c/botany-lovers

Paid $80 for a moss pole kit, thought it was a scam, now I get it

I always figured climbing plants would just grab onto any old stick I shoved in the pot. Three months ago I spent $80 on a proper moss pole setup with a drip tray and clips for my monstera. The difference is night and day, the aerial roots actually dig in and the leaves are coming in twice as big. I used to think these kits were just for folks with too much money. Has anyone else had a plant take off after switching to a real support system, or is mine just a fluke?

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grant.margaret•13d ago

The secret life of spider mites, I never knew they could hitchhike on my clothes from the nursery

I mean, I found out last month after bringing home a new fern from a garden center in Cleveland that those tiny specks were actually mites that had been on my jacket sleeve for two days, and now I strip down in the garage before going inside, has anyone else dealt with that?

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kevin_adams•14d ago

The greenhouse heater mistake I made for 4 winters straight

Back in 2019 I set up a little 6x8 greenhouse in my backyard in Madison and every cold snap I'd crank the electric heater up high overnight. Plants would look fine for a week then suddenly get all pale and droopy, figured it was just winter stress. Last February I finally got a min-max thermometer and realized the heater was spiking temps to 85 at night while days stayed near 40. Roots were cooking while the tops froze, no wonder my tomatoes never made it past March. My neighbor laughed and said she keeps her greenhouse at a steady 55 and just uses row covers for extra warmth. Swapped the heater for a simple thermostat unit for 40 bucks and my seedlings actually survived. Anyone else discover their grow setup was way off after years of guessing?

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ryanh77•16d ago

That one fern I saved from the discount rack at Lowes

Picked up a crispy Boston fern for $3, thought it was toast. Soaked it in a tub of rain water for 2 hours, then trimmed every dead frond. It bounced back in 3 weeks, now it's taking over my porch. Anyone else rehab struggling plants from the clearance bin?

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bettym89•18d ago

Hit 57 pots on my balcony and finally stopped deadheading

I counted last Sunday while watering and realized I have 57 individual pots crammed on a 6 foot balcony. That number hit me weird because I never meant to collect that many plants. It started 3 years back with two basil seedlings from the grocery store and just snowballed from there. The epiphany came when I noticed I spent more time trimming dead flowers than actually enjoying the green. So I swapped half my petunias and geraniums for self-cleaning begonias and calibrachoa, and now my morning coffee routine is 10 minutes shorter. Has anyone else hit a plant count that made them rethink their whole setup?

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harper_owens•20d ago

A single oak tree logging 100,000 gallons of water surprised me

I stumbled on a forestry study that said a mature oak moves about 100,000 gallons of water a year, more than I ever guessed for something that just sits there. Does that number line up with what other folks have read about transpiration rates, or am I looking at a bad source?

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the_nancy•20d ago

My orchid rebloomed after I ignored it for 11 months

I stopped misting my phalaenopsis last spring and basically forgot it on the kitchen windowsill through winter. It just pushed out a spike with 7 buds, which is way more than when I fussed over it daily. Has anyone else found that neglect works better than constant care for certain plants?

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abbyl49•21d ago

Stop calling every leaf on my porch poison ivy, it's just Virginia creeper

Three different neighbors have warned me about the vine climbing my fence over the last month. Each time I walk over, look at it, and explain the leaf clusters are five leaflets, not three. Poison ivy has three leaflets, Virginia creeper has five, and it turns red in the fall which is pretty nice honestly. I get why people mix them up, both climb and both are everywhere around here in Ohio, but I wish someone had just shown me a side by side photo years ago instead of me figuring it out after a gardening class downtown. Has anyone else had to argue with a neighbor about this one, or am I the only one who keeps a plant ID app open just to settle fence disputes?

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the_jake•29d ago

Server told me to prune my roses harder and I finally listened

For three years I was just snipping dead heads and crossing branches. A lady at the botany meetup last month straight up said 'you're being too gentle, take a third off the height'. I went home, cut my Knock Outs down to 18 inches, and now they're bushier with way more buds after just 4 weeks. Has anyone else held back on pruning because it felt like vandalism?

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christopher67•1mo ago

Saw a massive philodendron at the Atlanta Botanical Garden that just looked wrong

It was in the tropical house, but the leaves were all faded and stretched out like it wasn't getting enough light. Has anyone else noticed the lighting in those displays messing with plant growth?

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ivanb41•1mo ago

Tried rooting rose cuttings in sand instead of water and lost half of them

I had a bunch of healthy rose stems from a neighbor's pruning last spring, so I figured I'd try the sand method I saw on a gardening channel. I filled a couple of pots with damp builder's sand, stuck the cuttings in, and kept them covered with a plastic bag for humidity. After about 3 weeks, I checked the bottoms and only 4 out of 8 had any tiny roots starting. The other 4 were just mushy and rotten at the base. I learned that sand doesn't hold moisture as evenly as a perlite and peat mix, and it can get too wet in spots if you're not careful. Now I'm sticking with a 50/50 perlite and peat blend for future cuttings, and I check the drainage holes every few days for standing water. Has anyone else had better luck with a different rooting medium for roses?

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cora562•1mo ago

I used to be a total snob about native-only plants, but my neighbor's English cottage garden changed my mind

For years I refused to plant anything that wasn't native to our county in Pennsylvania. I'd lecture anyone who put in a hydrangea or a boxwood. Then my 70 year old neighbor Margaret let her garden go wild with hollyhocks and foxgloves from her grandmother's seeds. The bees and butterflies swarm that patch like crazy, way more than my goldenrod ever got. Has anyone else had a non-native patch become a bug magnet?

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robinwalker•1mo ago

That greenhouse in Portland with the 'no kids allowed' sign made me laugh

Went to the Hoyt Arboretum conservatory last Saturday and saw a sign that literally said 'if you let your kid touch this plant, we'll ask you to leave' and honestly I wish more places had that energy, am I wrong?

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lisa820•1mo ago

Showerthought: The lady who talked to her orchid for 20 minutes at the garden center

Last Saturday I was at a nursery in Santa Cruz picking up some soil, and this older woman was just STANDING there in front of a sad looking orchid. She was whispering to it, like full sentences about how it needed to "find its light" and I thought she was totally nuts at first. She turned around and caught me staring, then just smiled and said "plants can hear your intentions, honey" before walking off. I still don't know if I believe her, but my fern has been doing way better ever since I started talking to it. Has anyone else had a moment like that where a stranger made you rethink something simple?

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rileygonzalez•1mo ago

I finally stopped overwatering my snake plant after a tough critique

A friend who runs a small greenhouse in Austin told me my snake plant leaves were getting mushy from too much water. She said I was treating it like a fern, not a succulent. I switched from watering every 5 days to every 3 weeks and put it in a terracotta pot. The roots are way healthier now and the leaves stand up straight. Has anyone else had to completely change their watering routine after someone called them out?

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tylermason•1mo ago

Finally figured out why my pothos leaves keep turning yellow at the tips

Turns out I was watering on a schedule instead of checking the soil moisture with my finger, and after killing three pots I realized the soil needs to dry out about 2 inches deep before I water again, has anyone else been overwatering their houseplants without knowing it?

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hugoharris•1mo ago

I just learned Venus flytraps can count to five

I was reading this article from the University of Missouri about plant behavior. Apparently a Venus flytrap has tiny hairs inside its trap that act like a counter. If you touch one hair once, nothing happens. But if you touch it twice within 20 seconds, the trap snaps shut. It takes five touches total before the plant starts digesting. I thought that was pretty wild for a plant. Has anyone else been surprised by how smart some plants actually are?

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blaked79•1mo ago

Had to pick between a greenhouse and a cold frame for my backyard last spring.

I went with the cold frame since it was only $80 and I wanted to test if I could even keep things alive through winter. It worked fine for lettuce and kale, but now I'm wishing I had the space a greenhouse gives you for tomatoes. Anyone else start small and regret not going bigger?

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victor_butler50•1mo ago

Why does nobody talk about using banana peels as fertilizer for houseplants?

I tried tossing a chopped up banana peel in the soil of my sad looking pothos last month after seeing it on a random YouTube video. The thing went from droopy to sprouting new leaves in like 10 days flat. Has anyone else tested this trick or is it just a fluke?

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ray648•1mo ago

Bought a $200 "smart" soil sensor system and it was useless

Last spring I dropped $200 on a set of six Bluetooth soil sensors from a company called HortiTech, thinking it would take the guesswork out of watering my vegetable beds. The sensors kept losing connection to my phone, and the app was so buggy it would show a moisture reading of "0" even when the soil was clearly wet after a rain. After three weeks of messing with it, I tossed them in a drawer and went back to just sticking my finger in the dirt. Has anyone else had better luck with a particular brand of soil sensors, or is this whole category of tech just not ready yet?

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stella279•1mo ago

Met a guy at the community garden who taught me why my basil kept dying

I was at the Miller Street community garden last July, pretty frustrated because my basil plants kept turning yellow. This older guy named Ed walked over and just said "you're drowning them, honey." He showed me how the roots were getting waterlogged because I was watering every day like clockwork. Turns out basil actually likes to dry out between waterings, about 2 inches down in the soil. Ed had been growing herbs in that same plot for 12 years and his basil was huge and dark green. Has anyone else had a random stranger totally change how you care for a plant?

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john648•1mo ago

Overheard a guy at the nursery say "dirt is just the delivery system" about potting soil

I was picking up a bag of Miracle-Gro and this older dude was lecturing his friend about how the real magic is in the mycorrhizae, not the dirt itself. Has anyone else ever felt totally outclassed by the random experts lurking in the garden center aisles?

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hayden720•1mo ago

That old lady at the arboretum said my watering schedule was killing my ferns

She was right about overwatering after I admitted I was soaking them every morning for 3 months straight, so which side are you on - do you stick to a strict calendar or just water when the soil feels dry?

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ryanh77•1mo ago

Tried bottom watering my succulents for 3 months and they got weird

Everyone in my local plant group swears bottom watering is the only way to go, so I gave it a shot with my 12 echeverias on the kitchen counter. But after 3 months, half of them got these mushy lower leaves and one even started rotting at the base even though I only filled the tray an inch deep. I think the water wicks up unevenly and traps moisture in the soil longer than top watering does for my gritty mix. Has anyone else had this happen with chunky succulent soil?

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lunawilson•1mo ago

Caught myself calling dandelions 'weeds' in a gardening post yesterday

I was about to recommend pulling every dandelion from a new flower bed until I remembered reading that their taproots actually break up compacted clay soil better than any tool I own. Then I looked up how many pollinators depend on those early spring blooms and realized I've been killing off free soil helpers for years. Has anyone else shifted how they treat so-called weeds after learning what they actually do underground?

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