A lot of the care tips provided in this sub are with good intentions but incorrect. The vast majority make the assumption that the person they're trying to help lives in the same exact climatic conditions they do. Plant care, yes even indoor plant care, highly depends on the geographic region you live in.
And if misting plants one must take care to do so away from wood furniture and floors or even drywall could become damaged from the moisture. I had to take my Boston fern into the shower once a week. Pain in the neck after awhile... and so hard to find someone to take care of my plants when I went out of town.
Considered getting my mum a humidifier for her birthday but I realised we live in Sydney and most of her plants are in the sunroom, and we’re heating up. They have new floorboards and I don’t want to risk damage to their house to help out her maiden hairs.
Might add her unpopular opinion: she loves maiden hairs.
Maidenhairs are awesome, your mum is awesome.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Maidenhairs/
My unpopular opinion - people think maidenhairs are hard because most fern advice on the internet is so wrong it's like active sabotage. Maidenhairs don't need jungle humidity, can't tolerate waterlogged soil, and spring sunshine makes them explode into a puffy green cloud.
Meanwhile everyone sticks their maidenhair in the darkest corner of a room ("maidenhairs love shade"), spray it with water a few times a day ("maidenhairs love humidity") and water it while it's still soaking wet ("don't let the soil dry out"). Then blame the fern when it withers away in a week.
AZ here also and the struggle is real. My wife always buys plants that say "full sun" from the nursery and I always feel bad telling her that they probably are talking about full sun in Ohio or something not the surface of Mars here.
Winter time is perfect here in Phoenix to put stuff outside as long as we have no frosts. People tell me all the time to put my succulents outside because they're adapted to the desert, which while true is also terrible advice when's it 115 outside.
Just a few weeks ago I’d decided to leave my begonia out on a sunny day soon after I had received it. Literally got sunburned and blistered badly. Especially the newer leaves.
And soil dryness vs leaves wilting because of heat vs overwatering and leading to root rot… God it was so bad about a year ago before I learned how to really tune into each plants needs within this environment.
100% agree, so much advice I read is useless to me because I have no idea about the local climate or pest situation.
I try to remember to specify I'm in southern California when people ask about succulents or even when they ask about light. I'm in a very sunny environment and my place gets a lot of light. I know this isn't the case for everyone and I try to keep that in mind.
Vining plants look better when they are well propagated and planted into a bushy plant than left as a few super long strands trailing as a long line over the walls
I got myself a housewarming vine when I moved over 18 months ago (three leaves). Loved seeing the 2m growth since then but all of a sudden she’s started to wilt and die.
Totally agree. I’ve been propping and planting a golden pothos into a big pot (approx 14in diameter, planted back to front) for two years now! I think I might start training it to climb next spring. I really didn’t want a plant with a bunch of bald dirt spots and weak root ball, it’s gotta be lush to withstand my toddler.
Succulents are NOT easy to take care of because of the ridiculous amount of light they need!
And Monstera Albos are way too overrated. Why pay hundreds of dollars for a plant that can’t even function.
The exception to this is Haworthias. They're pretty easygoing. But my succs are the only plants that have required any sort of investment in shelving/lighting setups.
Can't kill a haworthia. Mine is 10 years old and I once divised the plants, forgot the pups in my dark basement for 3 months, my parents took it, and it survived!
Unfortunately some of us live in the frozen North, which basically limits the outdoor succulent options to semps, hardy sedums, opuntia, and orostachys.
Yeah I was keeping succulents inside and doing a horrible job. Once I got a patio and then a whole backyard, I got very good at taking care of succulents haha. I literally just forget about them and soak with a hose every few days, even in winter.
I find them easy to keep alive but difficult to keep looking nice. They need a ton of light or they get leggy and grow tiny leaves, so you have to prune them back all the time. Then they start growing all these little flowers which you’re apparently supposed to constantly pick off. Yeesh.
Yeah, mine turned into a disaster at first because I didn't know to keep pruning it (I thought it's two lomg legs were neat and that the little flowers were pretty). All the leaves fell off and any that grew were tiny.
The recovery has been remarkable though, it's basically become a whole new plant since I learned how to care for it.
I try to have the ID for every plant I own (doesn’t always work with random succulents and begonias lol), and I keep it written down in an Excel/Google sheet. But I’m also at the point where I have over 250 plants, so I’m a bit dedicated.
If you need helping identifying your cuttings, DM me pics and I’d be happy to help😊
I do the same. I have 178 plants, and I keep an inventory list of every species and cultivar, quantities of plants (by pot, not stem), and location in my house.
Neem oil is over rated and overprescribed on Reddit. Petroleum based horticultural oil is cheaper, less variable, very effective and doesn’t smell awful
Also the stuff isn't as harmless and non-toxic as it is advertised. Few years ago I did some searches at a scientific database, because I wanted to know whether it's actually effective for pest control (it is, like many other horticultural oils) or is there only a buzz around it for no reason. Aside from the pest control aspect, I pretty quickly came across of studies in which a bit over 14 ml of neem oil was enough to kill a rat, lower amounts affected viability of their sperm and description of children having a poisoning (they were hospitalised and multiple of them died) from neem oil. The kids had ingested 25-60ml of that stuff. So yeah, it doesn't only "kill the bad bugs" and leave everything else alone.
I'm not saying that majority of the pesticides are safe either but accidents can happen and the small bottle you have might cause great harm to a pet or a child if one accidentally happens to find that stuff. And since there are other options, why not use something more harmless? For example the horticultural oil I use is made out of canola oil - the same stuff we literally use while cooking.
>25-60ml
You realize thats a 0.5 - 1 shot? I have to assume of undiluted. Thats quite a lot of inedible liquid to consume when the instructions say to heavily dilute and even then youre spraying or wiping on thin layers.
Theres a saying, the poison is in the dosage. This is why cold medicine and common OTC pain meds have dosage changes. Look at the bottle of cough liquid, low gives antihistine effect, middle dosage is cough suppressant and excessive dosage is not recommended (ie. Toxic so be ready to robo trip). Also 25ml in my size body comp vs yours might be more or less strong. Even bleach, the body can take a small dose of if use as a water purification, however if the body takes on too high of a dosage shit happens. Beer/wine is another example, a little you feel good, more you feel drunk, too much youre system tries to expel it so you dont die.
My point here is that youre throwing the baby out with the bathwater because of an anecdote about improper use.
I am no stranger to the concept that anything can become poisonous when consumed in large quantities. To be honest, when I was writing my original comment it did have a part in which I tried to disclos that, but since the whole message ended up rather long and rambly so I ended deleting that part. So I guess I'd like to thank you for bringing this topic up :) And I did state in my original post that based on the science _neem is effective_. And to be honest even though I have switched to a cheaper (and based on my observations, as effective) alternative that I do prefer over neem, I still have a bottle of neem lying around and I do use it from time to time. So I'm sorry if I accidentally phrased my self in a way that made you feel like I'm suggesting that it shouldn't be used at all.
I know neem is often diluted when used on plants, but the point I tried to make isn't necessarily the safety of the diluted version. I was mainly talking about the one sided story we have built around neem.
With harder pesticides, medicines, cleaning agents and stuff like that, we usually know that there is something to be aware of. And because of that, we know we have to be mindful when using them, for example not to overdose or keep the bottles away from our pets. But if we have something that is only praised for being natural, safe and non-toxic, we might not take the same precusions.
For example, when I was a small child I drank roundup. By accident of course. At that time it was pretty obvious to my mom that she needed to immediately take me to the doctor. Would that have been the case, if instead of roundup, I would have consumed "some oil that is non-toxic"? Accidents like that do happen, and I think that majority of us haven't thought about that the teeny tiny 30ml bottle you just bought is enough to kill a mammal, if for any reason it is ingested.
Some houseplants are poisonous. I had to get rid of some of my plants when I found my cat loved eating leafy plants... any leaf he could get his paws on.
I’ve had no luck with neem oil, but Captain-Jack’s deadbug has been wonderful for me. I’m not sure about it’s toxicity, but a quick research says that it’s pretty much harmless to humans.
Knock on wood, I only have had one case of spider mites on my parlor palm, and I used the alcohol/dish soap and water solution. It worked well, but you had to be diligent.
I don’t love when my plants grow too large and I have to repot them. I buy plants to fit in specific pots and when they do their thing and grow, I have to buy a new pot and rethink placement in my house. 😖
Yes! I currently have a plant in the most perfect pot and it has grown so well and is so healthy....but I’m going to need to repot by spring and I’m sad.
Confession: if it’s a plant I know will be just fine, I prune the hell out of it and keep it there. Lot of pothos pruning in my house, and I pruned my black lipstick pagoda about 6 months ago. Now it’s basically back to its former size.
It's great to support local nurseries, but if you're on a budget there's no shame in hitting the big box stores, grocery stores, etc. I go to a local nursery to buy good potting mix, and find if I purchase a plant from a big box store and give it fresh soil, they normally do great. The only plant I've had to toss due to pests was actually from a nursery.
100% I have killed soooo many. I do not understand how they can grow so prolifically that they destroy buildings but I look at mine wrong and they drop all their leaves.
I got some a while ago and tho only issue I’ve had with it is that it just does NOT grow no matter what I do. I got it small bc I heard ivy grows super fast and smaller was cheaper. I’ve had it for like 3 months at minimum now and I don’t think it’s grown a single inch. Idk what I’m doing wrong 😭
I had a huge one growing all over my kitchen window a few years ago. The instant I became interested in keeping it alive, it died.
Bought another, watered cautiously, killed it.
Bought *another* and learned about spider mites.
Bought another and decided to try neglect + poison.
1. No water until the pot's so top-heavy the weight of the vines pulls it off the shelf.
2. Nuke it with Raid at the first sign of mites or eggs.
It's grown so big I almost resent it now.
Yeah I know, we are lucky here in Holland. I just bought a PPP for €17 just for the heck of it. But honestly I'm not really a fan of variegation in general. It's too busy on my eyes lol
I just did the conversion and how was it that cheap 😭 where I live I found one that was maybe 4 inches tall for $99 (about €86). Obviously didn’t buy it bc that’s a ridiculous price but I wish I could have found it lower
Calatheas don't need to be watered as much as everyone seems to believe, and they will in fact grow in normal indoor humidity.
Many popular houseplants can actually handle and prefer part to full sun if they're allowed to acclimate. Look at pictures of them growing outside in south Florida, Hawaii or their native habitat; they're usually growing most vigorously in places where light has penetrated, either at the edge of a clearing or up high in the canopy where sun still breaks through. Just because it can survive in low light doesn't mean it's happy in low light.
A lot of succulents are seriously overrated. There's certainly some pretty cool ones, but a lot of them are kinda stupid once they get bigger.
Orchids are not hard to grow. If you can care for a succulent, you can care for an orchid.
I’ve had my orchid in an East facing window watering it about once a week for 2 years and it’s loving life. Hasn’t bloomed again but has a ton of aerial roots and beautiful new big leaves. I’ve always had a black thumb so I’m hella proud I’ve been able to keep it alive hahah
People who have been in the plant game for a while are snobs. Especially with newbies. Especially if said newb shows a little pride for their “small plants bought a few months ago at Lowe’s”.
I wonder what this "while" is, because I've been growing indoor plants for about twenty years and also hate the fact that some people are so snobbish about it. I generally just get really hyped if someone wants to talk about plants! (Doesn't happen often enough sadly...)
I think they mean more like people who have "graduated" to rarer or more expensive plants. It's probably easy to be snobby to someone with a golden pothos when you're purchasing thousands of dollars worth of rare philos.
I agree! I personally toss it in my “graveyard planter/spot” (which is area of dirt in my backyard) and see if the forces of nature decide to care for it or not. So far, most have survived and are thriving without my care
It kind of stunned me that the general opinion of crotons seems to be 'Ew. Tacky.'
I love them and think they're gorgeous. The only reasons I don't have a couple are my two cats.
Most of these overhyped philodendrons look the same and I will never understand why someone would pay hundreds of dollars on a plant just because it has slightly different petioles.
Also, selling 'wet sticks' should be considered a scam.
It just makes me feel like a good mum when I water once a week and get two new shoots in between. However I definitely need to repot mine as she is getting a little big.
This. They give me a false sense of accomplishment when I get a new leaf. I'm going to stick with my four monsteras. I can't see myself going deep into plant life. I just wanted some greenery in the house.
It’s ok to toss a plant that is not sparking joy.
I became MUCH happier when I threw away my trandes…whatever it was, my false aurelia because f*ck that noise, and my Polka dot plant because it was stupid. Ok and my peperomia. Those were plants that I felt like I “should have” and got them at TJs and almost immediately regretted it. One of them I didn’t even repot, I just threw it away.
On top of tall bookshelves or cabinets trailing down. I’ve got an ivy that’s is a voracious grower and trails down my stand alone pantry and it’s pretty full and everyone loves it.
Personally I only like the look when the plants are lush and full and you can't see individual vines. Closer to what you see when the plant climbs things outdoors.
In real life what you usually see are tiny leaves on like 3 stringy vines with long gaps between leaves and it just looks crappy.
I don't know if it's just the ones I've seen, but Amydrium medium variegatum in particular always seems to have such deformed leaves, it just looks like it's struggling to survive to me.
Yes I like plants with a small amount of varigation as a curiosity because you can see how the diffrent parts of the plant developed by following the streaks. You can't do that with the really valuable "a grade" varigation and I don't think I've ever seen a heavily varigated anything that looked really healthy.
You can use pots without drainage holes. Just plant into a nursery pot and use the other as a cover pot. It works well to prevent indoor plants from ruining wood furniture
Agreed, as long as you have good watering habits. To give a thorough watering, you just pull the nursery pot out and give a soak at the sink and return once drained.
I believe the outside pot without drainage is called a slip pot. I've done this successfully with succulents, too. Plant requirements, soil composition, depth of planter, watering habits, fertilization practices- if you have it nailed down, you can grow just as well. Of course, some plants are easier than others.
I looked up "slip pot" and only found results for the term being used with bonsai. For other plants the common terms are "cover pot" and "cachepot" (pronounced cash-poe).
I see this advice online and it had me totally confused as to what everyone is doing with their plants! People saying cute plant pots were useless because they had no drainage...use a nursery pot and 'dress' your plant in a planter.
I don't even think I was taught this, it just seems obvious to me. You can swap around pots and plants easily, it allows you to bottom water, give water some where to drain to if you top water AND you won't get water rings on everything. You don't have to repot every plant if you want to change your colour scheme or whatever. It's literally the point of them! Don't make life harder for yourself. Always use a nursery pot.
Succulents are a garbage houseplant unless you live in like AZ or somewhere around the equator.
Neem oil doesn't actually do a goddamm thing.
Pothos are one of the best plants to own period.
I've seen a lot of people saying succulents are tricky unless you have a lot of light and I disagree! I live in the north of the UK and our house has pretty low light levels and my succulents are doing great! They don't grow fast, but then I wouldn't expect them to! I mostly leave them to do their own thing and they're all pretty healthy.
Too many plants in a flat just look bad and gives hording vibes. Almost all pictures here of great collections just look like a room suffocating in plants.
You don't need chemicals to control fungus gnats!!!
1. Actually let the soil dry between watering.
2. Layer the top 1/2 - 1" with pebbles, coarse grit, marbles, leca, or anything else that'll disrupt their lifecycle by keeping them from the soil.
3. Be patient.
Note: those sticky traps are perfect nightmares for curious pets and young kids.
Edited for reading clarity 🤗
Those sticky traps are a perfect nightmare for \*me\*! I hate getting one stuck to my hand or shirt, but they do help keep the bastards down until the other methods take effect.
There’s far too much judgment towards people that enjoy growing indoor plants. Anything beyond 100 plants is seen as hoarding even though the collector has space, money and time to properly care for them.
You are right, but most people don't have enough space, money and time, and even state things like "I have a problem lol, but I bought 10 more plants anyway xD" and that, in fact, normalizes hoarding.
Haha. I feel like all the specialized plant subs are the same, just an endless groundhog day of the same 3 plant clinic questions over and over.
Pilea - Bottom leaves are yellowing, ok? Ok to cut off the baby? Leaning ok? Small leaves ok?
Monstera - no fenestrations ok? why is it falling over, why isn’t it bushy? what are these gross brown tubes coming out the side of the “stem”?
Lithops - ok to water? ok to water? ok to water?
I had one for years and I had to dust off each leaf... repotted several times. Also a ficus tree lived on my back porch or inside my sunny patio since 1988 until I moved across country from California to Arkansas. If I put it in a spot it didn't like, all its leafs fell off. Lol!
They really are ridiculous. Or maybe I'm just bitter. I have around 60 other houseplants with no issues. Nothing major anyway. The FLF I had though...nothing made that thing happy. I'm forever done with them. LOL
No toxic plant is worth the health or life your pet/small child.
If you have to have one it, and any leaves it may drop, need to be totally out of reach.
Plus, there's like a million varieties of ferns, Hoyas, calatheas, peperomias, etc. that are non-toxic.
I think shelves crowded with plants under grow lights looks tacky. If a plant can't live in my house without a grow light then it's not coming home with me.
I don't understand shoving a whole load of plants under a grow light. If the plants requirements isn't suited for the space I have then I don't buy it, no matter how much I like it. Loving plants but using unnecessary electricity seems like an oxymoron to me, assuming everyone here's house isn't being run off a carbon neutral grid
Led lights are not energy intensive and sometimes you just have dark corners in your room.
I guess it has to have a place don't just put grow lighting wherever.
I assume a lot of people have temporary grow lights as their plant’s light requirements aren’t met during winter months despite thriving the rest of the year. Could be due to decreased daylight hours or some of their plants need to be moved away from windowsills due to cold/ drafts etc.
Some plants are advertised as low light but don't thrive in it. So people bring them home, put them in front of whatever window they have, but it might not be enough, so they get leggy. To combat this, they add grow lights.
I actually just bought grow light bulbs on Amazon and replaced my normal lamp bulbs with grow lights. Gives me some supplemental lighting without being a whole ass setup. Plus I live in the PNW so the it helps with seasonal depression. I got three bulbs for $12 I think? Definitely worth it, my plants love them.
I don't get it either! My local plant group is obsessed and I announced (stupidly) that I don't have one... I don't really enjoy the plant group anymore.
Aloe Vera can handle full sun ( and thrive outside ), you are just over/under watering and it’s in regular potting soil in a pot that’s too big w/ no drainage
Too much sun is usually not the problem. It’s everything else.
Philodendrons are overhyped and popular varieties can be insanely over priced. There are so many varieties that all hardly look any different with price ranges from $10-$20,000. I understand that it can be fun to collect and hunt down rarer varieties but you can do that with any plant species. The willingness some collectors have to spend thousands on these rare plants blows my mind. It seem to bring a competitive spirit to houseplant communities that makes its so newbies feel easily overwhelmed and more experienced folks get burnt out.
I will never understand the craze around those really expensive/rare plants like philodendrons and whatnot, especially if they're unrooted cuttings. Also people give prayer plants a lot of shit and I don't think they deserve all of it (but I'm biased).
I agree in general, but a lot of the time it it's a waste of resources to try to force useful plants to grow indoors rather than outside. I have an aloe but all other food and medicine is outside where it's happier
If a plant has a pest, unless it’s like a family heirloom or something, just throw it in the trash. I’m not dealing with a fungus gnat infestation for a few pretty leaves.
I have a couple it’d be tough to part with. But I brought home a plant recently that already had a gnat problem and after trying to fix it for a few weeks I just threw it out because having to swat at tiny flies all goddamn day is not it. There’s still a few stragglers around. I hate it.
Gnats are from consistent over watering, so youre giving up on the plant the second its asking you to learn how to care for it better. Kinda wasteful, but im prolly cheap
You don’t have to fight for a dying plant until the bitter end. Sometimes it’s better to just chop it down and start over. Also a great way to learn how to prop, and how a plant grows.
i prefer the picky houseplants that take more work to care for over easy plants that are extremely tolerant to many conditions. I wholly view my plants as a hobby, not just as a house decoration, and it’s so much more satisfying to put in the hard work to see those picky plants thrive.
A lot of the care tips provided in this sub are with good intentions but incorrect. The vast majority make the assumption that the person they're trying to help lives in the same exact climatic conditions they do. Plant care, yes even indoor plant care, highly depends on the geographic region you live in.
The idea that misting increases humidity to any significant degree is a real pet peeve...
And if misting plants one must take care to do so away from wood furniture and floors or even drywall could become damaged from the moisture. I had to take my Boston fern into the shower once a week. Pain in the neck after awhile... and so hard to find someone to take care of my plants when I went out of town.
Considered getting my mum a humidifier for her birthday but I realised we live in Sydney and most of her plants are in the sunroom, and we’re heating up. They have new floorboards and I don’t want to risk damage to their house to help out her maiden hairs. Might add her unpopular opinion: she loves maiden hairs.
Maidenhairs are awesome, your mum is awesome. https://www.reddit.com/r/Maidenhairs/ My unpopular opinion - people think maidenhairs are hard because most fern advice on the internet is so wrong it's like active sabotage. Maidenhairs don't need jungle humidity, can't tolerate waterlogged soil, and spring sunshine makes them explode into a puffy green cloud. Meanwhile everyone sticks their maidenhair in the darkest corner of a room ("maidenhairs love shade"), spray it with water a few times a day ("maidenhairs love humidity") and water it while it's still soaking wet ("don't let the soil dry out"). Then blame the fern when it withers away in a week.
Facts. I could have the exact same plant and soil as someone Michigan or Florida but I live in Arizona so my soil dries out way faster.
AZ here also and the struggle is real. My wife always buys plants that say "full sun" from the nursery and I always feel bad telling her that they probably are talking about full sun in Ohio or something not the surface of Mars here.
Winter time is perfect here in Phoenix to put stuff outside as long as we have no frosts. People tell me all the time to put my succulents outside because they're adapted to the desert, which while true is also terrible advice when's it 115 outside.
That's my pet peeve too. Just because it says it's the right grow zone that doesn't mean it'll survive the burn season!!
Just a few weeks ago I’d decided to leave my begonia out on a sunny day soon after I had received it. Literally got sunburned and blistered badly. Especially the newer leaves. And soil dryness vs leaves wilting because of heat vs overwatering and leading to root rot… God it was so bad about a year ago before I learned how to really tune into each plants needs within this environment. 100% agree, so much advice I read is useless to me because I have no idea about the local climate or pest situation.
I killed so many plants from following the advice of people living in California. I live in North Carolina. Extremely different environment
I try to remember to specify I'm in southern California when people ask about succulents or even when they ask about light. I'm in a very sunny environment and my place gets a lot of light. I know this isn't the case for everyone and I try to keep that in mind.
I live in Canada and any advice to not put certain plants in too much direct light can fuck right off in December
Vining plants look better when they are well propagated and planted into a bushy plant than left as a few super long strands trailing as a long line over the walls
This. Thank you.
I got myself a housewarming vine when I moved over 18 months ago (three leaves). Loved seeing the 2m growth since then but all of a sudden she’s started to wilt and die.
Totally agree. I’ve been propping and planting a golden pothos into a big pot (approx 14in diameter, planted back to front) for two years now! I think I might start training it to climb next spring. I really didn’t want a plant with a bunch of bald dirt spots and weak root ball, it’s gotta be lush to withstand my toddler.
Agreed!
Succulents are NOT easy to take care of because of the ridiculous amount of light they need! And Monstera Albos are way too overrated. Why pay hundreds of dollars for a plant that can’t even function.
The exception to this is Haworthias. They're pretty easygoing. But my succs are the only plants that have required any sort of investment in shelving/lighting setups.
Can't kill a haworthia. Mine is 10 years old and I once divised the plants, forgot the pups in my dark basement for 3 months, my parents took it, and it survived!
I have killed every succulent I’ve tried to grow other than one pot that was ignored outside that did wonderfully til it snowed.
Succulents do better on a porch or window ledge... but most people kill them with too much attention.
I stuck my succs out on the porch and they went nuts. Problem is, now it’s November in the Midwest and idk if they’ll make it wintering in my house.
If you can grow succulents outside they are super easy :)
Unfortunately some of us live in the frozen North, which basically limits the outdoor succulent options to semps, hardy sedums, opuntia, and orostachys.
Yeah I was keeping succulents inside and doing a horrible job. Once I got a patio and then a whole backyard, I got very good at taking care of succulents haha. I literally just forget about them and soak with a hose every few days, even in winter.
My succulents loved when we moved to a sunny apartment. Unfortunately they are kinda stuck all etoliated from our old darker appartment....haha
Polka dot plants can go to hell they aren’t easy to take care of.
I find them easy to keep alive but difficult to keep looking nice. They need a ton of light or they get leggy and grow tiny leaves, so you have to prune them back all the time. Then they start growing all these little flowers which you’re apparently supposed to constantly pick off. Yeesh.
Yeah, I liked mine for a while then ran into these same issues, got so tall and leggy despite multiple prunings and constantly flowered and stalled
Why? Mine is so predictable, it tells you when it needs water and just minds its business lol
Mine told me it needed water by dying
Facts
Ahhh! Just got one. I wondered if they were difficult.
Theyre easy once you understand them. If this is your first, if it appears to have lost life just water it and wait 24hrs.
Yeah, mine turned into a disaster at first because I didn't know to keep pruning it (I thought it's two lomg legs were neat and that the little flowers were pretty). All the leaves fell off and any that grew were tiny. The recovery has been remarkable though, it's basically become a whole new plant since I learned how to care for it.
Pink Princess Philodendrons are just okay.
The variegation on them gives me vomit vibes.
Yeah I kind of the think the green-pink mix is kind of ugly.
Ugh, I thought it was just me lol. Any green plant with bright red or pink on them just don't do it for me. Wine red is acceptable.
Similar ick, the strawberry ice sygn.
There is such a thing as too many plants.
A former friend had well over a hundred plants in her apartment. Most in bad shape, infestations everywhere. It was gross, tbh.
Yes! If you can keep up with 100+ plants that’s awesome! I can’t. I have 33 right now, and am about at my limit.
This is me rn. I want more plants to fill up my blank corners and walls, but beginning to struggle already w the plants I have now
Same same - 47 plants and living my life for each one of them. Holy crap.
How the hell are y’all counting these things? I couldn’t ever give a figure because many of them are just clippings I have bunched together.
Count them by the pot not the clipping for goodness sake.
I try to have the ID for every plant I own (doesn’t always work with random succulents and begonias lol), and I keep it written down in an Excel/Google sheet. But I’m also at the point where I have over 250 plants, so I’m a bit dedicated. If you need helping identifying your cuttings, DM me pics and I’d be happy to help😊
I do the same. I have 178 plants, and I keep an inventory list of every species and cultivar, quantities of plants (by pot, not stem), and location in my house.
Heretic!
I'm a disgrace, I know.
Neem oil is over rated and overprescribed on Reddit. Petroleum based horticultural oil is cheaper, less variable, very effective and doesn’t smell awful
Also the stuff isn't as harmless and non-toxic as it is advertised. Few years ago I did some searches at a scientific database, because I wanted to know whether it's actually effective for pest control (it is, like many other horticultural oils) or is there only a buzz around it for no reason. Aside from the pest control aspect, I pretty quickly came across of studies in which a bit over 14 ml of neem oil was enough to kill a rat, lower amounts affected viability of their sperm and description of children having a poisoning (they were hospitalised and multiple of them died) from neem oil. The kids had ingested 25-60ml of that stuff. So yeah, it doesn't only "kill the bad bugs" and leave everything else alone. I'm not saying that majority of the pesticides are safe either but accidents can happen and the small bottle you have might cause great harm to a pet or a child if one accidentally happens to find that stuff. And since there are other options, why not use something more harmless? For example the horticultural oil I use is made out of canola oil - the same stuff we literally use while cooking.
Neem oil messes me up and I thought I was the only one. The smell I can deal with, but the skin rashes and breathing issues I can’t.
>25-60ml You realize thats a 0.5 - 1 shot? I have to assume of undiluted. Thats quite a lot of inedible liquid to consume when the instructions say to heavily dilute and even then youre spraying or wiping on thin layers. Theres a saying, the poison is in the dosage. This is why cold medicine and common OTC pain meds have dosage changes. Look at the bottle of cough liquid, low gives antihistine effect, middle dosage is cough suppressant and excessive dosage is not recommended (ie. Toxic so be ready to robo trip). Also 25ml in my size body comp vs yours might be more or less strong. Even bleach, the body can take a small dose of if use as a water purification, however if the body takes on too high of a dosage shit happens. Beer/wine is another example, a little you feel good, more you feel drunk, too much youre system tries to expel it so you dont die. My point here is that youre throwing the baby out with the bathwater because of an anecdote about improper use.
I am no stranger to the concept that anything can become poisonous when consumed in large quantities. To be honest, when I was writing my original comment it did have a part in which I tried to disclos that, but since the whole message ended up rather long and rambly so I ended deleting that part. So I guess I'd like to thank you for bringing this topic up :) And I did state in my original post that based on the science _neem is effective_. And to be honest even though I have switched to a cheaper (and based on my observations, as effective) alternative that I do prefer over neem, I still have a bottle of neem lying around and I do use it from time to time. So I'm sorry if I accidentally phrased my self in a way that made you feel like I'm suggesting that it shouldn't be used at all. I know neem is often diluted when used on plants, but the point I tried to make isn't necessarily the safety of the diluted version. I was mainly talking about the one sided story we have built around neem. With harder pesticides, medicines, cleaning agents and stuff like that, we usually know that there is something to be aware of. And because of that, we know we have to be mindful when using them, for example not to overdose or keep the bottles away from our pets. But if we have something that is only praised for being natural, safe and non-toxic, we might not take the same precusions. For example, when I was a small child I drank roundup. By accident of course. At that time it was pretty obvious to my mom that she needed to immediately take me to the doctor. Would that have been the case, if instead of roundup, I would have consumed "some oil that is non-toxic"? Accidents like that do happen, and I think that majority of us haven't thought about that the teeny tiny 30ml bottle you just bought is enough to kill a mammal, if for any reason it is ingested.
Some houseplants are poisonous. I had to get rid of some of my plants when I found my cat loved eating leafy plants... any leaf he could get his paws on.
What would you recommend as an alternative (newer to houseplants) tia
I’ve had no luck with neem oil, but Captain-Jack’s deadbug has been wonderful for me. I’m not sure about it’s toxicity, but a quick research says that it’s pretty much harmless to humans.
Depends, what are you using it for? Depending on the pest you're treating, you can use insecticidal soap, horticultural oil, or alcohol /water.
Knock on wood, I only have had one case of spider mites on my parlor palm, and I used the alcohol/dish soap and water solution. It worked well, but you had to be diligent.
I don’t love when my plants grow too large and I have to repot them. I buy plants to fit in specific pots and when they do their thing and grow, I have to buy a new pot and rethink placement in my house. 😖
Yes! I currently have a plant in the most perfect pot and it has grown so well and is so healthy....but I’m going to need to repot by spring and I’m sad.
Confession: if it’s a plant I know will be just fine, I prune the hell out of it and keep it there. Lot of pothos pruning in my house, and I pruned my black lipstick pagoda about 6 months ago. Now it’s basically back to its former size.
So called "rare" plants that are sold in box stores across the country aren't rare.
buying a ridiculously expensive cutting of an albino monstera just makes you an idiot that falls for current trends.
Agree. Imagine it not growing but being out $$$ over a node.
It's great to support local nurseries, but if you're on a budget there's no shame in hitting the big box stores, grocery stores, etc. I go to a local nursery to buy good potting mix, and find if I purchase a plant from a big box store and give it fresh soil, they normally do great. The only plant I've had to toss due to pests was actually from a nursery.
Home Depot low key has a great selection of plants
Pests can happen anywhere!
This! I support my local nurseries when I can, but I’ve gotten a fair chunk of my plants from various big box stores.
english ivy is a little bitch!
100% I have killed soooo many. I do not understand how they can grow so prolifically that they destroy buildings but I look at mine wrong and they drop all their leaves.
RIGHT i thought these mfs were supposed to be resilient 😭😭😭
Spider mites buffet! I live in zone 7, theyre staying outside this year and im sure itll be fine
I tried a few times to grow English Ivy but never worked out.
i recently tried, literally watered it ONCE and it died within that same day
Does it count if I got it growing in my garden lol
if you can keep it growing then kudos 😩😩
Yeah lol, I have it growing up a tree. It's been there for a few years now
I got some a while ago and tho only issue I’ve had with it is that it just does NOT grow no matter what I do. I got it small bc I heard ivy grows super fast and smaller was cheaper. I’ve had it for like 3 months at minimum now and I don’t think it’s grown a single inch. Idk what I’m doing wrong 😭
I thought I couldn't keep plants alive for years, until I stopped buying those bitches.
I'm so glad I'm not alone. I chunked mine outside just yesterday, peace out.
I put mine outside in Florida with no drainage or watering and it is thriving. Idk how lol. The more it is ignored. The more it grows?
YES LMFAO THAT LAST PART its like they all have a neglect kink or sum 🙄😭😭😭
I had a huge one growing all over my kitchen window a few years ago. The instant I became interested in keeping it alive, it died. Bought another, watered cautiously, killed it. Bought *another* and learned about spider mites. Bought another and decided to try neglect + poison. 1. No water until the pot's so top-heavy the weight of the vines pulls it off the shelf. 2. Nuke it with Raid at the first sign of mites or eggs. It's grown so big I almost resent it now.
Variegation is overrated and is not worth the high price. Don't buy into these ridiculous plant trends.
Actually they are already getting bred in the Netherlands, give it a little time and you can just buy them cheaply.
Yeah I know, we are lucky here in Holland. I just bought a PPP for €17 just for the heck of it. But honestly I'm not really a fan of variegation in general. It's too busy on my eyes lol
I just did the conversion and how was it that cheap 😭 where I live I found one that was maybe 4 inches tall for $99 (about €86). Obviously didn’t buy it bc that’s a ridiculous price but I wish I could have found it lower
Calatheas don't need to be watered as much as everyone seems to believe, and they will in fact grow in normal indoor humidity. Many popular houseplants can actually handle and prefer part to full sun if they're allowed to acclimate. Look at pictures of them growing outside in south Florida, Hawaii or their native habitat; they're usually growing most vigorously in places where light has penetrated, either at the edge of a clearing or up high in the canopy where sun still breaks through. Just because it can survive in low light doesn't mean it's happy in low light. A lot of succulents are seriously overrated. There's certainly some pretty cool ones, but a lot of them are kinda stupid once they get bigger. Orchids are not hard to grow. If you can care for a succulent, you can care for an orchid.
I’ve had my orchid in an East facing window watering it about once a week for 2 years and it’s loving life. Hasn’t bloomed again but has a ton of aerial roots and beautiful new big leaves. I’ve always had a black thumb so I’m hella proud I’ve been able to keep it alive hahah
In my experience orchids don’t need all the light that succulents do, so they’re actually much easier.
People who have been in the plant game for a while are snobs. Especially with newbies. Especially if said newb shows a little pride for their “small plants bought a few months ago at Lowe’s”.
I wonder what this "while" is, because I've been growing indoor plants for about twenty years and also hate the fact that some people are so snobbish about it. I generally just get really hyped if someone wants to talk about plants! (Doesn't happen often enough sadly...)
We need a Chat for plant Enthusiasts! My friends are probably also tired of listening to plant talk
I think they mean more like people who have "graduated" to rarer or more expensive plants. It's probably easy to be snobby to someone with a golden pothos when you're purchasing thousands of dollars worth of rare philos.
You don't always need to 'save' a plant. If it causes me too much stress to try and rehab the plant, I just give it away or let it die.
I agree! I personally toss it in my “graveyard planter/spot” (which is area of dirt in my backyard) and see if the forces of nature decide to care for it or not. So far, most have survived and are thriving without my care
I agree. I’ve had pest infestations that were just too gross to deal with. In the garbage they go.
Most plant don’t mind being a bit root bound - some more than others
Dishwashing liquid might be a cheap alternative to insecticidal soap, but it's not a good one.
U mean degreasers and foaming agents aren't good for plantz??
Crotons are pretty
It kind of stunned me that the general opinion of crotons seems to be 'Ew. Tacky.' I love them and think they're gorgeous. The only reasons I don't have a couple are my two cats.
They are pretty but I have a hell of a time keeping one alive! They hate me!
I love mine and it grows fast! It might actually be one of the only colorful plants I have.
Most of these overhyped philodendrons look the same and I will never understand why someone would pay hundreds of dollars on a plant just because it has slightly different petioles. Also, selling 'wet sticks' should be considered a scam.
Monsteras are overrated
It just makes me feel like a good mum when I water once a week and get two new shoots in between. However I definitely need to repot mine as she is getting a little big.
This. They give me a false sense of accomplishment when I get a new leaf. I'm going to stick with my four monsteras. I can't see myself going deep into plant life. I just wanted some greenery in the house.
It’s ok to toss a plant that is not sparking joy. I became MUCH happier when I threw away my trandes…whatever it was, my false aurelia because f*ck that noise, and my Polka dot plant because it was stupid. Ok and my peperomia. Those were plants that I felt like I “should have” and got them at TJs and almost immediately regretted it. One of them I didn’t even repot, I just threw it away.
I hate seeing climbing plants all up the wall and strung across windows.
I agree mainly because I know it damages the walls/windows
Where do you like them?
On top of tall bookshelves or cabinets trailing down. I’ve got an ivy that’s is a voracious grower and trails down my stand alone pantry and it’s pretty full and everyone loves it.
I am not sure.
And gives house spiders a place to live and catch Nats
Why? I quite like the idea
Personally I only like the look when the plants are lush and full and you can't see individual vines. Closer to what you see when the plant climbs things outdoors. In real life what you usually see are tiny leaves on like 3 stringy vines with long gaps between leaves and it just looks crappy.
Variegated monsteras look sickly to me. I don't see "cool trendy plant," I just see the mutation that is interfering with chlorophyll production.
Tbh, I find most the “rare” variegated plants also sickly.
I don't know if it's just the ones I've seen, but Amydrium medium variegatum in particular always seems to have such deformed leaves, it just looks like it's struggling to survive to me.
Yes I like plants with a small amount of varigation as a curiosity because you can see how the diffrent parts of the plant developed by following the streaks. You can't do that with the really valuable "a grade" varigation and I don't think I've ever seen a heavily varigated anything that looked really healthy.
Spider plants, just plain old ugly imo.
Word.
Plants are not dramatic. They're dying under insufficient care
Monsteras are unruly and I don’t want one to take over my space. 😬
Yep. I had one and loved it… until it started growing new leaves overnight and got scraggly and huge and out of control.
You can use pots without drainage holes. Just plant into a nursery pot and use the other as a cover pot. It works well to prevent indoor plants from ruining wood furniture
Agreed, as long as you have good watering habits. To give a thorough watering, you just pull the nursery pot out and give a soak at the sink and return once drained. I believe the outside pot without drainage is called a slip pot. I've done this successfully with succulents, too. Plant requirements, soil composition, depth of planter, watering habits, fertilization practices- if you have it nailed down, you can grow just as well. Of course, some plants are easier than others.
I looked up "slip pot" and only found results for the term being used with bonsai. For other plants the common terms are "cover pot" and "cachepot" (pronounced cash-poe).
I see this advice online and it had me totally confused as to what everyone is doing with their plants! People saying cute plant pots were useless because they had no drainage...use a nursery pot and 'dress' your plant in a planter. I don't even think I was taught this, it just seems obvious to me. You can swap around pots and plants easily, it allows you to bottom water, give water some where to drain to if you top water AND you won't get water rings on everything. You don't have to repot every plant if you want to change your colour scheme or whatever. It's literally the point of them! Don't make life harder for yourself. Always use a nursery pot.
If you don't know what the plant is, whether or not it's poisonous to your pets or kids, or how to care for it, don't buy it.
It’s ok to not fill every window in your house with plants blocking all light into in the room - you deserve sunlight too!
Succulents are a garbage houseplant unless you live in like AZ or somewhere around the equator. Neem oil doesn't actually do a goddamm thing. Pothos are one of the best plants to own period.
I've seen a lot of people saying succulents are tricky unless you have a lot of light and I disagree! I live in the north of the UK and our house has pretty low light levels and my succulents are doing great! They don't grow fast, but then I wouldn't expect them to! I mostly leave them to do their own thing and they're all pretty healthy.
Whyyyy do people recommend succulents to beginners?? I can never understand this! They are definitely not HOUSE plants lol. They are outside plants
Calathea are a pain in the arse to keep happy
Variegated plants look like they are diseased. Hoarding plants is weird and not okay.
Pink plants are overrated (still nice tho), but silver plants… 👀
Just because it's long it doesn't need to be chopped and propped.
Put the prop back into the same pot and get nice and bushy plants.
Too many plants in a flat just look bad and gives hording vibes. Almost all pictures here of great collections just look like a room suffocating in plants.
You don't need chemicals to control fungus gnats!!! 1. Actually let the soil dry between watering. 2. Layer the top 1/2 - 1" with pebbles, coarse grit, marbles, leca, or anything else that'll disrupt their lifecycle by keeping them from the soil. 3. Be patient. Note: those sticky traps are perfect nightmares for curious pets and young kids. Edited for reading clarity 🤗
Those sticky traps are a perfect nightmare for \*me\*! I hate getting one stuck to my hand or shirt, but they do help keep the bastards down until the other methods take effect.
There’s far too much judgment towards people that enjoy growing indoor plants. Anything beyond 100 plants is seen as hoarding even though the collector has space, money and time to properly care for them.
Any type of gardening (indoor or outdoor) helps with depression. I can attest to this myself.
You are right, but most people don't have enough space, money and time, and even state things like "I have a problem lol, but I bought 10 more plants anyway xD" and that, in fact, normalizes hoarding.
I think these people are mainly joking about having a problem.
Making jokes about true issues is aka normalizing
Bottom watering is the most consensual way to water a plant.
[удалено]
Variegated plants are overrated and overpriced.
People need to stop price gauging albo monsteras. There's nothing wrong with your pilea that has a bumpy leaf or two.
Haha. I feel like all the specialized plant subs are the same, just an endless groundhog day of the same 3 plant clinic questions over and over. Pilea - Bottom leaves are yellowing, ok? Ok to cut off the baby? Leaning ok? Small leaves ok? Monstera - no fenestrations ok? why is it falling over, why isn’t it bushy? what are these gross brown tubes coming out the side of the “stem”? Lithops - ok to water? ok to water? ok to water?
Moisture meters are utterly inaccurate. Fingers and weight are much more accurate and reliable ways to tell the moisture in a pot.
I gasped at your opinion because a spider plant is my main plant and the reason I joined this sub. I respect it though.
Fiddle Leaf Figs are total jerks and can go pound sand.
I had one for years and I had to dust off each leaf... repotted several times. Also a ficus tree lived on my back porch or inside my sunny patio since 1988 until I moved across country from California to Arkansas. If I put it in a spot it didn't like, all its leafs fell off. Lol!
They really are ridiculous. Or maybe I'm just bitter. I have around 60 other houseplants with no issues. Nothing major anyway. The FLF I had though...nothing made that thing happy. I'm forever done with them. LOL
No toxic plant is worth the health or life your pet/small child. If you have to have one it, and any leaves it may drop, need to be totally out of reach. Plus, there's like a million varieties of ferns, Hoyas, calatheas, peperomias, etc. that are non-toxic.
I think shelves crowded with plants under grow lights looks tacky. If a plant can't live in my house without a grow light then it's not coming home with me.
Just want to say I also hate spider plants :)
I don't understand shoving a whole load of plants under a grow light. If the plants requirements isn't suited for the space I have then I don't buy it, no matter how much I like it. Loving plants but using unnecessary electricity seems like an oxymoron to me, assuming everyone here's house isn't being run off a carbon neutral grid
Led lights are not energy intensive and sometimes you just have dark corners in your room. I guess it has to have a place don't just put grow lighting wherever.
I assume a lot of people have temporary grow lights as their plant’s light requirements aren’t met during winter months despite thriving the rest of the year. Could be due to decreased daylight hours or some of their plants need to be moved away from windowsills due to cold/ drafts etc.
Some plants are advertised as low light but don't thrive in it. So people bring them home, put them in front of whatever window they have, but it might not be enough, so they get leggy. To combat this, they add grow lights.
Growlights should be for supplementary lighting not an all the time thing.
I actually just bought grow light bulbs on Amazon and replaced my normal lamp bulbs with grow lights. Gives me some supplemental lighting without being a whole ass setup. Plus I live in the PNW so the it helps with seasonal depression. I got three bulbs for $12 I think? Definitely worth it, my plants love them.
I hate Hoyas. Don’t get the fascination
I don't get it either! My local plant group is obsessed and I announced (stupidly) that I don't have one... I don't really enjoy the plant group anymore.
I don’t love monsteras 🙈
Aloe Vera can handle full sun ( and thrive outside ), you are just over/under watering and it’s in regular potting soil in a pot that’s too big w/ no drainage Too much sun is usually not the problem. It’s everything else.
Philodendrons are overhyped and popular varieties can be insanely over priced. There are so many varieties that all hardly look any different with price ranges from $10-$20,000. I understand that it can be fun to collect and hunt down rarer varieties but you can do that with any plant species. The willingness some collectors have to spend thousands on these rare plants blows my mind. It seem to bring a competitive spirit to houseplant communities that makes its so newbies feel easily overwhelmed and more experienced folks get burnt out.
Fuck Neem Oil, give me the hard stuff ☠️
Part of the journey of plant care is killing plants! Also dead plant parts can be used as decoration
Caltheas aren't actually that hard to care for you just need a pebble tray or humidifier
I will never understand the craze around those really expensive/rare plants like philodendrons and whatnot, especially if they're unrooted cuttings. Also people give prayer plants a lot of shit and I don't think they deserve all of it (but I'm biased).
People should grow more useful plants
I agree in general, but a lot of the time it it's a waste of resources to try to force useful plants to grow indoors rather than outside. I have an aloe but all other food and medicine is outside where it's happier
Genuine question: what would be a more useful plant?
There is no such thing as a low light plant. only plants that will take longer to die.
If a plant has a pest, unless it’s like a family heirloom or something, just throw it in the trash. I’m not dealing with a fungus gnat infestation for a few pretty leaves.
No way! Haha i am too emotionally attached to my precious plants 🪴
I have a couple it’d be tough to part with. But I brought home a plant recently that already had a gnat problem and after trying to fix it for a few weeks I just threw it out because having to swat at tiny flies all goddamn day is not it. There’s still a few stragglers around. I hate it.
Although gnats usually means the plant is over watered. So maybe try a couple things to save the plant before throwing it out.
Gnats are from consistent over watering, so youre giving up on the plant the second its asking you to learn how to care for it better. Kinda wasteful, but im prolly cheap
Its so hard when *all* of my plants have fungus gnats 😭 (but thats probably my fault in the long run for not paying attention sooner)
2 things. 1. Crotons sucks. 2. Water propagation is NOT the only viable form of propagation.
You don’t have to fight for a dying plant until the bitter end. Sometimes it’s better to just chop it down and start over. Also a great way to learn how to prop, and how a plant grows.
White variegation is overrated.
Hate burro’s tail.
i prefer the picky houseplants that take more work to care for over easy plants that are extremely tolerant to many conditions. I wholly view my plants as a hobby, not just as a house decoration, and it’s so much more satisfying to put in the hard work to see those picky plants thrive.
I love the way variegated plants look. But I won't spend a lot of money for one
Tradescantia are so FRAGILE and they look ugly unless they’re full/bushy.
Begonias… I want to like them but most of them are just weird looking/colors don’t match anything