Oh ya? Your out of your mind Marquest!lol

No seriously. I don't think you ever saw the post that my Mom and I related towards you. We just wanted to say we are sorry for your loss and you have been on our minds.

It's good to see your personality her having a good time since then. I find this place very comforting along with my plants, right? :-)

My confessions:

I have killed a gardenia recently due to underwatering!
I have yet to put plants into better mixes after 2 years of procrastinating!
I dropped my plumerias and broke the heads off of several of them.
I have peed on my plants...lol Just kidding.

By the way, sometimes I use a bagged mix and throw in more perlite into the already porous mix. It is called "Fafard Nursery Mix'. I actually love it for those plants that like to stay evenly moist for longer periods.

Have a great day.

Mike

The most plants I've had in the house at 1 time was probably 100. Last winter it was about 10. This year, well ask me what made it inside in a couple weeks, at least 20 not counting cuttings, depends on the ant situation.

Here's some rules I remember breaking, and whether it was a fail or a win. I...

have co-planted (in the same pot) plants that like different conditions. fail - one always dies.

keep coleus and other cuttings in bottles and jars of water for winter. win.

have kept cuttings of Philodendron, pothos, spider plant babies, and others in bottles of water for years. win unless you forget to add more water. Then fail. BUT one can forget to water ANY plant.

have had plants in pots with no drain holes for a lot longer than 3 years. truce, varied results.

gave my plants diluted sweet tea this summer. truce, varied results.

use chunks of clay from the yard at the bottom of pots of plants that keep drying out. win.

often find myself doing completely unscientific sheet composting experiments in potted plants. win.

am guilty of buying plants as gifts and taking cuttings before giving them away. win.

arrange my furniture according to the plants. truce.

have loved them to death, and ignored them to death. fail.

occasionally let one get so 1-sided that it fell over. truce - this has only been fatal in 1 of a few cases, and the other plants looked fine with time.

have ruined carpeting and furniture from overwatering during the winter. fail.

often prefer repotting over fertilizing. Our dog got really sick one time from licking plants that had been sprinkled with fertilizer water. He was vomiting and went temporarily psychotic, snapping at us. I just don't like to have that stuff around pets and kids but occasionally I find this liquid fertilizer that has an eyedropper in the lid. I like to use that, just put a drop or 2 on the soil immediately before watering. During times when there's been no dog or little ones around, I find it easy to put time-release balls on the surface. all win.

I'm not one to advise on dirt since that's a confession of mine... I regularly put yard dirt mixed with mulch and compost in my pots and consider it far superior to anything that's mostly peat, vermiculite, and/or perlite. I won't buy anything with water retention crystals or fertilizer in it. Luckily that stuff tends to be expensive, so the generic cheap bag that appeals to me if I feel the need to buy soil doesn't have that stuff. I just add mulch and compost until I get it like I like it. win.

So glad we're not confessing about outdoor gardening and composting. THOSE are areas where I could tell some much more frightening tales! If you're not supposed to do it, I've done it or still do it. I think gardening is an especially rewarding outlet for those of us who still harbor a glimmer of a rebellious teenager. By this time in life (43), I think we've all learned that...

Oh Mike thank you. This is the hardest time I have had in my life and I have had some hard things happen. The GW is helping me now that I am not drowning the keyboard with tears,

Yes I am crazy, really crazy and my plants know it all to well. I talk to them and tell them if they do not behave I will old man winter have his way with them. LOL

purpleinopp, I am going to use some of your crazy items. I like the clay in the bottom of the pot. I have used baby diapers, the cheap ones from Big Lots that you get 24 for 2.99. I love them in those coir pots in the summer that dry out so fast.

I often leave pots sitting in water but I do let them dry up a bit before watering again although in general, I keep everything wet.

I water with a nutrient solution all year, even during the winter.

I actually take care of my ZZ plant.

I keep a colony of Spathiphyllum in an undrained tub of mud. Spaths are bog plants.

I have kept cuttings in containers of water of years, Is this really controversial? Doesn't everyone do that?

I repot my plants whenever they need it / I feel like it, not just at certain times of the year.

I have kept a cactus outside all winter here in Chicago and it lived to talk about it, twice.

Two things, and I'm not willing to pass judgement on how WELL it's worked but it hasn't been terrible so far. Also this is less of a conscious choice on my part and more of external factors forcing me to do stuff.

1. I can't take plants outdoors in the summer - As I said, I moved recently and have no outside-space. This hasn't been particularly problematic yet.

2. I tend to water plants on a schedule in the summer. I'm only around to water stuff on the weekends, so every Saturday, everything gets watered. However, I have nearly everything in primarily inorganic, very gritty potting media right now, so overwatering isn't a major concern for me.

3. Also I water my ming aralia like once a month. It seems to do okay with this.

Dellis, fertilizing plants year-round is actually recommended!

Josh

Good stuff everyone. OK this is what I have gotten so far.....

-You can water when you want when life dictates how you water.
-You can let plants grow in a bog situation if they are bog plants. I killed a plant because it was NOT kept moist constantly. If life situation leaves you only the weekend to water get bog plants and grow your plants in Miracle-gro soil or another water retentive soil.
-Co-planting non/same condition plants have a low survival rate. LOL (I have made this work by planting a water hog plant with a low water hog plant. Usually the hog sucks the water and the other water sipper likes the conditions and they both survive.)
-I might be able to save my coleus this winter by growing them in water. LOL
-You can grow plants in yard dirt. (Good for you purple in this economy there are a lot of people out there that would love to grow plants but cannot afford to buy the plant and special soil to be sucessful) the plants will survive. I think a spider plant would survive growing in anything.
-Gardening/houseplants will grow without rules.
-Fertilizer is not bad.

greenman28; I think it should be, Reading these boards it seem many people recommend cutting back or stopping fertilizing during the winter. I use a full strength hydroponic nutrient solution on all my plants regardless of how they're grown.

For all you folks who travel a lot and aren't home to tend to your plants all the time you should consider semi-hydro growing. You don't need all of the fancy mediums, you can use coir, wood chips or long fibered sphagnum moss rather than soil.

If you grow an indoor bog, use a shallow container or unpleasant thing can happen.

Marquest, a very interesting topic..Confessions.

1. several plants, including succulents are in pots w/o drainage.
2. although I advise people to spray organic insecticides every 2-3 wks throughout winter, I've neglected to do so. RESULTS: Up to two years ago, 'before growing lax and stopped spraying,' my plants were w/o insects. Now, I'm battling Mealy, one pest impossible to kill. And yes, I have used RA numerous times. Mealy consider RA a beverage.
3. Succulents, like 'Mother of Thousands/Millions,' that are growing in the garden in summer, are potted in straight, garden soil, and left to grow.
Purple, since you use garden soil, the only thing I suggest is baking first. Kills bugs and disease.
4. Because of my SPIDER phobia, before bringing plants in the house, each are hosed, outside, with ice cold water. Then go in the indoor sink, submerged under hot water..in fact, I'm also pouring a little boiled water with the plants.
5. It's been 2-8, plus, years since some plants have been fertilized.
6. My oldest Spider Plant hasn't been potted over a decade. It's in a container w/o drainage, to boot.
7. Plants in water never were fertilized. A couple are close to 18-yrs-old. Just add water once a week.
8. Last year I brought a beautiful Golden Chalice/Solandra outside too early in the season. Yellow flowers grew 7+". Even though it got cold, I left it out..It's now in plant heaven.
9. I need to water more
10. There's probably more rules I break..the last confession is, Marquest, I love threads such as the one you posted.

11. There are times I disagree with people. Like fertilizing in winter...:) Sorry Josh, dear..lol Toni

Toni, #10.......Confession is good for the soul and it is fun to break the rules.

Plants are a joy for me, if I attacked it like my work, of details, and measurements, and a bunch of dos and don'ts and that everything had to be done by the book it would feel to much like work. The plants are the one thing I can enjoy.

dellis326
"If you grow an indoor bog, use a shallow container or unpleasant thing can happen"

It does not have to be a shallow pot for me because I am not a heavy water person. But in my case it is a little hard to be a heavy water person if you are not even in the same state with your plants. By the time I get home they have sucked up all the water but as I said it takes experience to know how much water to put in the pot when you do not have drainage holes.

Oh, in terms of general weird mistreatment my plants seem to tolerate, I think I only water my Norfolk Island Pine about once a month. Same goes for the Pedilanthus.

Speaking of which, I left the pedilanthus basically lying on its side for... most of a year, because it was braided around some plastic thing that made it impossible to actually fit in a pot. I managed to actually get that out about a week ago and pot it normally. Maybe it will resume growing in the correct direction now.

Anyway, I really worry about killing plants I get from plant club sales or smaller nurseries. I mean, if something from Lowes dies, who cares? But what if I kill a plant that was grown with love? Then I'd feel terrible.

I LOVE that "bad plant care" is so subjective! Except for killing them of course... but, now on to the confessions:

- I heat with wood & my tropical foliage plants probably get too cold every fall/winter/spring and manage to survive (except for last winter, when they were all in the kitchen/dining room with the stove because the living room door was closed to stop cat pee/carpet interactions. They were in the lap of LUXURY!).

- I have killed some rather old plants of great sentimental value & continue to have guilt & remorse :(

- There have been random times over the years when I have neglected the plants for long stretches, but casualties have generally been limited to Rex Begonias, ferns, citrus, jasmine & African violets.

- I still purchased/accepted more of the above plants anyhow. Who knows how many jasmine have suffered death by drought at my hands?!

- I too have left plants in the same soil for years (5+) & not been a fertilizor. Phils, Monstera & Chlorophytum survive this.

- I rarely remember to check plants I bring home for bugs until I am already at home.

- I've potted regularly with outside compost or dirt & just swept up the dried up worms & bugs that crawl out of the pots.

- I've regularly used nasty, dirty, chemical-ridden driveway gravel at the bottom of houseplant pots.

Purple, I'm with you: this could be much more embarrassing if we were talking about outdoor gardening... at this point, I am apparently an Amaranth & Stinky Bob (herb robert) farmer with unripe tomatoes rotting on their vines.

Thanks for sharing everyone - we all have our little secrets & sometimes it's good therapy to take a look at someone else's evils & think "Well, at least I don't do THAT; I guess I'm not so bad after all!"

GB

The biggest would be that some of the plants I neglect the most, do the best. Sometimes blind neglect works.

Christopher

"- I rarely remember to check plants I bring home for bugs until I am already at home."

The bugs always hide till you get home anyway so it's not like this actually helps.