House Plants: Advice, Pics, Sell and Trade

@rhowe & @hoefla ..in my experience they're most useful as a bottom layer in the pot, essentially they're allowing air to get to the roots better (as there's now these pepples with air gaps there instead of dense wet soil), which is something that many plants really appreciate.
So with a pot that's 30cm high I put 4-5cm of clay pebbles in the bottom.

I don't think they're good mixed in the soil but as top layer they're useful, to keep the top layer of soil dry so fungus gnats have a harder time (they love moist soil), of course watering the plants from below is also really helpful here.
Also as a top layer, either just because it looks nice, and / or to help with the soil not drying out so quickly (for plants outside, in the sun, in summer).

Cool. I'm apparently terrible with orchids so I was thinking to use them in a tray around the pots for humidity. I don't have much of a fungus gnats problem (probably because most things are pretty dry) and I tend to use small gravel at the bottom and top of pots, but the clay pellets are lighter so might be better to not compress the soil so much.

Given the choice is it better to use rainwater or room temp tap water (left for a few hours to de chlorinate) for watering houseplants? I worry if rainwater can introduce disease etc

I'd say both are fine really, if the tap water is really hard where you are I'd maybe filter it - or just use rain water 💁
Never heard of rain water introducing diseases to be frank..

I bought this plant from Sainsbury's a few weeks ago, now all the leaves seem to be almost rotting at the end - any ideas please?

3 Attachments

lift it up and check out what's going on in the pot. most of the time it's prob overwatered. this is a dieffenbachia i think.

Are the roots wet?

I haven't repotted it from the supermarket pot so quite possible it was overwatered, thanks. I will repot it when I get a chance

I had a big leaf plant similar. It was dying, I asked at a local plant shop and they said they hate their roots being wet.

So I never watered it. It died shortly after

My amarylis has developed some darker green spots and some strange fluffy white jizz and idea if this needs treating in some way?

I’ve had it for years. It flowered for the first time in about 3 years.

1 Attachment

fluffy white jizz

Usually indicates mealy bugs but I can't see them on your photo

I haven’t seen anything crawling and or creeping.

Any suggestions for plants that do well - or at least survive - in bathrooms? The room is east facing, the plant(s) would be on the windowsill which can take a decent size pot.

What is a good source of composts of various sorts for houseplants? I need to repot a few things, ranging from small cacti to a spear plant that seems to want to exit its pot despite supposedly preferring a tight squeeze, an elephant ear, and a very unbalanced monstera.

The last couple of times I have bought houseplant compost it’s either been riddled with bastard gnats or is full of bits of plastic, glitter, and hair.

Spider plant is the go-to

composts of various sorts for houseplants

https://www.diy.com/departments/westland-john-innes-no-3-compost-28l-bag/5023377019906_BQ.prd?

We’re terrible at looking after houseplants but we have some kind of asparagus fern that’s gone absolutely ballistic by the east-facing bathroom window.

Thanks all. I ended up getting a peace lily (and a kentia palm but ended up putting that elsewhere). It seems happy in its new spot so far.

I decided to go for coir compost for a change, in both normal and cactus forms, so we will see how that does. When I took the monstera out of its pot, the bottom layer of the pot was a dense layer of very wet compost with no roots in it so I am hoping this coir stuff will drain better.

I've got this pineapple plant.

The pineapple is a bit squishy and staring to hang off to the side.

Does it need to be cut off and planted at some point?

1 Attachment

Could these be orange trees? I planted some pips a while back, but can't remember which pot

1 Attachment

Definitely looks like a citrus of some kind

Cool. Planning ahead for climate breakdown. I'll be selling blood oranges to the starving masses in 15 years time.

I planted hundreds of lemon seedlings during lock down. Primarily out of boredom, but they all died after a while. No idea why they just withered. Maybe soil wasn’t acidic enough

I should probably look into how to look after them. They seem healthy although growing rather slowly.

Random website reckons you'll be ready for societal collapse in just 3: https://www.haxnicks.co.uk/blogs/grow-at-home/how-to-grow-a-lemon-tree

.

1 Attachment