c/botany-lovers

Rant: Was overwatering my succulents for 6 months because I thought shriveled leaves meant thirsty

Turns out those mushy bottom leaves were rot from sitting in wet soil, not dehydration. Caught it when I pulled a dead Echeveria out and the roots were basically soup. Anybody else kill a few before figuring out the soak-and-dry method?

Picked a Fiddle Leaf Fig over a Monstera for my living room and now I'm regretting it 4 months later

My east facing window gets good morning light but not much else. The Monstera would have been fine with less light but I wanted something tall and dramatic. The fiddle leaf has dropped 3 leaves already and the lower ones are getting brown spots. I'm checking soil moisture before watering and using a humidifier. Has anyone else gone with the wrong plant for their lighting situation?

I finally switched to self-watering pots after killing 4 ferns in a row

My track record with ferns was awful. I'd water them every day, then they'd get yellow, so I'd back off, then they'd crisp up. Tried 4 different ones over 2 years and they all died. A guy at the nursery last spring said "you're either drowning them or drying them out, there's no in-between." He pointed me to these self-watering pots with a reservoir at the bottom. I bought a 3-pack for $35 at the hardware store. Now I just fill the bottom every week and the fern draws what it needs. Been 8 months and the Boston fern in my kitchen is huge. Has anyone else had good luck with these or do you prefer a different system?

Can we talk about the invasive mint taking over the community garden on Elm Street?

I stopped by the Elm Street community garden last Thursday and noticed mint has completely swallowed up two of the raised beds, and nobody seems to be doing anything about it. The volunteer coordinator told me they let it go because it smells nice, but now it's choking out the tomatoes and peppers everyone planted in spring. So is it worth ripping it all out and starting over, or should they just let the mint win and plant around it?

Debate: Should you water orchids from the top or bottom? Here's what happened to me.

I was at my kitchen sink in Denver last Tuesday watering my Phalaenopsis orchid from the top like always. Water got into the crown and within 3 days the leaves started yellowing and rotting at the base. I ended up having to cut off 2 leaves and repot it in fresh bark. Now I'm wondering if bottom watering is the safer move or if I just got clumsy. What do you guys think - top water with caution or switch to bottom watering for good?

Vent: Lost half my succulent collection after a heatwave hit my apartment in Phoenix

Last July, we had a week straight of 115 degree days here in Phoenix. I keep my succulents on a south-facing windowsill, and I thought they'd be fine since they're desert plants. Big mistake. By day four, the leaves on my echeverias started looking like cooked spinach. I lost about 12 out of 25 plants before I realized I needed to move them inside. Has anyone else dealt with indoor succulents getting scorched through a window?

Got told my favorite philodendron was 'basic' last week at a plant swap

I was at the community garden swap in Portland last Saturday, trading cuttings. This younger guy looked at my golden pothos vine and said it was too common, that real botany lovers focus on rare imports from Ecuador now. I just laughed and told him I've had that same cutting since 2021, when my grandmother passed and left me her plant collection. It has rooted through three different pots and survived a spider mite outbreak that killed my fancy calathea. In my experience, a plant that thrives in your home conditions matters way more than bragging rights about being rare. Does anyone else get tired of the gatekeeping over what counts as a 'real' plant?

That $60 moisture meter I bought was a total scam - my fern told me the truth

I kept getting overwatering warnings even though my fern was clearly thirsty, so I tested it against just sticking my finger in the dirt and the meter was off by a mile. Anyone else find those digital meters are junk or did I just get a bad one?

A serious critique of my soil mix made me switch entirely

Fellow botanical garden volunteer said my potting mix was too dense for the native milkweed. She pointed out the roots were basically suffocating after I showed her a plant I'd been babying for 6 months. Anyone else had a random comment totally change how you prep your containers?

That $60 moon cactus I bought is just a grafted Hibotan and I feel ripped off

I paid sixty bucks for what the nursery labeled as a rare moon cactus at the local garden show three weeks ago. Got it home and my buddy who works at a greenhouse pointed out it's just a standard Hibotan grafted onto a dragon fruit rootstock. Sure it's pretty with that bright pink top, but I could have grabbed the same thing at a big box store for under fifteen. The guy at the stand was talking up how hard it was to find and I fell for it. Now half the top is starting to rot because the scion isn't getting enough light. Anyone else get burned by those fancy plant stalls at weekend markets?

Hit 100 succulents in my collection and I'm honestly overwhelmed

I was counting my pots last weekend after moving a shelf and realized I have exactly 103 succulents now. It started with one aloe from a grocery store in Phoenix three years ago and just snowballed from there. The worst part is I killed 12 of them this winter because I overwatered during a cold snap. Has anyone else accidentally grown their collection way past what they can manage?

Shoutout to the old lady at the garden center who saved my hydrangeas

Was at Lowe's in Portland last June just staring at a rack of dying plants, ready to give up on my whole backyard. This woman in a straw hat comes up and says "you're drowning them, honey, they need morning sun not a fire hose." She spent 10 minutes walking me through pruning and it worked. Has anyone else had a stranger just walk up and fix your whole gardening game like that?

Vent: I just realized I've been under-watering my pothos for like 2 years

So I'm sitting there last week looking at my pothos that always had those sad droopy leaves and some yellowing at the tips. I figured I was giving it plenty of water since the soil surface always felt damp. Then my sister who works at a nursery in Portland came over and she stuck her finger ALL the way down into the pot. Turns out the bottom half was bone dry because my pot is super tall and I was only wetting the top layer. She told me to water until it runs out the drainage holes and my plant perked up in like 2 days. Now I feel like a dummy for ignoring that basic rule for so long. Has anyone else had a plant do great after you figured out you were watering wrong?

Warning: I passed 200 different houseplant varieties in my collection and it hit me hard

I was doing my yearly inventory last weekend and counted up all the different types of plants I've got living in my house right now. When I hit 207 I had to sit down and think about where this all started. It was just three years ago when I bought a sad little pothos from the grocery store clearance rack for $3. Now I've got shelves in every room, a humidifier running 24/7, and I even built a small greenhouse in the backyard last spring. My electric bill went up about $25 a month just from all the grow lights. The funny thing is I only intended to keep maybe 10 or 15 plants, but once I learned how to propagate and trade with other folks on Facebook groups, it just snowballed. Has anyone else hit a number like this and realized you might have a real problem on your hands?

A garden club member told me my tomato cages looked sad, so I switched to Florida weave

I used to think those wire cone cages were fine for my tomatoes, but a lady named Diane at our local garden club in Austin politely said my plants looked like they were in tiny prisons. She suggested I try the Florida weave method using twine and stakes down a whole row instead. I gave it a shot last spring with my 12 tomato plants, and honestly the difference was night and day. The plants got way better air flow and I could reach the fruit without fighting metal wires. I also ended up with about 40% more ripe tomatoes by August compared to the year before. Now I'm wondering if I should switch up how I stake my pole beans too. Has anyone else had a random piece of advice from a fellow gardener that totally changed their setup?

Heated debate: seed starting indoors vs direct sow for tomatoes in zone 6b

I used to start all my tomatoes indoors under lights for 8 weeks, but last year I direct sowed half and got bigger plants by July. Which way do you guys think actually gives better results for cooler climates?

That greenhouse tour in Portland made me rethink grow lights entirely.

Last spring I went to this big greenhouse complex out by the zoo in Portland. They had a room full of tropical plants and I noticed they weren't using fancy expensive grow lights. Instead they had these simple full spectrum T5 fixtures mounted close to the plants, like maybe 4 inches above the top leaves. I always thought you needed those high dollar LED panels to get good results. After talking to the head grower for a few minutes he told me cheap fixtures work fine if you adjust the distance and cycle timing. I went home and moved my lights way closer to my seedlings and added an extra hour of light time. Now my basil and peppers are way stockier and darker green compared to before. Has anyone else seen results from just tweaking light distance instead of buying new equipment?

Used to hate moss gardens until I saw one at a nursery in Portland

I always thought moss was just a weed that ruins your lawn. But last month I was at a specialty nursery in Portland picking up some ferns for a shady spot in my yard, and they had this whole section dedicated to moss gardens. There was this one setup with a little rock path and different types of moss in shades of bright green and almost gold, and it looked so peaceful and deliberate. The guy working there told me moss doesn't need mowing or fertilizer, it just needs shade and moisture, which is exactly what my yard has too much of anyway. So now I'm trying out a small patch under my big maple tree, just scraping some moss from my own yard and laying it down like a carpet seam. Has anyone here turned a shady problem area into a moss bed on purpose?

Guy at the nursery tried to tell me morning glory is hard to kill. Planted some by the fence last May and it ate my neighbors rose bush by July.

Saw my neighbor's peace lily explode after she started watering with old fish tank water

I've been growing a peace lily for like 3 years and it always looked okay but never really thrived. My neighbor up the street mentioned she dumps her fish tank water on her houseplants instead of pouring it down the drain. I tried it for about 6 weeks straight and the leaves got way darker green and it put out 4 new blooms. Has anyone else used dirty aquarium water or is there something else in it that actually helps plants grow?

My $35 moisture meter turned my fiddle leaf from crispy to thriving

I dropped 35 bucks on a fancy moisture meter off Amazon after my girlfriend said my fiddle leaf looked like a dried up Christmas tree. Turns out I was underwatering it for six months because the top inch felt damp but the bottom was totally bone dry. Anyone else ever realize they've been guessing wrong with their finger test this whole time?

Found a patch of native wildflowers while hiking near Boulder Creek last weekend

I was hiking along Boulder Creek on Saturday and stumbled into this small clearing I'd never noticed before, totally covered in blue flax and prairie coneflowers. There must have been over 50 plants packed into a space maybe 20 feet across. It got me wondering how many of these little secret spots are out there that just get ignored because they're not on a trail map. Anybody else run into a surprise wildflower patch that made you stop and just stare for a bit?

Spent 3 hours trying to get my African violet to bloom again

Turned out I was watering it with tap water instead of distilled, which I only figured out after reading a random comment on a forum. Has anyone else dealt with that specific mistake taking forever to realize?

TIL the local botanical garden has a "quiet hour" on Wednesday mornings

I took my three kids to the city botanical garden last Wednesday around 9am. Turns out they have a quiet hour then where no loud equipment runs and they ask visitors to keep voices low. My youngest usually screams at the bright flowers but she just sat and watched the koi pond for a good 15 minutes. The lady at the front desk said about 20 people come regularly for that hour. It was nice to see the greenhouse without the usual chaos. Has anyone else found a similar program at their local gardens?

Had to pick between a fake snake and a reflective pinwheel for keeping birds off my seedlings

I was trying to protect my new tomato and pepper starts from the local sparrows. The fake snake looked realistic but my neighbor's cat kept stealing it. The reflective pinwheel was only $4 at the garden center down the road. I went with the pinwheel. After 3 days the birds were back pecking at the soil. Guess I need a second idea. Anyone else find a cheap trick that actually works for seedling protection?