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Okay talk to me. I’m stepping nervously into my next stage of plant… | Philodendron Parents | Planta-Community

Dani

Okay talk to me. I’m stepping nervously into my next stage of plant caretaking knowledge. I’ve spent the last 2-3 years going from killing every single plant to: - can I keep this small handful of plants alive? - I don’t care how cute the pot is. I’m not buying it if it doesn’t have a drainage hole. - Okay, let’s try fertilizing. - OK touching the new leaf that’s unfolding is clearly a no-no because now it’s in my hand, broken off from the plant…… - learning that 24/7 grow lights is not great (and honestly, I should’ve known that one because hello it gets dark at night…) 🤣 - propagating and learning more about water and humidity and temperature. And now I’m moving onto the soil questions step. I feel like a lot of my plants could really do better if I understood the soil more. I started with just potting soil, I recently purchased a succulents and cactus soil. But that’s about where I am at. I don’t like when my soil looks really damp or moldy when I’ve barely watered it. Or roots that look dead when I don’t understand why. I’ve recently killed THREE BRAND NEW pothos/philodendrons because apparently I got too cocky or they were lemons or I don’t know, but two of them were my special 40th birthday present to myself and I AM NOT happy with myself. Those particular losses were felt harder. 😭 I kind of have a separate post that I’ve been trying to work on for awhile with ALL my Pothos and Philos questions but I don’t have the energy for that right now. 😁 I’m hoping to get two things answered. 1) out of all of these items I’ve looked at on Amazon, which ones do you all mix together to make your own special soil mixtures? I’m hoping I don’t actually have to purchase every single one of these. 🤷🏻‍♀️ And 2) if the answer is not the same as #1, which of these items do you mix together just to put into the plastic moss pole? I have my philodendron silver sword on a store bought moss pole, and I had absolutely no idea how to use it. It wasn’t until I watched videos like a week ago where people were using the plastic containers filled with moss, and explaining how the aerial roots will literally grow into the moss that I realized I knew nothing. My plant is twisty tied to the moss pole y’all. 🤣🤣🤣 “oh it’s hollow down the middle so that you can pour water in there? That’s news to me.” Ugh I embarrass myself. 🤣🤦🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️

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16 Kommentare

  1. Chelsey

    Your comment made me laugh, so relatable! I don't know a thing about Moss poles, that's pretty advanced, but I've been keeping plants alive for many years now! Cactus and succulent soil has been my go-to so I think you're on the right track. Also, I still buy the cute pots with without drainage holes, but it's not very safe to do that, I'll usually put a plastic pot inside of them that does have drainage holes! Or the root ball is the same size as the pot and I'm very very careful not to over water. ;) because too many cute pots don't have to drainage holes!!

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    • Dani

      So true. I’m like did the person that made this planter even know anything about plants?!? I have a really cute purple brachiosaurus planter that I want to use, but it kills everything. This particular opening isn’t really conducive to a nursery pot as it’s long and oval, so I’ll have to figure something out.

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  2. Josie's Jungle

    I'm sure everyone on this app has gone through the stages of learning. 😄 I'll keep my answers simple and maybe others can build on with their expertise: 1) Potting soil is a good base - you can make almost any soil mix with a it as a starter. Keeping orchid mix is a bonus addition, but not required if you're sticking to mainly common pothos and philodendrons. I just keep a big bag of potting soil and perlite on hand for almost everything I tend to bring home, and mix in perlite to the potting soil in different ratios depending on how much drainage the plant requires. I consult 2-3 different opinions from Planta and the internet to come to a consensus of how much drainage is needed as there are wildly different views on how to take care of the same plant! 2) You actually can use the same potting soil in a moss pole, however if you have a habit of chopping and propagating your plants or want to keep it less messy when they get too unwieldy or top heavy, moss is easier to manage. YouTube is your friend here for tips and tricks - Sydney Plant Guy is one of my favourite content creators if you want to grow monster plants! Tying your plants up to a pole isn't terrible - I use that method to control the size of my plants as I live in a condo. I can't have giant plants and leaves as they'll take over my home and I'll need to rent a second home for all of them. For example, if I used a proper moss pole on my monstera, it'd probably be 8-10' now instead of a controlled 4-5' (with constant hacking). It's all about managing for what you want from your plants! Hope my 2 cents is useful!

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    • Dani

      Yes, very helpful. Thank you! So it sounds like you recommend keeping them separate until ready, i.e. NOT buying all the ingredients and mixing everything together, because then if you want more or less for a specific plant, you’ve already mixed all your ingredients. Videos are definitely how I learned that I was doing it wrong 🤦🏻‍♀️😁 I wish I could say that I tied it up, intentionally, to keep it small, but I did not! Lol. I honestly just thought that was how it worked. But I watched someone grow their very large leaf plant with these plastic moss poles and then because it had roots now in the moss, when it got too big/tall, he could just chop it where the moss poles connected, and he had a new plant to propagate, which I thought was pretty cool. I don’t think I’m in any danger yet of my plants getting too tall, but they do have to stay within the confines of the pet free room. So there is some height limitation. I do wish that I could start my silver sword and my Raphidophora decursiva over again at their smaller versions now that I know better. Oh well, live and learn.

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    • Josie's Jungle

      It's the journey, not the destination 😄

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    • Dani

      100%

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  3. Magz

    1) I use a mix of potting soil, orchid bark, and perlite. Sometimes I buy the orchid mix that has bark, perlite, charcoal and just add soil. The ratio depends on how thirsty the plants are. Things like calathe get more soil, aroids get less. 2) I don't use those types of poles. I don't have time to maintain poles and plants. I like to let most of mine trail, but have a few on plain ole stakes, coco coir poles, and just put one on a cedar plank.

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    • Dani

      I definitely don’t have anything against trailing plants, in fact one that I just bought, I tacked up to a little plastic pole the other night and I don’t know if I like how it looks. I was very intrigued having learned that they actually preferred to climb over trail. And given the four pothos/philodendrons that I have above my kitchen cabinets and how they get leggy, I was like oh that makes sense. I don’t know if I just have a stigma against calathea (because I have three thriving prayer plants, lol) but I have killed every single one of those I have owned. Maybe in the future I will try again. So far people are two for two for not mixing everything together in one giant batch. I appreciate you!

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    • Magz

      Calathea are not my friends 😂.

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  4. Magz

    Also, I pot everything in clear nursery pots so I can use the cute pots without drainage holes.

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    • Dani

      Yeah, that’s a newer concept to me. So I’ve done that with newer purchases but a lot of my older plants are just right in the pot. And I have about 10 plants from my best friend’s daughter who moved away that I have no idea the history of. She had every single one of them on pebble trays though so I’ll just keep them like that. But OMG one is bloooooooooming!!!

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  5. NamasteWithMyPlants

    I second everything Magz said. I always use nursery pot so I can use the cut pots with or without drainage holes. Just don’t let the plants sit in the drained water for long.

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    • Dani

      Yeah, if I can, I actually just take them over to the sink and then put them back in the fancy pot. I don’t have that many that are in nursery pots though, due to recently having learned this hack.

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    • NamasteWithMyPlants

      Yeah. I usually do the same thing hen I water. It took me a while todo the nursery pots… it’s all a learning process. But it definitely does help. I like using the clear ones so I know what’s going on with the roots without having to disturb them🪴

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  6. Phil

    You have been learning a lot. I do mostly succulents. About 160 of 200. My starter soil is Jacks Gritty Mix. From there I had potting soil. Percentage depends on plant needs. People use perlite to make the soils faster draining. I hate it because it is such a mess to deal with. And floats to the top of the planter. Jacks takes the place of that. I do use worm castings on tropicals. And sometimes charcoal, depending on plants needs. As for planters without drainage, I drill holes into them. I get a lot of planters from goodwill. Many were not intended to be planters. If you do succulents, I suggest shallow terracotta planters. They help avoid overwatering. And pay attention to root depth. Some plants have very shallow roots and won’t do well in standard depth planters-string of pearls, some peperomia, money plant, callisia, etc.

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    • Dani

      I always had really bad luck with succulents and so I’ve kind of tried to steer myself away from those for a little while. When I first started, I was definitely an over-waterer and in pots that had no drainage. Now I know better and if I want something, I will drill holes in it. But for a plant that’s three years old in the planter, I am afraid to mess with it and break it. I think I have maybe five or less succulents, I’ll have to look. No orchids and no Calathea 🤣

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