Has anyone ever tried to grow a Resurrection Plant?
Comments (33)
nanw_4wi
14 years agoOklahoma_Tim
14 years agoRelated Discussions
Anyone grow Selaginella lepidophylla?
Comments (153)After 5 hours sitting in water, I place them in soil, mist them and cover them like @Nate G. do. The next morning, they almost fully open, I discover that the small one is a duo and the big one is cluster of 4 plants, a quartet!!! I only buy 2 plants from John but it turn out to be 6 plants 🤣 BUT there's one problem, I see some white hair-like fiber under some leaf, MOLD!!! I bet it is because of the rain water I use to mist them ( since I have no distilled water and tap water in my state is full of mineral stuff) and the dead leaf's sponge like structure that hold water causing mold to grow. I go to Lowe's to buy some limestone and put them in the soil and also remove some dead leaves to prevent mold. Ordered grow light on Amazon but it won't arrive til next week, so I use aquarium led light for now. I also found another plant in the garage that my lil sis bought before, it look so pale brown and I don't think it is alive, but I will give it a try and see if the core is somehow alive. Since I don't have a tent to keep the humidity high, I will use a small aquarium as alternative and barely cover them to increase the humidity. (To be Continue)...See MoreHas anyone ever tried an olive tree
Comments (10)It's been over 6 months since our last deep freeze, so I thought it was about time to give an up-date. All of the Olive Trees showed signs of freeze damage. Many of the leaves and smaller branches turned brown and eventually died. I would estimate that about 1/3 of the outer foliage had some sort of damage. I waited until May before removing any of the burnt looking foliage whatsoever. It's now the middle of August and the trees look green and healthy. The Oleanders and Changsha Orange didn't make it. However, I am happy to report, after turning all brown and looking quite dead, the Climbing Figs made a 100% recovery. In fact, they look better than they have in years (probably due to all the new growth). Looking around the neighborhood, it appears that most gardens suffered similar damage as mine. One can still see some dead limbs and leaf burn which hasn't yet been removed. A few homes lost some marginal hardy plants/trees like Eucalyptus and Sago Palms. But overall, it's now hard to tell that we ever experienced such cold weather. I am now back in Ireland, completing the end of a two-year assignment. If our Olive Trees make it through this winter, I plan to attach photos so everyone can see....See MoreHas anyone ever tried Olivin muskmelons?
Comments (16)Jane, I haven't saved seeds from melons, so I'm inexperienced. I wouldn't go with floating row covers, as pollinatoras may be able to crawl under them. I think you'd need to protect both the male and female flowers, by covering, or tying them up individually(the ones used in controlled pollinations). Then using a paintbrush to pollinate the females, with pollen from the male flowers. After pollination, the females would have to be protected until the fruit starts to form(so the bees don't pollinate as well). I'd look for better instructions than mine, on the internet, or in a book. Douglas...See MoreHas anyone ever tried to grow a Bay plant?
Comments (6)They're hardier than you may think. Try to plant against your house for added warmth and protection (especially in zone 6b). I don't grow them in the house because they have died there for me in the past but usually make it outside (based on my own experience mind you in zone 7). Also, they used to grow slowly for me as containerized plants until I discovered that they grow faster in bigger pots (remember they want to be TREES, not cute little herbs). If you doubt their winter hardiness, plant one in a container (for overwintering indoor) and another in the ground (they are inexpenisive enough). Good luck!...See Moreamccour
14 years agoOklahoma_Tim
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emerald1951
8 years ago
cooperdr_gw
8 years agoThis I got at a Mexican market in the herbal section. It said Doradilla and fem Scale on the label.
MrBlubs
8 years agocooperdr_gw
8 years agoMrBlubs
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8 years agoMrBlubs
8 years ago
Elsie Hopkins
6 years agoStan Schultz
5 years agoHi. Stan here.
All right, let's put this puppy to rest. First, if you want to keep one of the "resurrection plants" alive, you need to figure out which resurrection plant you have. Here, I'm going to address ONLY the resurrection plant from the Chihuahua Desert, spanning several states in the southwestern USA and adjacent parts of Mexico. (If you have one of the other kinds of resurrection plants, you're on your own.)
Botanically, these plants are part of a much larger group called the club mosses. They fall somewhere between the mosses and the true ferns. They are a very old group of plants dating from the Coal Ages. Their scientific name is Selaginella lepidophylla. If you want to get it right, the "S" and only the "S" in Selaginella is ALWAYS capitalized, all other letters are lower case. And both words are italicized. (No italics on your typewriter? Then you can underline them instead.)
Almost all other Selaginella in the world are moist habitat plants, living in deep forests, swamps, in or near streams and creeks, or among other plants for protection from direct, scorching sunlight and desiccating dryness. You would grow them the way you grow most of the true mosses.
S. lepidophylla is a distinct exception, apparently surviving if not thriving in a desert, and a pretty severe one at that.
I am trying to include several photos I took of them growing in their native habitat in western Texas. Note that they most commonly grow on the northern sides of hills and protected in the shadows of rocks or other plants. If they receive any direct sun at all, it's only for a few hours in early morning and very late afternoon. They tend to grow where they're in dense shade throughout most of the day.
Note also that the soil in which they grow is comprised mostly of disintegrated, calcareous rock (i.e., limestone soil) with a little organic detritus (mostly naturally composted leaves, grasses, mosses, and other dead plants) mixed in. The limestone base is strongly alkaline, and the organic stuff tends to act as a hydrophilic buffer, holding water for a few precious hours or days after a dew or rain.
The climate in which they grow is fierce. In Summer the daytime temperatures often reach 100̊ F. They may receive a few drops of rain from time to time, BUT while the Chihuahua Desert does not receive a lot of moisture in the form of rain, it is often blessed with dense fogs and heavy dews. And these are the resurrection plants' saving grace.
Winters are a little less hostile. Nighttime temperatures often drop slightly below freezing, and light, freezing rain and sleet are not uncommon. For S. lepidophylla, life is a lot easier.
S. lepidophylla, much like other Selaginella, uses a collection of tine hairlike roots to hold itself in place in the desert, and to absorb what little liquid water might be available, but it probably gets most of its water from the aforementioned fogs, dews, and occasional rains as the water is absorbed directly through the surfaces of its leaves and stems. It almost never sits in liquid water for more than a few hours.
No, they are not immortal, and cannot survive forever in a dried state. In fact, if your S. lepidophylla isn't obviously fresh and alive when you get it, it probably never will be, regardless of what you do for it. All reports of them recovering after 50 years rolled into a brown ball are either circus hawkers' sales pitches, or statements by people who can't recognize a dead plant when they see one, and were fooled by the unfurling corpse. (At this point perhaps you should review the Monty Python "Dead Parrot" Sketch on YouTube.) How long can they survive in such a dried, dormant state? I don't know. Apparently no one has ever performed any sort of controlled experiments to determine this, and there is so much hogwash flying around about the matter that it's impossible to even make an educated guess.
So, how might you try keeping one alive? I confess I've never been successful, and I've only seen one botanical conservatory with living S. lepidophylla on display. And, I know of a veritable garden of them growing wild in the Chihuahua Desert of west Texas. Here are some suggestions based on general plant care, plant physiology, Botany, and what I've seen in the wild:
1) Almost all plants in nature experience an annual growing cycle based on the change of seasons. This helps all members of a given species flower at the same time to promote cross pollination. It also prevents them from flowering in deepest Winter and trying to go dormant when they should be actively growing. If you try to get one of these to grow as Winter approaches, you're almost certainly wasting your time. Early Spring would be a much better time to try this endeavor.
2) Don't waste your time on a dead plant. If it isn't obviously alive, move on to the next hobby.
3) Soak your newly acquired S. lepidophylla in room temperature tap water for 2 or 3 hours, no longer. This is intended to just "top off the tank" of its water reserves. Soaking it any longer might likely afford harmful molds or bacteria a foothold.
4) Plant it by laying it, right side up, on a layer of barely damp soil. The soil should be composed mostly of a mix or limestone sand or finely crushed oyster shell mixed perhaps half and half with compost or garden loam. Do not use commercial potting soils because they are composed of either peat or composted lumber byproducts. All these things are acid by nature, and these plants have evolved to survive in an alkaline environment, the exact opposite. Commercial cactus soils might work. Maybe, maybe not.
5) Do not use a tall or deep container. A "bulb pan" would be much better than a standard 6" terra cotta pot. The entire soil must be kept only slightly damp, and large masses of soil are sure to develop pockets of wetness in their centers. If the plant or its roots are allowed to set in water or are too damp, they'll rot and the plant will die.
6) For the first week, keep it loosely covered with plastic to maintain a high humidity. Remove the plastic after a week, or as soon as the plant appears to be alive and growing, or begins to develop mold. Mold is a bad thing. Generally, a molding plant is a dead plant. Maybe you need to try a newer, fresher resurrection plant.
7) Give the plant the brightest light available that isn't direct sunlight, except that it can receive a little direct, early morning sunlight for 30 minutes, no more.
8) Do not water the plant like you do your geraniums! Instead, mimic a dew once a week by misting it. The plant itself should end up quite wet, but the soil should be only a little damp.
9) S. lepidophylla should be allowed to dry out a little more in Winter, and moved to a brightly lit but much cooler place for several months beginning in early Winter (November in the Northern Hemisphere). Remember that they routinely survive light freezing weather during many Winters.
They may be taken out of their Winter rest period in early Spring (early March perhaps in the Northern Hemisphere) by moving them to a warmer room and beginning their weekly misting. Go easy on the misting at first, but resume normal misting after two or three weeks or as you can see new leaves and branches forming.
10) *USE DISTILLED WATER.* Not spring water, not softened water, not demineralized water, not baby's sanitized water, not holy water, not expensive French bottled water. Reverse osmosis (RO) water might be acceptable, but is a lot more expensive than simple, old fashioned, distilled water.
All such water contains some level of dissolved minerals, important ones being lime and/or salt. As you water your houseplants with the wrong water, the water evaporates, but these contaminants merely accumulate. If you don't believe me, look at the mineral crust that's developing around the edge of the soil in your half dead geranium's pot! And before long your gorgeous plant begins to look tired and droops as it tries to fight off the doses of lime and salt that you've been dumping on its roots for months. Soon, it can no longer grow effective roots and it begins a slow, inch a day, march towards the waste bin.
I hope this helps you when you try your hand at growing these most fascinating plants.
Best of luck.
PROGardenwise
5 years ago
Laurie (8A)
5 years ago
Nate G.
2 years ago
Mia Congress
last year
deb33