houseplant lifespan question
squidy
12 years ago
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Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
12 years agorhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
12 years agoRelated Discussions
Houseplant barrage (questions)
Comments (19)Mosinau, you many not even realize, but the entire opening post is about plants being killed by not drying quickly enough, and more water being added before they have dried. Roots need oxygen as well as moisture. Without both, they can rot and can't perform their job well, or at all once rot sets in. It may seem like a separate issue for each plant, but it sounds like one same issue to me. That is what the responses so far have been addressing. "varying watering habits(I view it as more of a chore now, while earlier I went by the website's instruction- every day)." That's way too often. When plants are dry, they need water. The amount of time it takes a particular pot to dry can vary, so a set schedule often does more harm than good. "Does having a nutrient source near the end accelerate the growth?" If this is all connected as one plant, nutrients obtained by one part will be shared with the whole plant. " My secondary question is about the micans only- its unusual leaves look like they catch a lot of dust. Is this bad and if so, how do I clean them off?" I put my plants outside in the rain when it's warm enough in the spring to clean off the winter dust. In general your focus seems to be making plants grow faster. To do that, the focus needs to start at the roots. No part of a plant can be healthy without healthy roots. In nature, there are many different types of soil and climate environments. In a house, there's usually one climate. As far as the soil part goes, the best thing we can do is offer something that provides moisture without rotting roots. "I'd like to eventually make up a pot that combines all my plants of this type." That sounds cool, I do that too. Plants with similar light and moisture requirements should do well together in the same pot. Eventually one might crowd the others out, at which time you could trim the bigger one, or redo the whole thing and kind of start over. "Schefflera(maybe Luseane). I know this can work in my house because my parents have one already and it is our most magnificent plant. I got one myself, unsure of how it propagates and not wanting to sacrifice any of the main one, but after a while of decent growth, it just sort of rotted away." The roots likely rotted. "Like with the Pileas, I had been following the watering instructions on the Exotic Angel Plants website, which called for watering every 2 or 3 days, I believe. I also had it in my room, which has somewhat lower light." They will tell you what they think you want to hear. Everyone wants some magic plant that can look great and even grow in some dark boring corner. Sure, there are a few of these out there, but the 'low light' designation on EA website shouldn't be given much weight, especially by someone like yourself who wants plants to grow at a visible pace as fast as they can. I put Scheff outside in the sun, all day (when plants aren't in the house hiding from winter.) While......See MoreA question about Bird of Paradise Houseplant
Comments (4)well they survive 100+mph hurricane winds all the time thou their leaves do get torn between the veins. mostly they do well because of their EXTENSIVE NOXIOUS roots lol. they are one of my all time fav landscape plants even after having to destroy quite a few getting them out for clients who wanted them gone. i can't tell you how many jobs i had where BOP's destroyed pool planters, breaking out the concrete bottoms and growing under the pool foundation and out into the yard! 10'+ tall plants usually have roots 1/4" thick or bigger and they spread out quite a distance to anchor the plants in well. on one of my first landscape jobs i had a high-end client wanting a 15' tall white BOP taken out of her pool corner planter and replaced w/ a palm. being just a book educated horticuluralist & landscape designer i thought no problem. well after my crew spent 3 hrs trying to dig it out we took chain saws to it and even ruined several chains, cutting roots out of the soil w/ chainsaws. it was a wake-up call lol i thought i'd be salvaging that BOP for my yard before we started lol. afterwards i didn't care, just wanted it out in as many small pieces as possible w/o breaking the pool! i have a magnificent specimen white BOP in my front yard along w/ a leafless orange i paid dearly for :-) we had an all time reord cold winter here in orlando and the only reason my BOP is still magnificent is that i literally dug it up (it's over 15' tall) and laid it on it's side along the driveway (concrete warmth), covered it each cold night w/ christmas lights and blankets and kept it watered well for the 2 months of cold :-) ~ liz...See MoreQuestion about ecobulb for houseplants
Comments (3)As long as the bulb is marked as "daylight," and gives off light in the 6,500K color temperature range, it'll work just fine. I've used 100-watt equivalent bulbs before with no problems. That would be the minimum wattage I'd recommend, so 150- or 200-watt equivalent would work even better. I don't see any problems with using a 150-watt equivalent bulb, just so long as it's marked as the 6,500K color spectrum....See MoreHouseplant Lighting Questions
Comments (1)Without a photo it’s hard to give any info. one 32w led doesn’t seem like much for all of those plants....See Moremoonie_57 (8 NC)
12 years agodellis326 (Danny)
12 years agobirdsnblooms
12 years agorhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
12 years agoUser
12 years agosquidy
12 years agodellis326 (Danny)
12 years agoJoe1980
12 years agorhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
12 years agoTiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
12 years agoTiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
12 years agorhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
12 years agotapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
12 years agotommyr_gw Zone 6
12 years agoamccour
12 years agobirdsnblooms
12 years agoUser
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoHU-524804875
2 years agotapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
2 years ago
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tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)