House Plants: Advice, Pics, Sell and Trade

Hi posted here a couple of months ago anyway I have eight of these Bagonia Obliqua to give away so if you are interested message me. Pick up in Surrey Quays

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Any tips on successfully getting rid of fungus gnats? They seem to come back no matter what I do. Going to try a dilute hydrogen peroxide next

little black flies, surprisingly nimble? SO ANNOYING

I came by to ask what people use for repotting houseplants - any favoured mixes or brands? Do you make your own or buy ready-mixed?
In the past I've used a mix of coir, course sand and regular peat-free compost, but I've run out of coir and the garden compost is a bit agricultural at the moment.
I used to get coir 'bricks' from Traidcraft but they stopped selling it.

In my experience it's worth it to spend a few bucks more for "proper" soil mixes from the bigger brands.

I had bad luck with both cheap coir and other cheap stuff, one of the potential problems is they contain surprisingly nimble little black flies.

I distributed the affected plants throughout the house, let the topsoil dry out significantly and watered them by shoving a funnel into the soil and trying to water a few inches down, and then covering it with soil again.... It still took about 3-4 months to get rid of them

Tried mosquito dunks?
I've not used them yet - am blighted by fungus gnats too - but have heard good things.

Any tips on successfully getting rid of fungus gnats?

..as @ACRe19 mentioned keeping the (top) soil dry is key. Also use yellow sticky boards, lots of them. It isn't pretty but it helps. Godspeed!

I have gotten really good at killing them, not sure if it's a skill I necessarily want to master...

It’s time to prune my satin pothos. It’s a prolific trailing variety with beautiful velvety leaves and I was wondering if anyone would like the offcuts for cuttings? It’s easy to propagate either in water or straight into soil. Probably will end up taking about a foot off the length (maybe more). Based in Brockley.

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How long have you had yours? Mine's not growing much but guess it's because I only get it early winter so really looking forward to this growing season.

Hi - I'd love some if still spare - I'm just down the road in Crofton Park so pick-up should be easy. have lots of plants here so sure there will be cutting exchanges possible soon too, need to take stock of what's what having only just moved back in...

Cheers

Probably about four years, but I've needed to prune it a fair number of times. I tend to find during winter there's always at least one leaf unfurling somewhere on the plant and during spring / summer every strand will be putting out growth.

Of course - PM me with your availability and I'll let you know when works.

Yes would be interested in a cutting! In catford so can walk/cycle over and collect easily enough.

Me too if there's still any left!

A friend of mine gave me this cheese plant the other day and its a bit of a beast. I was surprised how valuable the big ones are on ebay too (not that I'm thinking of selling it)..

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My mate gave me a big one for my birthday this year! Almost as tall a me! 🥰

Hi @kati and @hoefla, @owl has kindly said he’ll only take a third of the cuttings so you can both have some too. I’ll get in touch through PM

Re fungus gnats, I went to Nunhead gardener today and one them told me it’s worth trying sticking some match sticks into the soil to try get rid of them. I did a quick google and it seems a sound suggestion. Gonna give it a go.

sticking some match sticks into the soil

please elaborate

I managed to get rid of these with hydrogen peroxide solution which I added to the watering can for a couple of weeks. It got rid of the soil baddies and is non-toxic as it breaks down into water + oxygen.

Apparently you literally just stick a few matches into the soil, the head goes in or course. Will report back in a few weeks or however long it takes to work or doesn’t work...