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Would anyone be willing to be my plant mentor? Just for a day or two?… | Plant Recovery Room | Planta community

Courtney (newbie)

Would anyone be willing to be my plant mentor? Just for a day or two? I had a manic episode and bought like 30 plants even though I have very little experience with plants 😳 All of them are young or cuttings, so I’m trying to start them all from scratch and it’s not going well. Almost every single one is struggling and it’s really starting to effect my mental health 😭 The more I research, the more confused I feel, and I don’t really trust AI to give me comprehensive help. It would be so so nice if someone could walk through my plants with me and tell me what I’m doing wrong for each one without me spamming the newsfeed 😅 For a flavor of my problems, here are the top 3: 1. Everyone says that tradescantias propagate super easily, but that hasn’t been my experience. I keep trying to save this one by planting more cuttings, but they all rot. This plant might be so far gone that I need to completely restart it. 2. This Hoya compacta was completely root rotted so I cut off the rot and put it in water. The leaves plumped back up, but I’m not seeing any roots and there is this weird bubble that keeps forming around the stem even when I change the water. Is this a sign of rooting or rotting? 3. I’ve been watering according to Planta’s schedule pretty consistently for months without checking soil moisture. Several of my plants have actually been doing really well with it and have pushed out a lot of new growth. But now that I’m checking moisture I’m noticing that it seems way too early when Planta tells me to water. (This pothos still feels wet on the top 12 days after watering.) So do I keep watering on the schedule and just assume these Planta like a ton of water even though everything online says differently? Or is this a sign of a different issue that they are still wet after so long? ❤️ Thank you for reading

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5 likes 8 comments

8 comments

  1. SJ

    My suggestion would be to lay some of the tradescantia vines over another pot of barely moist soil (dry might even be fine). They tend to crawl-root across wider pots, so perhaps you can get a few to settle that way. Also probably need to give that one far more light.

    1 like
    • Courtney (newbie)

      I added that grow light a few days ago so I’m hoping that helps. It sounds like maybe I’m keeping the soil too wet for the propagations? I might try letting them callus over first, too?

      2 likes
  2. SJ

    Also, if you feel the soil is still wet, snooze the task in the app and use a chopstick or something to gently poke a few holes in the soil, making sure oxygen is getting down there and excess moisture evaporates.

    3 likes
    • Courtney (newbie)

      Will do, thank you!

      0 likes
  3. Waspinator

    Planta tends to recommend overwatering; snooze the task if the soil is still wet. Crash course on mold prevention with cuttings (I've been trying to prop oak, which is nearly impossible. These tips are overkill but will give you super clean props): sterilize the container you're putting props in (swab it with a paper towel soaked in isopropyl alcohol). Sterilize your substrate (you can use something inorganic like perlite or pon/leca. If you use soil, pour boiling hot water through it and let it cool before using it.) (I have never needed those two steps for "easy" propagation plants.) You can also skip substrate entirely for a water prop (use distilled water and change it out about once a week to prevent rot.) Now for the cutting itself. Clean the stem with alcohol (doesn't have to be much. Most plants don't need this but I would recommend it for water props). Sterilize your cutters with alcohol. Make your cuts at a 45° angle shortly under a node (do not cut the node itself, but you want your cut close to it.) Wait to let it callous (wait time varies, but for the things you're cutting, a few hours to a day is enough). You can add rooting hormone if you want (not using this just slows down rooting; it's optional for easy plants but harder species demand it.) Then stick them in your substrate. Keep the substrate moist (using distilled water can help prevent rot, but it's optional). Adding a humidity dome is another good way to encourage roots, especially if you don't have much soil or if you're dealing with epiphyte plants like orchids. Depending on how much ambient air humidity you have (I'm at like 80%), some plants can also just be left out in the air and occasionally watered directly as they grow roots (some of my orchid keikis are perfectly happy with just air moisture)

    3 likes
    • Courtney (newbie)

      Wow this is amazing thank you! And good luck with your oak propagations!

      1 like
  4. Skyrider

    For my tradescantia, I put the cuttings in water, making sure the level went over a root node but didn’t touch the leaves. I left the cuttings like that for a couple of weeks, until they had grown a fairly robust root system, then planted them! Best of luck with your plants, you’re going to be amazing! :D

    2 likes
    • Courtney (newbie)

      Almost every time I’ve tried to water prop them they grow great roots and then rot instantly when I move them to soil unless I very gradually move them from water to perlite and then slowly add soil and drainage

      2 likes