c/botany-lovers

That trip to the Denver Botanic Gardens changed how I water my houseplants

I went to the Denver Botanic Gardens last weekend and saw their tropical greenhouse setup. They use a long spout watering can instead of just dumping water on the soil like I do. The guide said it lets you water the roots without getting the leaves wet which prevents mold. I picked up a similar can for $15 at the garden center there and my pothos already looks happier. Has anyone else noticed a big difference switching to a specific type of watering can?

Switched from grow lights to a south-facing window for my succulents

I was sure my $50 LED panel was helping, but after three months my echeveria got leggy. Moved them to the window last week and already see new compact growth. Anyone else ditch artificial lights for natural sun?

Unpopular opinion: bottom watering isn't always better for indoor plants

I tried bottom watering all my houseplants for 3 months after seeing everyone rave about it online. But my spider plants got root rot and my pothos looked worse. Switched back to top watering with a moisture meter and they bounced back in 2 weeks. Anyone else find bottom watering overhyped for certain plants?

The thing about people watering their succulents wrong

I see it all the time at the nursery. Someone picks up a succulent and says they killed the last one by under-watering. 9 times out of 10, they drowned it. Succulents rot if their soil stays wet for more than 3 days. I keep mine in a gritty mix with perlite and only water when the leaves get a little wrinkly. That took me 6 months and 4 dead echeverias to figure out. Has anyone else found that people blame the wrong cause for plant deaths?

Took me 3 hours to figure out why my venus flytrap stopped closing

I noticed my venus flytrap wasn't snapping shut on bugs anymore. First I thought it was dying so I gave it more water. Then I moved it to a sunnier spot. After wasting 3 hours I finally looked up that they get tired from closing too much and need a rest period. Has anyone else had a plant just stop doing its thing for no obvious reason?

My prize begonia almost died from a simple watering mistake last Saturday

I was at my kitchen table in the middle of watering my indoor plants, and I noticed my favorite angel wing begonia looking droopy and sad. The leaves had these weird yellow edges I hadn't seen before. I almost just gave it a bigger drink, but something made me stop and actually check the soil with my finger. Turns out it was soaking wet about two inches down, not dry at all. I had been watering it every three days like clockwork, but the pot was holding too much moisture in our damp basement apartment. I ended up repotting it into a terracotta pot with more perlite mixed into the soil, and now I only water when the top inch feels bone dry. Has anyone else dealt with root rot sneaking up on a plant that seemed fine on top?

A guy at the local nursery told me to stop watering my succulents every week and now they're actually thriving

I used to water them every Sunday without fail and they kept getting mushy. He said wait until the soil is bone dry and the leaves look a little wrinkled, which for me is about every 3 weeks. Has anyone else been overwatering their plants without realizing it?

That moss propagation trick I picked up at the Portland Garden Show

I was struggling to get moss to grow on a shady clay patch in my backyard for about 4 years. Tried everything from buttermilk blends to store bought spores with zero luck. Then an old guy at the show told me to just mix some local moss with plain yogurt and paint it on a damp rock, and it actually took off within 2 months. Anyone else have luck with weird DIY moss recipes?

Found an old photo of my backyard garden from 2015 and it hit me different

Last week I was clearing out a drawer and found a photo from June 2015 of my first raised bed with just three tomato plants and some basil. That little plot got me through some rough nights after work, just watering and watching things grow. Anyone else feel like their garden has changed more than they have over the last 8 or 9 years?

That time I swore succulent soil was overpriced until my jade plant died

I used to grab any old potting mix for my succulents, figuring it was all dirt, you know? Then my jade plant rotted after 3 weeks because the store-brand stuff held too much water. A friend in Denver told me to try a $12 bag of cactus mix from a local nursery, and now everything's thriving. Has anyone else found that cheap soil backfires big time?

Told my gardening buddy his kombucha-fermented fertilizer was nonsense, then my tomatoes doubled in size.

Honestly, I laughed when he poured that smelly liquid on his soil at the community garden. But after trying it on my Roma tomatoes for two weeks, the leaves got darker and the fruit is way bigger than last season. Has anyone else seen actual results from fermented plant teas or was this just a fluke?

My propagation station got cooked by afternoon sun through a south window

Lost about $60 worth of pothos and monstera cuttings after that unexpected heatwave last Tuesday because I'd set them on a metal tray that turned into a little oven, has anyone else had to rescue cuttings from their own setup?

Hit 50 houseplants today without even planning it

I was just counting up my pots for a Saturday watering session and realized I'm at exactly 50. That snuck up on me. Most of them are pothos and snake plants I grabbed from cuttings my neighbor gave me last spring. The milestone matters because I've killed so many plants before, I honestly thought I'd never get past 20. I had to buy a second shelving unit from Target last month to fit them all. Anybody else accidentally end up with way more plants than they meant to have?

Native wildflowers vs exotic tropicals - I made my choice after a disaster

I spent 2 years babying a rare orchid from Brazil until a surprise frost killed it overnight in my greenhouse. Switched my whole setup to local prairie species like coneflower and milkweed, and now I just let them freeze and come back every spring. Anyone else ditch the finicky imports for stuff that actually survives your weather?

Had to pick between two potting soils at the garden center yesterday

I was at Lowe's in Austin last Saturday staring at two bags - one was a cheap $5 brand and the other was FoxFarm for $18. I went with the expensive one cause I read online it had better drainage for succulents. Turns out my jade plant stopped looking droopy after just 1 week. Has anyone else noticed a big difference with pricier soil mixes?

Took me 3 months to figure out why my ferns kept dying

Appreciation post for people who actually label their plant cuttings

I picked up a bunch of tradescantia cuttings from a local swap last Saturday and half of them were just labeled 'green plant' so now I'm stuck trying to figure out what's what. Meanwhile one person had everything labeled with species and care instructions and it saved me so much time. Why do so many people skip the labels at plant swaps?

My hydroponic lettuce setup failed after 3 weeks

I set up a deep water culture system in my basement back in February. Everything looked perfect for the first 10 days. Then the leaves started turning yellow and the roots got slimy. I tried adjusting the pH and adding hydrogen peroxide but nothing helped. Finally figured out my water pump was cycling on and off every 15 minutes instead of running constant. By then I had lost 24 out of 30 plants. Anyone else had a pump timer mess up their system like this?

I finally had a plant guy at a garden center in Tampa tell me I was watering my monstera all wrong

He just looked at the yellowing leaves and said "you're drowning it, give it a drink only when the top two inches are bone dry" and now it's pushing out new growth after 4 months of looking sad, has anyone else had a random stranger save one of their plants?

My $11 greenhouse thermometer was off by 8 degrees the whole spring and I nearly cooked my seedlings

Bought a cheap digital thermometer from a hardware store in Akron and didn't realize it was reading 8 degrees too low until I noticed my tomato seedlings wilting, has anyone else had a thermometer fail on them mid-season?

That one guy at the plant swap who said my pothos was 'basic' still bugs me

I was at the monthly plant swap at the community center on 3rd Street back in October, and this dude just walks up and goes, 'Oh, a golden pothos, how... standard.' Like, sorry I didn't bring some rare variegated monstera that costs $80. I've been growing that pothos for 4 years from a cutting my grandma gave me, and it has trails over 6 feet long. Has anyone else run into gatekeepers like that at plant events?

Watching a bee pollinate my lavender in the backyard made me get a new plant

I was just sitting outside in my yard in Sacramento last week when I saw a bumblebee go from flower to flower on my English lavender. I never really watched it that close before, but seeing how it worked made me go buy a salvia plant to help the bees even more. Has anyone else picked a plant just to help the local bugs?

Back in 2010, I kept a notebook with pressed leaves from every plant I found. Now it's all on my phone.

My neighbor's 'easy' orchid rescue turned into a 14-month project

Just read that some orchids can take up to 15 years to bloom for the first time from seed, which is wild.

I found that out in a footnote of an old botany textbook from the library, and now I'm looking at my own little guys with a lot more patience, anyone else have a plant that's testing your timeline?