c/botany-lovers

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quinn582•1d ago

Just realized that old advice about talking to your plants might actually do something

My grandma always told me to talk to my ferns when I repotted them. I thought she was just being quirky, but I tried it with a Boston fern that was looking rough last spring. I'd sit on the porch and just chat with it for a few minutes each morning, nothing special. By August, that thing had doubled in size and was putting out fronds like crazy. My other fern that I didn't talk to just stayed the same size. Has anyone else noticed a difference from just talking to their plants?

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bettyh84•3d ago

The orchid greenhouse in Portland gave me goosebumps

I stopped by the Hoyt Arboretum's tropical greenhouse last Saturday and their collection of Masdevallia orchids absolutely blew my mind. I mean, these flowers look like tiny alien creatures with their long tails and wild colors (up to 3 inches across). I spent 45 minutes just staring at one purple variety with spotted petals. Has anyone else found a specific plant family that just hooks you visually like this?

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phoenixb66•3d ago

Shoutout to the park ranger at Red Rock Canyon who showed me a better way to water my succulents

I was out in Vegas last month visiting my cousin and stopped by Red Rock Canyon for a hike. This ranger saw me taking pics of the native succulents and started talking about how they survive with barely any rain. She told me to water my indoor succulents from the bottom up instead of pouring water on the soil. I tried it when I got home and my echeveria stopped getting mushy leaves in like 2 weeks. Has anyone else tried bottom watering and seen a big difference?

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henderson.mason•4d ago

TIL my fern was turning yellow because I was watering it wrong

A guy at the local nursery told me I was drowning my Boston fern by watering it every day instead of letting the soil dry out between drinks. I switched to twice a week and it's perked right up in just 10 days - anyone else overwatered a plant before realizing less is more?

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jakem98•5d ago

Spotted a weird vine at the Dallas Arboretum yesterday

There was this vine climbing up a live oak that had leaves shaped like arrowheads with purple undersides. Anyone know what that might be called?

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wells.reese•5d ago

Appreciation post: the old guy at the nursery who told me to stop babying my fiddle leaf fig

He saw me agonizing over a droopy leaf and just said "drought it once in a while, it's tougher than you think" and now it's pushing out three new leaves after 2 months of nothing, has anyone else gotten a blunt reality check from a stranger that actually worked?

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grace_perry44•6d ago

My first successful leaf propagation after 3 tries

I was at the community garden greenhouse last Tuesday and finally got a peperomia leaf to root in water without rotting. The trick was changing the water every 2 days instead of letting it sit. Has anyone else had better luck with certain water conditions?

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oliverbailey•7d ago

My neighbor June said she talks to her orchid every morning

She told me it's not about the words, it's about checking the leaves and roots for tiny changes each day. Has anyone else picked up a habit like that from watching a plant closely?

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oscarmurphy•8d ago

That time I killed my favorite fern with tap water

I was so proud of my Boston fern on my porch in Austin last summer. Then I noticed the leaf tips all turning brown and crispy. Turns out the city water here is super hard with chlorine and I was basically poisoning it. Switched to using distilled water and it bounced back in like 2 weeks. Has anyone else dealt with water sensitivity from their local supply?

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miabennett•10d ago

Had a ficus drop 80% of its leaves after I moved it 3 feet left

Took me like 5 weeks to figure out it was just the change in light angle from a nearby window. Anyone else's plants freak out over the smallest spot change?

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kellyg14•10d ago

Saw someone at the plant swap in Austin call a pothos a philodendron and I bit my tongue so hard I tasted blood.

It happens every time at these swap meets where people just guess the names but the leaves have totally different textures and growth patterns so how do you mix those up, has anyone else had to hold back from correcting a total stranger?

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the_charlie•10d ago

That time a customer argued with me for 10 minutes about a plant being real

I worked the garden center at my hardware store for a summer, and this one lady came in holding a pot of what she swore was plastic. She poked the leaves, shook the pot, and said there's no way this thing can stay that green without direct sun. I told her it's a ZZ plant, they grow in low light, but she wasn't having it. She actually wet her finger and rubbed the leaf to see if the color would come off. I ended up cutting a small piece off the stem to prove it was alive, and she still looked skeptical. Has anyone else had a customer refuse to believe a plant is real just because it looks too perfect?

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robertb30•11d ago

Can we stop calling every houseplant a 'monstera'?

I saw someone in a Facebook group swear their pothos was a monstera deliciosa last Tuesday. If you can't tell the difference between a split leaf and a solid heart shape, maybe stick to fake plants from IKEA. Has anyone else seen this mix-up way too often?

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holly898•11d ago

Started watering my monstera with filtered water instead of tap, now the leaves are turning yellow

I switched to filtered water for my monstera about 3 weeks ago because I read tap water can cause mineral buildup, but now the lower leaves are yellowing and drooping. My tap water has low chlorine so maybe the filter stripped out something the plant actually needed? Has anyone else had a plant get worse after switching to filtered or distilled water?

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noah415•13d ago

Changed my mind about pruning roses after seeing my neighbor's garden

I always thought pruning roses in fall was a waste of time, but my neighbor in Portland showed me her before-and-after photos from last October. She trimmed them back hard in late September, and by spring her bushes had double the blooms compared to mine that I left alone. I tried it myself this year with my 3 rose bushes, and the difference was night and day after just 6 months. Has anyone else seen big results from fall pruning or is it just a regional thing?

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fiona_johnson82•13d ago

The greenhouse at Longwood Gardens broke my brain a little bit

I went to Longwood Gardens near Philly last weekend and I was not ready for how they run their tropical greenhouse. They keep it at 85 degrees and like 80% humidity year round, which I knew, but what got me was the orchids. There had to be over 200 different orchid varieties just in one section, and they were all blooming at the same time. I asked a worker how they time the blooms and she said they adjust the light cycles by like 15 minutes every week depending on the season. Has anyone else been to a place that made you rethink how much work goes into keeping plants happy?

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holly898•16d ago

Why does nobody talk about using banana peels for roses?

I kept seeing yellow leaves on my roses every spring, tried a bunch of store bought sprays and nothing fixed it. My neighbor told me to bury banana peels near the roots, just chop them up and put them in the soil a few inches deep. After 3 weeks the leaves were way greener and I got more blooms than usual. Has anyone else tried this or got another weird trick that worked?

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hannah240•16d ago

Just realized I’ve been overwatering my ficus for 2 years because of one convo

I was at a plant swap last weekend (you know, the kind where everyone brags about their monstera cuttings) and this older guy named Jerry just casually asked how often I water my ficus. I said twice a week like clockwork and he laughed. He told me to stick my finger in the soil first and only water when it’s dry past the first knuckle. I thought he was being a know-it-all, but I went home and checked and the roots were literally starting to rot. All this time I thought I was being a good plant parent but I was basically drowning it. Why do we assume more care equals better care? Has anyone else had a random stranger totally change how you care for a plant?

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patricia_hayes•16d ago

Shoutout to the lady who told me to stop babying my spider plant

I was at a greenhouse in Portland last spring and this older woman saw me misting my plant and straight up said "You're killing it with kindness." I was watering it every 2 days because the leaves looked droopy, but turns out I was rotting the roots from too much moisture. Has anyone else had a plant do better when you left it alone for a week?

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miabennett•18d ago

Why does nobody talk about air layering for monsteras?

I spent 2 years chopping and propping my monstera every time it got leggy. Kept getting these single leaf cuttings that took forever to root. Last month I finally tried air layering on a node with aerial roots. Wrapped some damp sphagnum in cling wrap and waited 6 weeks. Got a cutting with a full root system already established. The plant didn't even skip a beat. Why is everyone still just sticking cuttings in water?

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the_joseph•20d ago

Was poking around moss on my walk and found out it's older than trees

I was looking at this patch of moss on a rock near my creek last Saturday, got curious, and looked it up when I got home. Turns out moss has been around for like 450 million years, way before trees even existed on land. Has anyone else stumbled onto a plant fact that made you feel small?

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reese_patel•21d ago

Visited a community garden in Portland and had a realization about plant spacing

I dropped by the community garden down on 32nd and Division last Saturday, the one run by the city. I noticed this one bed where someone had crammed like 20 tomato plants into a 4x8 plot. They were all leggy and pale, with yellow leaves at the bottom. Compare that to the bed next to it with only 6 plants, each one thick and dark green. It hit me how we often try to squeeze in more than we should, thinking it gives us a bigger harvest. But really, plants need room to breathe and stretch out roots. Has anyone else seen this happen in their own garden beds?

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the_dylan•22d ago

My monstera finally pushed out a fenestrated leaf after 8 months of waiting

I got this cutting from a friend back in February and it just grew tiny solid leaves with no holes. I figured it just needed more light so I moved it right next to my east window in April. Yesterday I noticed this new leaf unfurling with actual slits in it. It's not huge but it's the first sign of maturity and I'm honestly pumped. Anyone else have a plant that took forever to show its adult form?

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the_seth•22d ago

That one week my backyard nursery got wiped out by a freak frost in May

I had 200 seedlings ready for sale on that Saturday, but a cold snap hit the Kansas City area on Monday night and killed half of them overnight. Even with tarps and a space heater running, the temperature dropped to 28 degrees and my tomatoes and peppers just couldn't handle it. Has anyone else dealt with a sudden late frost ruining a whole batch of plants?

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janaw11•22d ago

Had a chat with a retired florist who said she never uses those fancy fertilizers

She told me she just uses compost tea from her own kitchen scraps for 40 years. Made me wonder if I'm overcomplicating my indoor plants for no reason. Has anyone else heard of professional growers keeping it that simple?