A Glimmer of Hope

There's been a lot of death in my apartment, I've lost several plants and many others are looking very unhappy. It has been too cold in my new apartment this winter and my plants are rebelling.

But in the midst of all this badness there's a bit of hope.  Rex is in bloom, the flower is not much to look at but it makes me feel like I'm doing something right.

Not enough time on my hands...

Right now I'm currently in my final semester at University, and oh boy, I don't have near enough time for anything.  The lack of free time is taking its toll on my plants, not to mention the nasty spider mite infestation that I don't have enough time to adequately deal with, I've just been trying to limp my plants along until I can dedicate some real time to the issue.  So far there is only one casualty and it was a baby spider plant that was probably much too small to be separated from its mommy.

Betta Fish Tank

Recently I decided to clean out my 10 gallon tank so that Duke could have room to stretch his fins (so to speak).  I cleaned it with bleach and used glass marbles for a substrate.

 I fixed the peace lily that was in his bowl to the side of the tank using an alligator clip and some fishing line (don't tell Duke that's what it is).  I also cut holes in the sides of a plastic pot and used more marbles and some cleaned gravel and this is being used to hold some baby spider plants.  During my research, I found articles that claimed spider plants could not be grown hydroponically for any significant amount of time.  While other articles said it was possible to grow them for an extended period of time in water.  Since I couldn't find anything conclusive about growing spider plants hydroponically, I decided to give it a try and find out for myself.  Philodendrons that were already in water were transferred to the tank because I know that they can survive quite nicely in water.  I also purchased some aponogeton bulbs.  There is currently no sproutage for any of the three bulbs I put in, but it has only been a couple of weeks.

Philodendron roots

Peace Lily roots

After about a week the water started to look pretty nasty even with a partial water change.  For there being ten gallons of water, the water got dirty very fast and I'm not sure why.  I cleaned up my old filter and had it running for a couple of hours yesterday and that seemed to help a lot more than a water change.  I'm currently trying to figure out why the water got dirty so fast.  I know that people have low tech fish tanks that use plants to keep the water clean instead of conventional tank filters.  I'm assuming that because I don't have any truly aquatic plants in my aquarium, but the water should have still been okay for that amount of time even with no filtration (Duke is just one fish and he's not even a dirty fish).

You know your avocado plant is happy when...

My avocado plant has been growing happily for weeks now, he's even got some new leafage showing up.

A growing orchid collection

While I was visiting my local Lowes, I stopped by the garden center (this shouldn't be a surprise).  I noticed that the distressed plant section was full of orchids, so I took a closer look.  The plants weren't distressed at all, they had just lost their blooms, they looked happy, the leaves were bright and firm and the flower stalk was even still green.  So I picked up a couple new types of orchids.

I got a dendrobium orchid and a blue orchid.  It was upon my return home that I found out that not all orchids are created equal.  An extensive internet search proved to be a little depressing.  I now have four different kinds of orchids all with their own little nit picky preferences.  They all like different amounts of light and different amounts of water, some like the bark medium some like moss.  I am still feeling a bit overwhelmed with what I should know and I'm not quite sure how I can keep this all straight.

Grow your own ginger update

A new sprout started showing itself a couple of days ago and it's just the cutest little thing. I'm not sure what this means for the plant itself especially after the big shoot tipped over.

As you can see in the picture, I have also been dealing with some brown leaf tips.  I'm not sure why that is, but I moved the plant to an area that receives less light and have also been misting the leaves often.  Hopefully that will help with both the brown leaves and the weak shoot.

Where did all these bugs come from

Not only do I seem to have quite a plant collection, but I also seem to have quite the pest collection as well.  Along with the fungus gnats that inevitably come with plants (esp. Fittonias), I have also discovered spider mites and mealy bugs.

While fungus gnats are annoying as they try to fly up your nose or when you can't leave a water glass out without collecting carcases, they are really nothing more that a nuisance (and spider attractant).  From what I've read about spider mites and mealy bugs, they can actually take a toll on the plants health and well being.

So I'm wondering where they all came from?  I have a couple of newly acquired plants, but none of them seem to be affected by either foe.  There was also a couple of amaryllis that had been living outside and are now inside, but these also seem to be unaffected by the pests; however, I suppose that the bugs could have hitched a ride on any one of these plants and just found other plants in my collection to be more desirable.

Anyways, through this little glitch in my apartment garden I have discovered the wonderful things everyday household items can do.

1st ~ a mixture of dish soap and water sprayed onto the plants and the soil has pretty much eliminated the spider mites, although according to a lot of the sources I read a reapplication or two will be necessary to kill the eggs that hatch later on.  I was amazed that when I sprayed all my plants with this at night and by the next morning only a couple little bugs could be seen.

2nd ~ rubbing alcohol dabbed onto the fuzzy looking mealy bugs with a cotton swab killed them and they could be easily removed.