c/botany-lovers

Pro tip: Water your orchids with ice cubes and see what happens

I killed three orchids in a row over two years (rookie numbers, I know). Then my neighbor, who has like 50 orchids on her porch, told me to just drop 3 ice cubes on the soil once a week. I thought she was messing with me, but I tried it last March and my current orchid has been blooming for 6 months straight. Has anyone else tried this trick or am I just lucky with this particular plant?

Just counted my plant collection and hit 47

I was moving a shelf around last weekend and decided to actually tally up all my houseplants. Never thought I'd have that many, especially when I killed that first succulent back in 2022. Anyone else lose track of their count and get surprised when they finally add it up?

I finally got my orchid to rebloom after 2 years of nothing

My phalaenopsis orchid had been sitting in a north window for ages. It grew leaves but never flowered. I watched a video last month from a guy in Florida who said they need a temperature drop at night to trigger spikes. So I moved it to a cooler spot by my back door where it gets down to 60 at night. Six weeks later it put out a flower spike. Anyone else have a plant that refused to do its thing until you changed one little thing?

My prized fern took a nosedive after I moved it 3 feet away from the window last week

Turns out that little bit of extra shade was enough to kill off half the fronds in under 7 days, so now I'm slowly moving it back an inch at a time has anyone else had a plant go dramatic over a tiny change like that?

Had to pick between a fiddle leaf fig and a monstera for my darkish apartment

I was at the nursery last Sunday (the one on 5th street) and I stared at these two plants for like 20 minutes. The fiddle leaf fig looked gorgeous but I read they need tons of direct sun. My living room only gets morning light from a north window, so I went with the monstera instead. It's been 6 weeks now and it's already pushing out two new leaves with those cool fenestrations (the slits in the leaves). Has anyone else had a monstera thrive in lower light conditions like mine?

Found a cheap way to get orchid roots to grow faster

Ngl, I was struggling with one of my phalaenopsis orchids that just wouldn't put out new roots after I repotted it. I read about using a diluted kelp extract soak once a week, so I tried it with a bottle of Maxsea 16-16-16 I had laying around. After 3 weeks, I saw 4 new root tips popping out. Has anyone else tried kelp or seaweed stuff on stubborn orchids?

Was talking with a master gardener at the county fair last weekend

She said most people kill their houseplants by overwatering, not underwatering. She told me she hasn't watered her snake plant in 4 months and it's thriving. How do you actually tell when your plants need water without just guessing?

Unpopular opinion: I think soil type matters more than sunlight for most houseplants

I've been keeping houseplants for about 8 years now, and after moving a peace lily from a west window to a north one but keeping it in my usual cheap potting mix, it started dropping leaves within a week. Meanwhile, a pothos in a homemade gritty mix with extra perlite has thrived in a dim corner for months. Has anyone else found that getting the dirt right makes up for less than ideal light?

Had a weird talk with a neighbor about growing tomatoes in pots vs ground

She swore her container plants outproduced my in-ground ones last summer by like 30 pounds, but I think it's just because she waters twice a day and I slack off. Am I missing something about root space or is she just bragging about her cherry tomatoes?

The one thing people mess up with their indoor lemon trees

I keep seeing posts where people complain about their indoor citrus dropping fruit or leaves, and I finally noticed something specific everyone seems to miss. It's not about watering or light, it's about forgetting to hand pollinate. I mean, indoor lemon trees don't have bees or wind to do the job for them, so if you just let the flowers sit there nothing happens. I watched three flowers fall off my Meyer lemon tree before I figured out I needed to take a tiny paintbrush and gently swirl it inside each bloom. After I started doing that, I got four baby lemons forming within two weeks. My tree sits in a south facing window in my apartment near downtown Austin, and it gets maybe 5 hours of direct sun a day. Has anyone else run into this or found an easier way to get fruit set going indoors?

My propagator heat mat died mid-winter and killed 40 cuttings

I had a whole tray of succulent cuttings rooting on a heat mat in my basement, and last week the mat just stopped working... no lights, no heat, nothing. By the time I noticed, maybe 3 days later, the soil had dropped to 58 degrees and most of the echeveria leaves had rotted. I'm going to replace it with a different brand this time, maybe the Vivosun one with a thermostat probe. Anyone else had a heat mat fail on them like that?

Overheard a guy at the greenhouse say he waters his orchids with ice cubes...

I was at Pike's Nursery last Saturday picking up some fresh potting mix, and this older dude is explaining to his friend how he just tosses a few ice cubes on top of his orchid bark every week. I almost choked on my coffee. I get that it's a supposed "hack" people heard somewhere, but nobody mentions how that sudden cold shock near the roots can cause damage over time. Has anyone else actually tried this and seen problems, or am I overthinking it?

Thought my monstera was just being dramatic when it wilted, then I saw the roots literally crawling out the bottom of the pot when I lifted it yesterday

I live in Portland and bought it three years ago but never repotted, and when I finally yanked the plastic nursery pot off the whole root ball was this solid mass shaped like the container with no soil left, so I had to cut half the roots off with pruning shears just to fit it into a bigger pot, has anyone else ignored a plant so long it basically became a root-bound experiment?

That time my local garden club praised invasive ivy as a ground cover

Last month at the Springfield botany meetup, everyone was raving about English ivy for filling in bare spots. I disagreed and said it chokes out native plants and damages brickwork over time. The club president told me it's just misunderstood and needs proper trimming. I pointed to a neighbor's fence that got destroyed by the same stuff after 3 years. They still voted to recommend it in the newsletter this spring. Am I the only one who thinks we should promote native alternatives instead?

PSA: I used to think moss was bad for trees until I saw a study from UW Madison

Had the weirdest week in my garden last June

I'm still thinking about that one week last June where everything went crazy. My tomatoes grew like 6 inches in 5 days after a heat wave hit. Then a storm came through and snapped two of my sunflower stalks right in half. I ended up with a ton of basil that I had to give away to neighbors because I couldn't use it fast enough. It was like the plants were on some kind of wild schedule I couldn't keep up with. Has anyone else had a season where everything just exploded at once?

Vent: That guy at the plant swap who insisted hybrids are worthless

Met this older dude at the spring swap in Austin last month. He spent 10 minutes telling me my variegated monstera was a 'gimmick' and that only straight species matter. Said he'd been growing for 40 years and anything hybrid was 'impure.' I just walked away mid-sentence. Anyone else run into these purists who act like nature is a purity test?

Tried growing tomatoes in pure compost instead of soil mix, total disaster

I read a bunch of posts saying compost is gold for plants so I figured why not go all in. Filled a 20 gallon grow bag with straight up homemade compost for my beefsteak tomatoes. They grew huge and leafy at first but then all the blossoms dropped off and the leaves curled up bad. After some digging I learned it was too much nitrogen and poor drainage. I guess you really gotta mix it with regular soil or at least something to balance it out. Anybody else make this mistake or find a good ratio that works?

Found a trick for saving overwatered succulents last week

I pulled three rotting echeveria out of their pots on Tuesday, cut off the mushy roots, and let them sit bare on a paper towel for 48 hours. Replanted them in dry soil and two are already firming back up. Has anyone else managed to save succulents this way?

Serious question, why does everyone call every succulent a 'cactus'?

I was at a garden center last weekend and heard three different people point to an aloe vera and call it a cactus. One lady was telling her friend it was a 'nice cactus for the kitchen.' I mean aloe is a succulent, not a cactus. Cacti have areoles, those little fuzzy spots where spines grow. Aloe doesn't have those. I only know this because I killed like 15 plants before I figured out the difference. Has anyone else noticed people just lumping all succulents together like that?

That moss collection at the Portland Garden Expo almost ruined my greenhouse setup

I was at the Portland Garden Expo last month and saw a guy showing off a massive moss wall installation. He said he collected all the moss from a single forest patch in the Columbia Gorge. Then I found out he never quarantined it and it was full of invasive springtails that spread to three other vendor tables nearby. Has anyone else had a bad run-in with wild-harvested moss before?

Hit 50 different houseplant species in my living room today!

I accidentally crossed the 50 species mark last week when my propagated Hoya finally rooted! It was my 3rd attempt and seeing those tiny roots told me I didn't need fancy grow lights or special soil, just patience and a south facing window.

That $60 'expert' soil test kit was a complete waste of money

I spent last Saturday testing soil from my raised beds using one of those fancy kits from the garden center. Every test said my pH was perfect and nutrients were high, which sounded great until my tomatoes started looking sick. I took a sample to the county extension office for $12 and found out the kit was off by almost 2 full pH points. Has anyone else had better luck with a specific brand or should I just stick with sending samples to the lab?

Found a giant fiddle leaf fig at a garage sale for $10 last month in Phoenix

It was 6 feet tall and just sitting there in a cracked pot. The owner said it was a pain to move so they practically gave it away. I hauled it home in my pickup (barely fit in the cab) and repotted it that night. Three weeks later it's putting out new leaves like crazy. Has anyone else scored a ridiculously cheap plant and then worried you're gonna accidentally kill it?

Overheard a seed seller say heirloom tomatoes are a waste of space...

I was at the farmers market in Portland last weekend and heard this guy argue with a customer that hybrids produce way more fruit per square foot and heirlooms are just for looks. On the other hand, my neighbor swears by her Brandywine tomatoes and says the flavor is worth the lower yield. Which side do you go with when you only have a 4x8 raised bed?