Root rot. The bane of my existence. I never encountered it until a few years ago. I had grown a yew on the balcony for many years and though it had never gotten tall, it still made beautiful red berries every year and was healthy. Then one year I went crazy with watering.
I managed to save the trunk and a couple of branches. It lingered for a couple of years. This year it gave up the ghost. For me it was too huge to repot.
I also had a gigantic jade tree, about 2.5 feet across and 2.5 feet high (more like a bush), really awkward to handle. It spent the summers on the balcony and the final year it finally blossomed! Then, root rot. I repotted, etc., but it didn't want to live. It was soooo beautiful. And I got it for a mere 25 bucks at a makeshift organic nursery! It still hurts.
That's a smart move, changing up the potting medium. I'll remember that for the future. Thanks!
MEALYBUGS! Just shoot me now. I never really had to deal with them until I moved back east. In the 10 years I've been here most of my plants were decimated. It was a massacre. The shrieking, the moaning. And that was me.:D No matter what I tried it was a relentless plague.
And then there was the scale....😱 On an 8ft palm. I finally had to ditch it after 7 years when I watched the little buggers crawling towards my ferns far away (which got the scale and died). I curse the day systemic poisons were banned.
I have lost whole collections to mealies in general, but root mealies in particular, and that's why I don't play around anymore.
Systemics with spinosad (that's the stuff derived from bacteria, not the neonicotinoid kind that kills everything in sight and sticks around in the environment) work really well for anything and everything from spider mites to mealies, and from white flies to hard scale.
Brand doesn't matter. Get what's available and use as directed. Spinosad is usually a root drench.
The thing with palm trees is that a lot of them get harder to grow as container plants as they mature. As seedlings, they're often quite tough, and the second they remember that they're trees, actually, things can go south really fast.
I immediately looked for spinosad in Canada, now called Qalcova™ active. It's been around for 10 years and I can't find any excepting a farmer's website where you can buy a case for $900 or get it prescribed for headlice. Heh. I found a brand on American Amazon but they won't deliver to Canada. So frustrating. Customs would never let it through.
Anyway, thanks for the heads up! I'll continue to burrow deeper into the Net for that ever elusive grail. My outdoors garden was purely organic, not because I wanted organic but because I didn't want chemicals leaching into the soil. I thought that was icky. I prefer a drench because I have a sensitivity to everything in the air.
Oh well. Onwards and upwards! I appreciate the info on palms. It was a gift from a friend so I kept it way past its due date really.
Like, take Washingtonia robusta aka Mexican Fan Palm for example. Here in Vegas they're weedy as all hell, and if you don't get rid of all the seedlings every time you see them pop up, you'll wind up with an orchard in no time flat.
Elsewhere, you'll pay a couple hundred bucks for a 3-5 year old seedling.
Ugh! Getting your hands on systemics in hobbyist-quantities has always been a pain. I remember people putting money together to get some Bonide way back in the day because the only quantity it was available in cost $600.
Spider plants can go dormant, usually during the short day season. That's totally normal. Just keep it on the drier side until it wants to start growing again. When that's happening, take the roots out of the pot, replace the substrate, perhaps add a little bit of Osmocote or other slow-release fertilizer of choice, and either put back in the old pot or go a size or two up.
If you want a nice, full spider plant and start with one from the store, put it into about a 6" and then an 8" pot after it filled the 6" pot which won't take long. They often come in 6" already, also, too.
If you start with babby plants, put 3 in a 6" pot planted towards the edge of the pot, and they will sit nicely proportional in an 8" to make a nice, full specimen.
As for small indoor plant for bright, indirect light? African Violet. Hands down one of the best choices for an easy to maintain plant that's making flowers all year. If it gets too big, take off the outer leaves and use those to make new ones like they're gremlins.
If you can keep African Violets alive, try Streptocarpus or smaller rhizomatous Begonias. They have essentially the same care requirements. There's eleventy gazillion cultivars of any of the above.
And never forget to try again if one croaks. It's part of the deal.
On average, more plants die from too much rather than too little water. Especially container plants of any kind.
I'm not much of an outdoor gardener but like to grow weird tropical plants indoors instead. What's cool about the climate here is that I can grow a lot of cacti and other succulents outdoors year around in pots or in the landscape, which gives me an opportunity to pretend like I do outdoor gardening. XD
Root rot. The bane of my existence. I never encountered it until a few years ago. I had grown a yew on the balcony for many years and though it had never gotten tall, it still made beautiful red berries every year and was healthy. Then one year I went crazy with watering.
I managed to save the trunk and a couple of branches. It lingered for a couple of years. This year it gave up the ghost. For me it was too huge to repot.
I also had a gigantic jade tree, about 2.5 feet across and 2.5 feet high (more like a bush), really awkward to handle. It spent the summers on the balcony and the final year it finally blossomed! Then, root rot. I repotted, etc., but it didn't want to live. It was soooo beautiful. And I got it for a mere 25 bucks at a makeshift organic nursery! It still hurts.
That's a smart move, changing up the potting medium. I'll remember that for the future. Thanks!
You are welcome! Between root rot and mealybugs, I don't know which one has caused me more frustration over the decades.
MEALYBUGS! Just shoot me now. I never really had to deal with them until I moved back east. In the 10 years I've been here most of my plants were decimated. It was a massacre. The shrieking, the moaning. And that was me.:D No matter what I tried it was a relentless plague.
And then there was the scale....😱 On an 8ft palm. I finally had to ditch it after 7 years when I watched the little buggers crawling towards my ferns far away (which got the scale and died). I curse the day systemic poisons were banned.
I have lost whole collections to mealies in general, but root mealies in particular, and that's why I don't play around anymore.
Systemics with spinosad (that's the stuff derived from bacteria, not the neonicotinoid kind that kills everything in sight and sticks around in the environment) work really well for anything and everything from spider mites to mealies, and from white flies to hard scale.
Brand doesn't matter. Get what's available and use as directed. Spinosad is usually a root drench.
The thing with palm trees is that a lot of them get harder to grow as container plants as they mature. As seedlings, they're often quite tough, and the second they remember that they're trees, actually, things can go south really fast.
I immediately looked for spinosad in Canada, now called Qalcova™ active. It's been around for 10 years and I can't find any excepting a farmer's website where you can buy a case for $900 or get it prescribed for headlice. Heh. I found a brand on American Amazon but they won't deliver to Canada. So frustrating. Customs would never let it through.
Anyway, thanks for the heads up! I'll continue to burrow deeper into the Net for that ever elusive grail. My outdoors garden was purely organic, not because I wanted organic but because I didn't want chemicals leaching into the soil. I thought that was icky. I prefer a drench because I have a sensitivity to everything in the air.
Oh well. Onwards and upwards! I appreciate the info on palms. It was a gift from a friend so I kept it way past its due date really.
Like, take Washingtonia robusta aka Mexican Fan Palm for example. Here in Vegas they're weedy as all hell, and if you don't get rid of all the seedlings every time you see them pop up, you'll wind up with an orchard in no time flat.
Elsewhere, you'll pay a couple hundred bucks for a 3-5 year old seedling.
Insane.
Ugh! Getting your hands on systemics in hobbyist-quantities has always been a pain. I remember people putting money together to get some Bonide way back in the day because the only quantity it was available in cost $600.
Yow!
I just looked it up. Of course, you can get THAT stuff in the States, no sweat. Canada is shockingly 'woke'. XD
I remember decades ago I had no problem whatsoever getting the bad stuff. (My excuse is I was a noob.)
I have an otherwise healthy spider plant that just collapses once a year.
It's OK, and perks up in about a month.
Have you ever had this?
Also, can you recommend a small indoor plant with shallow roots for a place with bright, indirect, light?
Spider plants can go dormant, usually during the short day season. That's totally normal. Just keep it on the drier side until it wants to start growing again. When that's happening, take the roots out of the pot, replace the substrate, perhaps add a little bit of Osmocote or other slow-release fertilizer of choice, and either put back in the old pot or go a size or two up.
If you want a nice, full spider plant and start with one from the store, put it into about a 6" and then an 8" pot after it filled the 6" pot which won't take long. They often come in 6" already, also, too.
If you start with babby plants, put 3 in a 6" pot planted towards the edge of the pot, and they will sit nicely proportional in an 8" to make a nice, full specimen.
As for small indoor plant for bright, indirect light? African Violet. Hands down one of the best choices for an easy to maintain plant that's making flowers all year. If it gets too big, take off the outer leaves and use those to make new ones like they're gremlins.
If you can keep African Violets alive, try Streptocarpus or smaller rhizomatous Begonias. They have essentially the same care requirements. There's eleventy gazillion cultivars of any of the above.
And never forget to try again if one croaks. It's part of the deal.
Those were my starter plants when I was a noob. Highly recommend!
Beautiful! We're growing edibles, not ornamentals (in our part of the Catskills, there are wildflowers all around), but this is great information!
On average, more plants die from too much rather than too little water. Especially container plants of any kind.
I'm not much of an outdoor gardener but like to grow weird tropical plants indoors instead. What's cool about the climate here is that I can grow a lot of cacti and other succulents outdoors year around in pots or in the landscape, which gives me an opportunity to pretend like I do outdoor gardening. XD