aucuba japonica.

My tastes in plants is quite eclectic. That said, I do not bother with:

*any cacti which possesses glochids
*ivies -- MAJOR spider mite magnets
*many of the common plants like peace lilies, Yucca, the majority of Dracaena, Sansevieria .... they bore the pants off me
*pothos -- I do have one and it is more than enough ... it gets to stay because it will grow where nothing else will

Mike, you could always try AVs in a terrarium. It's the only way I can grow them (and they grow like weeds for me in terraria).

{{gwi:69787}}

I used to kill a lot of African violets too. For me, the breakthrough came when I grew some of them on wicking systems. I am now moving to semi hydro.
They LOVE the consistent "moist but not wet" conditions that wicking or semi hydro provides them with.
They will bloom happily in an unobstructed northern window as long as the moisture is to their liking.

As for plants I avoid:
Ivy is too buggy.
Euphorbia and echeveria just don't do a lot for me, so I will probably never buy them again.
I have had so many bad experiences with Parlor Palm that I don't want to try again even though I suspect that it would do well in the semi hydro setup that I've been transitioning many of my houseplants to.

This post was edited by summersunshine on Sun, Jan 5, 14 at 19:08

Njoasis....VERY NICE PICS! Thank you..

You know, it's amazing to see what everyone voids, does not like and the reasons why..I think we are all curious on this one...I never thought of how many may have the very same reasons as some of us on the same plants..Can't wait to see what everyone else thinks..

Summer, what is your semi-hydro set up? I think I would try it..

Paul..Thank you...Thanks to everyone thus far!

MIke

I'll second Lithops. I have ONE I started from seed months ago but I don't expect it to last the whole year. I've killed many over the years sadly.

Phal orchids. I have killed about 8 so far over the years. I bought one this fall and so far so good.

Butterworts (carnivorous plants). I think due to my (over) watering. Have to try them again this year.

Phalaenopsis orchids for me too. The ones I didn't give away all caught a terminal case of death. I have other orchids, but no phals.

African violets because they rarely bloom for me. They grow lush and lovely, but no flowers. I spent years trying to figure them out. Special food, special pots, lights, etc. I finally gave up and gave them all away this summer.

I avoid cacti because I end up feeding them my own blood. I have one cactus, which was a gift, and I keep it at the back of the plant shelf so I'm not reaching past it. Every so often it bites me. I prefer my plants toothless. I don't buy rosebushes either, for the same reason. That includes outdoor roses.

Mike, the below link shows a set up similar to what I've been doing (though I didn't take those photos, I thought photos would explain things best). Basically I am keeping my violets and many other plants (especially ones that are touchy about watering like peace lily) in hydroton pellets with a level of water at the bottom of the pot so they can drink at their leisure without the threat of rot. :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Hydro set up for AVs

Plants I would only want for their scented flowers if I don't like the leaves a lot. A jasmine w/o blooms bores me to tears.

Most plants with plain green leaves, boring.

Alocasia, I refuse to spend more $ on this, or anything else prone to bouts of dormancy, like Callas.

I should avoid all plants that give me a rash, but I don't, there's too many I really love. Just trying to not expose myself to their sap anymore.

AV's - can't handle the program here of going in/out. Leaves that don't like to get wet in general, it can rain a LOT here.

Tuberous Begonias, melted in summer heat.

Fuchsia, same as above, though I've tried every spring except this past one before finally giving up. It ain't gonna happen & we don't turn on the A/C until Fuchsia is already verklempt anyway.

Ficus benjamina & NIP, I'm blacklisted for reaching my quota of killed plants for a lifetime already. Allergic to Ficus sap anyway.

Since moving to the south, some house plants are noxious weeds, or simply hardy, so really silly to have in a pot, like asparagus fern, spider plant, Ardisia, Gardenia, Brugmansia, Cannas, elephant ears (Colocasia,) rosemary, Oxalis triangularis and crassipes.

Begonias and calatheas!! I just couldn't make either of them happy.

Hi
Ones that have always given me fits lol. Vireya,Medinilla , cool growing orchids ,Taccas. Then there are those I don't have a prayer with Anything that requires a cool/cold rest period or hot dry rest periods Interestingly one that has always eluded me Zinnia lol. gary

Interesting question and discussion. I'm chronic under-waterer, I have two cats who love to chew on ferns and grass-like plants, and I grow my plants in an environment that's decidedly cool in winter. Given all that, I don't grow ferns, phal orchids, beaucarnia, most dracaena, anything that requires constant warmth and moisture. I also avoid hedera because, even though my winter environment's cool enough for it, I've yet to find a pest-free plant for sale.

It seems that, every fall, I go on a gesnariad kick, wishing to add AVs and others to my collection. I can grow them without much trouble, but my fondness of them seems to be seasonal. By spring, I tire of them and give them away. Wish I knew why this happens! Having realized that it does, I try to avoid buying them in the fall. This year I didn't get any.

For about 10 or 12 years, I didn't grow or like the really common plants. These days, though, I appreciate really well-grown specimen of the most common plants. I've come to love the commonest philos and pothos, when they're well taken care of. And, because I'm regularly overwhelmed at work, I love that these "common" houseplants can flourish without being coddled or constantly attended to by me. Neither preference--liking these plants or finding them boring--is good, bad, right, wrong. It's just interesting how one's perspective can change.

Mike, I'm sort-of relieved to hear you say you have trouble with Philo 'Pink Princess.' I have no trouble with other P erubescens cultivars, but that one has languished every time I've tried it. I gave a cutting of one plant I had of it (not my first attempt to grow it) to a friend. She potted it in horrible peat-y soil and it thrived. She took cuttings and brought them into a no-light, dry-as-desert work environment and they thrived. I asked her for a cutting--by then, my plant had died--and the cutting she gave me declined as soon as it got into my care. It's still alive, but has lost all leaves and has done nothing for months. We'll see...

The exception to the 'don't grow anything requiring constant warmth and moisture' policy is an aroid I still haven't ID'd. I know it hates any/all chill, but it does well for me. Makes me very happy.

Amanda

Since all available East, South & West window space is currently spoken for, I am avoiding all new plants at the moment.

tj

I have some weird distaste for epiphyte cacti and similar cacti, thought I would love them but after getting an epi hybrid and schlumbergera......I'm not really enjoying them at all. I have a rhipsalis given to me years ago, I kept it only because I enjoy nursing plants back to health and I love gifts...I've thrown out my epi, and might do the same for the CC. Might try them again though...but they won't be from a big box store, think I need something with more interesting colors like CC samba brazil? Or even dragon fruit, I'm still itching a bit to try that one.

Phals always bored me, thought maybe I just needed to try them, but after getting one I still feel the same....I should
probably avoid high light orchids as well, I can't accommodate them without lights.

I avoid notoriously fussy plants like poinsettia's. My only fussy plant is a serissa foetida, which really isn't that hard I just can't let it dry out. Even my orchids are more forgiving than that drama queen.....

I also avoid pest magnets, like ivy, or hibiscus. keep reading spider mite and white fly issues with hibiscus and attempts at ivy never seem to go well.

Some common houseplants I really love, like sans, pothos, philodendron, schefflera, spider plant. Others I have little to no interest in, like aglaonema, diffenbachia, croton, AV's, among others and I'm not really sure why....

I love most vines, carnivorous, epiphytic, and xeric plants. It is usually a question on what I want the most when I'm searching for one.lol

I really enjoy reading this thread :)

Gardenias, hands down.

Also I've never met a begonia I can not kill and I've also killed every single species of gesneriads known to man. and right now, in the process of killing a pot of episcias. I put the small pot in a large jar but that only slowed down inevitable death.

I have a pot of 3-year old lithops. They said water in August and September so that's what I did and the thing is not dead! The other kind of stone plant--I can't remember the name--I kill those too. I'm probably killing my haworthias as well but they talk so slowly that by the time they finish saying "toooo muuuuuch waaateeeer!" I've already dessicated them to death.

I don't know what I am doing right with my Pink Princess (I only found out what it was here, in this forum). I water it whenever I remember, it's in a bright but not sunny spot (other plants are taking up the prime winter real estate) and it is right beside a small room humidifier, on the floor. In fact, it's the pot i toss excess water into.

I'm with you on the cactus thing, Mike. They are also so slow to react that it takes months for them to present whatever it is I did wrong and by that time, I've already done so many things wrong.

I'm convinced I should get a pot of Begonia rex var fabricus.

Pagan

Amanda..lol..You are not kidding! I hand a hand at 3 of them because I love the color so, and every time I brought one home, within weeks the ppin would turn soft and brown, then the rest of the plant would turn yellow and just die..I know it either too cool of conditions, or too dry, or just me...I love but hate them..It's always that I want one then have to talk myself out of one.lol
I hate it when I hear of others doing sooo well with theirs.

Pagan..Yup..lololol//By the time any of mine have died, they are rotted out...And I don't even water them at all all winter, or is that what we are suppose to do? lol
Besides, unless I can get one to flower, those spiny ones bore me, although they are so beautiful in the ground in Arizona.
You see, there you have it...Lots of humidity and light..That could be it with the Princes!

Auron..Yup!@! Hibiscus...Forgot about those pest magnets! They are so pretty as perennials though. There is quite a few on your list I feel about too...

Gary....The 'cool growing orchids'...Don't remind me..
I have tried every room cooler than cool and I don't think any are cool enough to spike flowering, the main reason I get orchids...I am about to give up on three of them.

Purple...Plants with plain green leaves boring.....I agree with that one..Most at least..lol..Except for philodendrons. they must either flower, have color bare fruit or smell good for me...

Summer, thank you very much..Will read that!

Gary.......Too funny...I hear ya.

Tommy....Oh yeah..Lithops...Forgot about them..If I was offered them for free, I would turn them down..

One more plant I don't have a need for is the famous 'Aloe'....Unless it has extreme coloration or is rare, I leave those at Lowe's...

Hey Chris and Josh....I agree...

If I missed anyone, I am sorry..Got tired but I appreciate all the various reasons here and why...It's amazing to see what we all deal with, feel and think.

Mike

Mike, this is what happens to AVs in terraria, IME:

{{gwi:69788}}

{{gwi:69789}}

And that nonsense about not getting an AVs leaves wet -- what a load of hokum! When I water my terrs ALL the plants get drenched from above -- including the AVs. Never have had any issue with the leaves.

Oh and I do avoid plants like Justicia brandegeeana which require very humid conditions. While I love to see them, they simply cannot handle my arid winter air.

I've had a hibiscus for about 4 or 5 yrs now with minimal pest issues. I do hit it with a systemic now and then as spidermites are relentless otherwise.

in my opinion, invasive, weedy tropical trees trees like caesalpinia pulcherrima, cassia fistula and delonix regia!
people grace over them while we have thousands of species of trees unkwn to cultivation.
some rain trees, though they're exotic, reminds me of africa., and are tolerable.
we have native plants like xanthostemon sp. and dillenia philippinensis and i mull why i should bother with potentially invasive plants.

hibiscus are great and they grow into big trees here but they attract all sorts of harmful insects to plants. i have one i'm still keeping, but no longer interested in acquiring more.

most cacti are easy to burn and rot here in the tropics. i'm keeping a few including a few burnt ones but no longer interested in getting more. though i'm very successful with my ferocactus glaucesns i've been keeping for 2 years despite torrential rain and claims of people saying they don't do well here.

i've had enoughb echeveria. within the span of a few months, i managed to grow leaf cuttings from adult plants. they just rotted, even though i didn't water much at all. and that flapjack and bean thing succulent rotted and collapsed to their deaths and their soil was always bone dry too.

i love african violets but i've been trying to avoid them. i'd probably be treating them like cut flowers as they are quite ephemeral in our climate.

Wow! Paul, your terrarium is so cool! I haven't usually spent much time in this forum as I'm not as much a houseplant keeper as a plant overwinterer in Mn. My house is over filled with things I like and keep alive for next summer, they help me make it through the long winter.
I cannot keep Rex begonia alive in my indoor conditions, tho I love, love them. I don't keep most typical indoor houseplants as I need the space, the ones kept are the ones that get relegated to the worst spots. I am bored with AVs because they are so symmetrical and I prefer somewhat crazy individualistic plants, tho they are pretty- I don't have the space. I do have phals, and they bloom, but I get tired of their unchanging perfect blooms- they seem like plastic flowers after awhile. I won't ditch mine but wouldn't acquire more.
I am poor with cacti, but am experimenting with some succulents. I do like Hibiscus and haven't found them pest magnets with regular showers and occ soapings but got rid of all but one due to space constraints, and the fact they don't bloom much in my shady backyard.
I will grow anything, my biggest problem is a lack of space!
It is so fun to read the postings on this forum, I thank you guys for making my winter plant life more interesting.

I can't seem to grow Mimosa pudica in my house...
I've tried countless times and I always start them from seed.
They start off really well then eventually all there leaves shrivel up and die....
So I just gave up on them.....

Posted by salpal 4
Wow! Paul, your terrarium is so cool!

TY. Terrs can be a nice way to keep some harder to grow plants (for me that means ones that require good humidity). They can be quite utilitarian or decorative. I tend to chose the latter.

Posted by salpal 4
I cannot keep Rex begonia alive in my indoor conditions,.

Not surprising. As I recall, they require fairly high humidity -- something you will be unable to do over the course of a winter. Growing them in a large terrarium would be the route to take ... though you'd have to also make sure to give them decent air circulation (which is really very easy with computer fans).

Posted by salpal 4
I am bored with AVs because they are so symmetrical and I prefer somewhat crazy individualistic plants, tho they are pretty- I don't have the space.

If you prefer breaking away from symmetry, try AVs which are trailers or the Russian AV varieties.

Paul, 2 thumbs UP to your terr!! Impressive and stunning.

I thought of another one. Bird of Paradise - no way I have space for the eventual size of this thing in this house.

...Especially when you will need room for your monstera deliciosa. Who knows?..maybe by this time next year you will be whacking it back with a machete! lol

Neat to see you showing interest in Paul's terr(by the way,Paul,..I agree with Purp,..that set up is easy on the eyes for sure!),..does this mean you might be warming up to playing with that old aquarium of yours? =)

Ha, Asleep, exactly what I was thinking! And NO, we couldn't be more anxious for all plants to go back outside.

My mission is clear.

Create a rain forest in containers that can be adjusted/rearranged if need be whenever necessary.

Thus if it isn't found in the jungle,I really shouldn't be chasing it down for my collection. :)

Paul-I was like blown away by your terrarrium. I have a few old 30 gal fishtanks I could use for something like that.I don't have the lights and tops anymore though.What would you use for lights and can it be open rather then closed. The place I was Thinking of putting it would be in a kitchen without much light unless the above fluoros would be on so would guess would need more then that.

Carol, mine would generally be considered partially to mostly closed, I believe. When I obtained my 90 and 55 gal tanks, the top glass came with each. (The 90gal was a garage sale purchase, and the 55gal a hand-me-down from a friend's father who decided that after 20-30 years he was tired of keeping cichlids.) With the 55gal, the top glass covers about 75-80% of the tank -- it's missing the rubber "hinge" section as well as the plastic backsplash section. With the 90gal, about 90% of the tank. Having the top glass does help with keeping the humidity higher and more consistent.

The only way the "above fluoros" would be anything more than useless would be if the tubes sat across the top of the tank. Sorry about that. You are absolutely correct that you would need to provide supplemental lighting. I did have a buddy who did just that with one of his larger terrs. He got 2 -two bulb 4ft shoplights and sat them across the top of the tank. Worked well.

My tanks both have simple hoods I designed and my dad helped me make years back when I went upstate to visit. Each hood is hinged so I can flip back half of the hood to access the tank and the bulbs. The hoods -- from front to back -- cover about 90% of each tank. For lights I use six 200W equivalent coiled fluorescent bulbs in my 90gal and four 200W equv + two 100W equiv in my 55 gal. I have pondered trying some of the newer tube LEDs (I know a grower who supplies plants to the pdf hobbyists. He has done a great deal of investigating to find a brand of LED he feels will actually work for growing plants... as opposed to the junky ones you will find at a BBS.) Unfortunately, the suckers are EXPENSIVE. That has held me back. I'm currently testing out 2 LED tube bulbs on my plant stand. I'll see how they work out. (Definitely a LOT less heat than even regular fluoros, but haven't had them in play long enough to see what the plants think of them.)

If your tanks are open, you will have to play much closer attention to humidity issues ... or more to the point a lack there of. Even without a top, you should wind up with an overall higher humidity level within the tank than the rest of the room. And depending upon just what plants you wish to grow, the humidity levels you will need to maintain may or not be more challenging to maintain in an open system. The buddy of mine who had the shoplights lying across his tank had a stream running through the tank (I think it may have been a 125gal L tank but it has been too long so memory is fuzzy.) The stream kept the tank envir. quite humid even though the tank was open.

Fatsia Japonica. I dry them out they flop. I soak them, they flop.

I even did a blog post about this topic (attached).

Here is a link that might be useful: Link to blog post