Agree it's easier to talk about one plant at a time. I'm not a fan of verbal abuse, either, admit it's a cheap, desperate act against a probably innocent plant. Seriously though, I've got the sickness that most plant people have - where one thinks the plants are always thirsty. Assuming the soil is not inappropriate and the roots have room to grow in it, and that light and temp are within acceptable range, gaining control over this compulsion is what enables people to improve most of their plants, or at least not kill them. (A few plants actually like to stay soggy, and not everyone has this defect.) The soil is extremely important and although I'm in complete agreement about texture and moisture, I do things differently than most people (like putting live compost from an open pile in potted plants.) So I encourage people who grow in store-bought ingredients to follow Al's advice. A current thread, What was your 1st houseplant..., is packed with testimonials about plants killed by love in the form of too much water/inappropriate soil. Once you get a good handle on that stuff, almost any plant should thrive in your care. Your only limits would be those out of your control like climate/light level. Ivy and Syngonium (arrowhead vine) can both be grown as dangling trailers, or upright with support of some type. Something fun to think about for plants that have a choice. Do you notice any reddish or pinkish coloring to the veins on your Syngonium. Most I've seen have some. That's all it takes (as if regular green/white variegation isn't already enough) for me to swoon over these. I have one that makes pinkish orange leaves that fade to "plain" green/white as they age. It will be spring before I need to determine if that should be left to hang or given a support to climb. "you'll find yourself concerned with Other people's plants almost as much as your own!" No doubt man! It's terrible when someone gets something interesting going and then disappears. Not only are you worried about them and their issue, you're dying to know what happened. That's rare though. I love watching people's plants grow as they periodically post pics of them. "Again, after repotting, mold will vanish along with gnats." Again, no doubt. And if the new soil is kept too soggy/too often, these problems can return. "...provide the incentive they need to abandon any contrary ways." This cracked me up! How timely, too. A couple weeks ago I got sick of looking at a particularly unhappy potted spider plant and don't really want to unleash more of this thing in the yard, and have given enough of this rampant weed away to start several other infestations already (and I can always dig up more if I find myself with empty pots,) so I put it upside-down on top of a compost pile and kind of pushed it down a bit. Sunday I went to put stuff on that pile and that spider plant had righted itself (although I'd be willing to concede that a squirrel,...

"Yes, many plants don't need insecticides but some definitely do." That's kind of an absolute statement, don't you think? I haven't used an insecticide on anything since 1996, and that includes indoors and out while gardening in both tropical and midwest climates. I have tropicals now that summer outdoors and come in for the winter and they get nothing aside from a strong blast of water or soaked in a bucket before I bring them in. I believe that it is more about prevention and observational skills than anything else. If you see scale or mealybugs while there are just a few of them it is easy to get them off. If you wait until there are swarms of the things it will be more difficult. I think the best plan for indoor plants is to place them in cache pots so you can switch them out easily if one gets too bedraggled or looses its appeal. Keep the less than perfect in another area until you get them back in shape. And all youse guys with 'disposable orchids' can send them to me! It pains me to think of plants being destroyed just because their blooming period is over.

It's been really busy for me at work and I could hardly tend to my garden. Glad to see this thread still alive and kicking. We had a scorching week with temperatures reaching mid 80s last week. I was not really worried about too cold nights. But now I will start prepping my tropicals for indoor. Love all the pictures...beautiful begonias Petrushka. And Rob, as usual enjoyed each of the pictures you clicked. You have an artistic eye for sure :) love the red and white adenium. What is it called and where can I order the plant from? because of the pleasent fall temperatures my plants are blooming like crazy...here are few pictures from this morning: My newest possession, African mask alocasia Today's surprise bloomer- my tropical hibiscus Double thousand bells in profusion- infact this had been blooming crazily since late spring The mandaville has also started setting out lot more buds Few Tropicals Geranium rozanne - this one is actually in ground but couldn't help but sharing...I planted it in spring and it's been happily blooming away since then...low maintenance, shade tolerant long blooming perennial...what more could I ask for :) And lastly I must admit, sharing pictures was a pain this morning. Something went wrong with the new version of software I guess. Hopefully houzz will fix that soon. enjoy your Sunday folks...happy gardening.

Hello! I posted here many months ago (about a wilty ficus lyrata) and received some great advise from tapla and litterbuggy. Now that it is a better time to do a full repot, I want to make sure I have everything in order! I plan to use the gritty mix and have gathered all the materials and begun sifting. I am using fir bark (pretty sure fir or pine/fir mix from Rocky Mountain soils, found at Ace), Napa “floor dry” (diatomaceous earth), and manna pro poultry grit. I just started sifting the bark through a homemade 1/4” screener. I sifted a couple batches and noticed the sifted mix seems to have a lot of long, thin sapwood in it. I’ve read sapwood is not ideal to have in the mix. I attached pictures of what my ingredients look like and a close up of the “sapwood” I’m talking about. Is this something I can work with by hand picking out pieces or would it be advisable to find a more pure pine/fir bark mulch? Do my other two ingredients look acceptable? Any other materials you would recommend to a first time re-potter? Do I need a dedicated root saw or can I get away with using an old sterilized kitchen knife? Bark and sifting setup Sapwood I hand picked out Gritty mix: DE - sifted bark - grit