I've only been working on my current collection for 2 years now 'cause I keep having to leave behind my collections 'cause I used to move alot, but this is what I've got so far. x2 Sansevieria trifasciata (one regular, one laurentii) Spathiphyllum wallisii Chlorophytum comosum variegatum Cereus peruvianus Hoya carnosa Podocarpus macrophyllus Dracaena marginata x2 Codiaeum variegatum pictum (one regular, one Golden Star) Ficus diversifolia x2 Howiea (some say Howea) belmoreana Hypoestes sanguinolenta (had 3 colors, red, white and pink but for some reason the red didn't make it) Dieffenbachia picta Exotica x2 Zygocactus truncatus (one with white flowers, the other with salmon) African violet (grew from a cutting) Schefflera actinophylla Citrus paradisi (grapfruit tree from seed ^_^) Echinocereus pectinatus Lobivia famatimensis Lemaireocereus marginatus An uknown cactus that looks kind of like a Lobivia but yet not...but I call it my snowman cactus 'cause they way it's shaped it looks like a snowman without a head. Philodendron scandens Sedum morganianum Saxifraga sarmentosa Beaucarnea recurvata Aglaonema Silver Queen Tillandsia cyanea Kalanchoe tomentosa A succulent whose leaves are bluish green and fuzzy and slightly pointed at the ends. Thought it may have been an Echeveria setosa...but those leaves are waxy...not fuzzy. Sedum pachyphyllum Aphelandra squarrosa louisae Sempervivum arachnoideum Coleus (just a little seedling) Araucaria heterophylla x2 Hedera helix (one Glacier, one sagittaefolia) Coffea arabica Gasteria liliputana (one of my personal favs) Lavandula heterophylla Radermachera sinica Dracaena deremensis x2 Pteris (one ensiformis victoriae, one cretica albolineata) Zamioculcus zamiifolia (the infamous ZZ plant, another one of my favs) Crassula perforata (probably not a good reason to buy a plant but I bought it merely for it's common name...string of buttons!) That's it, that's all. 14 of the plants on that list were added just this month! >_I have a few seeds I'm waiting on too though. Fuschia, Cactus, Salpiglossis, Strelitzia, Passiflora, Musa, Dracaena (forget exactly what it is), Lithops and a Succulent.

brit, i spent a fair amount of time a year or two ago looking into this very question. i wasn't concerned with mold, rather i was looking for a way to have my plants 'perfectly watered' at all times. i read, and experimented, and finally decided on the semi-hydro or passive hydro system that dellis mentioned above. so far, i'm happy with my set up, but i may try to play around with straight water culture in the future. there is an old out of print book on plain water culture called "The Indoor Water Gardener's How-to Handbook" by Peter Loewer. it's usually available for pretty cheap on amazon or ebay. it is a very small, short book, but it covers some of the basics on issues such as which plants work well, how to keep your water fresh, and such. to summarize the book, any of the common houseplants that root easily in water can be 'grown' in water culture. specifically, he mentions philodendrons, pothos, aglaonemas (Chinese Evergreens), and dracaenas, as well as some others. he added a couple of pieces of activated charcoal to each vase to help keep the water fresh. and he didn't use much fertilizer because he tended to use clear containers and didn't like to look at algae. the main reasons that i didn't go with the plain water method is that i couldn't figure out how to properly support large plants, or how to have the plants really grow well. the reason that i put 'grown' in quotation marks in the paragraph above is that plants grown in plain water, even with some fertilizer, won't grow as big and full as they would when grown well in other media. they'll grow slowly, and i didn't want to just have plants that look like "cuttings" if that makes sense. [i have found some orchid growers who are truly *growing* their plants in only water with fertilizer, but it seems that you have to have algae present for it to work, and i didn't want to be looking at stringy algae in my living room. if you are interested in this growing method, ask and i'll be happy to provide some links.] i think the easiest thing might be to join the Lucky Bamboo and Lucky Lotus craze. both of these are types of dracaenas. they come already rooted and ready to go. the other nice thing is that the cane area means that the water level can rise and fall a bit between water changes without it damaging the plant. plants such as spathiphyllum can grow well in water but you would need to keep the water right at the dividing line between the roots and the crown or you'll get rot. it would be fairly high maintenance. other good choices would be to root your own canes of any of the other dracaenas, or canes of aglaonema or dieffenbachia. there is a woman who writes a blog called Gardening on Cloud 9 that covers some of these issues and she makes lovely houseplant displays. her photos are inspiring. i've placed a link below. she uses the word Hydroculture interchangeably for water culture, passive hydroponics, and water crystals. cheers, nancy oh, and regarding mold, anytime there is organic matter and moisture in the same place, you can have mold. even in the passive hydro system dellis menions, you can have mold, though it will be much less than with soil. the ceramic media doesn't mold, because it is inorganic, but all it takes is to have a single root die in the pot, and mold can grow. damp potting soil most certainly contains mold. plain water probably is the only truly mold free growing media. water beads (crystal soil) might also qualify as long as they are rinsed well every once in a while. finally, if 'low mold' is good enough, and you are interested in passive hydroponics for houseplants, this is one of the better web pages: http://www.hydro-culture.net/ Here is a link that might be useful: Gardening on Cloud 9 - Hydroculture

Andre, that definitely looks fungal. Is the tip still alive? Is there good drainage in the pot? Too much moisture makes this worse. If there are any good leaves left, I'd prune off the sick ones- they'll cause more infection. If that trunk is still good and firm, it will sprout more once the problem is corrected. For killing the fungus, neem oil is a good choice. Mist the plant with it outside or in the shower if you can, so the spray doesn't get everywhere. Neem is a bit smelly, but good because it's not so toxic. It also can be used as an insecticide. I see I mentioned neem before. I am sorry for being repetitive, but I do like the stuff.

Hi. I had a yucca cane last spring and a thunder storm knocked it over. All but one shoot broke off. The plant was fine after all the abuse it took but I ended up throwing it out anyway because it didnt look right with one shoot coming out. So, the plant should be fine if you cut them off. Try not to cut them and pull them out by the root. I planted the ones that fell off and two of them have been growing in pots for about 11 months. I dont think they grow new trunks but they look really cool. Let me know what you do.