h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi, Venus. I was chatting with a mutual friend, Ivan, about a couple of my plants, and he suggsted that as a bona fide plantaholic, you might be able to offer some guidance as to a couple of house plants of mine. They've been a bit moody recently, and I'm wondering if it's something I've done.

I've got a small-ish Benjamin ficus, they called it a miniature one so I imagine it isn't supposed to get very tall, but it seems to have some growth "issues". I see lots of new, shiny bright green leaves popping up, and it's reasonably bushy, but the roots don't seem to grab the soil much, and it had some kind of warty thing on its trunk and an entire section of the plant shriveled up and died. Otherwise, it seems healthy and happy enough.

There's also a pothos I used to have in a small basket on my desk at work. I took it home, and maybe I initially put it in too big of a pot or something... the tendrils are very long and spindly, with few leaves, and several of the leaves are kind of "limp". For a while, they were turning yellow and wilting, but not for the last month or so.

Lastly, I have a bamboo plant that has flourished in the same spot, with the same treatment, for a little over four years. All of a sudden, during the last few weeks, a number of the leaves turned yellow.

Any suggestions?

Oh- and nice "meeting" you.

Hi there Psychocandy, nice to meet you too.

Right, lets see if i can shed any light on your plant problems.

Firstly the Ficus. Ficus benjamina, is a small leaved variety, which does'nt necessarily mean small in size. Having said that, sometimes they have their roots trimmed (like bonsai) to keep them small. In the wild they can grow to 100ft
This warty thing you described. It sounds like it could have been an wound or cut, that got infected and killed part of the bush, a bit like canker. I would'nt worry about that if the area is dry and not oozing sticky stuff.
It might need feeding, usually once a fortnight during the growing season. It might also need repotting if it has'nt been done for a couple of years. Spraying the leaves can also keep your plant happy.
I think the problem with your Devils Ivy (pothos) was the repotting, they're not keen on being repotted. Also they like to dry out fully between watering, over-watering can make the leaves go limp. They have issues with temperature aswell and must be kept at a minimun of 13c in winter. These like to be fed once a month all year round, with half the recommended dose of feed.
The bamboo does'nt sound like it has any problems at all. It's normal for a few of the leaves to die off. Wind damage will kill some of the leaves and lack of water will take it's toll. If the bamboo is in a pot, water it every day during the summer months and every other day if it's in the ground during any prolonged dry spells. As long as there is new growth forming, it should be fine.
Any help?

Wow, water every day for the bamboo. I had no idea... that *is* very helpful!

Good to know a bit more about my ficus. I think that once it gets root bound, it might get taller, but for now I'm happy if it fills out a bit rather than growing upwards.

The pothos, though, I might have overwatered a bit in addition to the repotting having annoyed it. It hasn't gotten any cooler in the house than 13°c. In fact, it's usually not even quite that cool. I'll try feeding it a bit more often and see if it recovers.

I've heard that fertilizing with ashes (like from incense sticks) and/or certain food items can be helpful- but I'm concerned that rotting or mold might cause more problems than a bit of fertilizing might fix.

Thanks so much for your help!

Hopefully I'll see you around the site sometimes, so I won't only have spoken to you about plants.

Bamboos are thirsty plants, however they don't like to stand in water all the time.
I'm not sure i would put ash from incense into my plants, but ash from burnt wood is good. It has to be used very spraringly on potted plants though. I use a houseplant fertiliser, it's balanced and does'nt overdose with individual trace elements.

I hope we bump into each other again, i don't get around the site that much; though i do occasionally post in ask and journals.

I think I'll take your advice re: ash, etc. I'll stick to my prepared plant food and not risk using other things not sparingly enough.

My plants and I thank your for all your help.

I'll keep an eye out for you. And feel free to say hello on my journal any time you feel like it.

Do you gave any experience with jasmine? I received one as a gift maybe four summers ago now, and it flowered beautifully the first year, and hasn't since. In fact, it too has gotten rather thin. I understand they need a lot of water, but what I suspect I'm unable to provide is enough humidity for it. Poor thing. I've moved it outside onto the back porch window sill now that it doesn't get below freezing at night anymore.

I hope you're plants thrive. As you like houesplants, do you grow any Orchids?
I don't think i can be any help regarding the Jasmine. I only know about the outdoor varieties. I suspect you could be right about the humidity factor. We occasionally get them at work. They are fine during the colder months, but come summer our shop area is too hot and dry and the jasmine's turn kinda crispy

I see from your PS you live in the US. Are your weather conditions similar to ours? Btw i'm in the UK.

Ooops! I hope YOUR plants thrive.
Dammit, i previewed aswell

From what I've seen of the UK, it would seem to me that your climate's a bit more temperate, overall. Summers here get quite humid, and temperatures generally range from 23°c to around 35°c; winters average around -6°c but it can get a bit colder than that (we had some days this past winter with highs around -18°c or so). We average 36" of rainfall and 38" of snowfall each year.

I've never tried my hand at any orchids. I've heard they're very difficult to grow successfully. Though I do get a LOT of really nice southern and eastern exposure in my place, we have central heating and air con, so it's not generally humid in here.

We don't have the same extremes of temperature that you have over there. Occasionally we reach highs of 28-30c and lows of -6c, thats in the area i live though. Scotland is far colder and Cornwall, Devon and Dorset has a milder climate altogether.

You would be surprised at how easy a Phalaenopsis (Moth Orchid) is to grow. They don't need much attention. I have several and they flower every year, sometimes twice. They're not nearly as delicate as people think.

Hmm. Maybe I'll take a trip over to the plant place and see if they have any for sale, then. I do have a couple of empty planters that would love to be occupied. Low humidity might not be as big a problem as I thought, then? Of course, several of my plants don't seem to mind it...

If you have a look at this <./>A10177067</.> It will give you some tips....and plug my own entry at same time

Very good- thank you! What a well-written and informative entry. And I'd have assumed they needed direct sunlight, resulting in another casualty. I'll be venturing over to the plant center at some point within the next couple of weeks anyway, so maybe I'll see if they have any when I'm there, and have a go. Something flowery would look nice, in addition to the anthurium and African violet I've gotten to bloom.

I hope you find one to your liking, with so many different colours available it can be a difficult choice.
So, aside from collecting houseplants, what else do you enjoy?

Oh, I like a few things. I enjoy cooking (vegetarian) quite a bit (more so than eating). I like music, and my better half plays in a few bands so I get to see live shows from time to time. I also enjoy watching films and reading. I suppose I can be more specific if any of those things interest you as well.

What other activities do you enjoy?

I wish i could say i do loads of other things, but i don't.

I enjoy watching films now and again, though they have to be either a good thriller or horror.
In the days when i used to read alot of books, it was mostly Stephen King, John Saul or Dean Koontz. I'm a bit wierd i guess, if a book did'nt scare me or keep me intrigued it was'nt worth reading.

All my other interests are based around plants or wildlife. I've become obsessed by plants, which is probably not healthy
Luckily i don't have a husband anymore and my daughter has her family, so i don't have to worry about catering to anyone else.
I get to see the family once a fortnight, which is always good. The eldest grandchild is a joy, she lights up a room when she walks in. The youngest a boy of 8 is a stroppy little git most of the time, but when he's in a good mood he can be very sweet.

Hmmmm, cooking is not one of my strong points, i've had more dinner disasters than i care to remember. On the bright side, no ones ever died of my cooking, but a few have declined having me cook for them. My last attempt to make a curry from scratch, resulted in me forgetting to take the blade guard of the food processor. It took me ages to work out what the little white bits were floating in sauce.

Hello again. Had a long weekend here and didn't get back online much.

I enjoy a nice thriller or horror movie from time to time myself, as well as lots of other genres. I agree that things have to keep me intrigued- though I do try to finish everything I start.

Your grandchildren sound about typical. I have a niece and nephew aged 12 and 10, and they're a bit like that, too; she seems as sweet as can be and he's kind of a smart aleck.

Glad to hear no one has died from your cooking yet. Mine, either. Though we did almost spontaneously combust once when I made chili with a different kind of pepper and it was much hotter than we're used to. I'm against the use of animal products so I've long been vegetarian, and over the last year or two I've been adhering to a mainly macrobiotic diet in hopes of undoing the damage done by chemotherapy for thyroid tumors, as well as preventing recurrence. So I do a fair amount of cooking myself, to monitor what's going in.

Plants and wildlife are pretty worthwhile IMO. Do you work with wildlife or at a nursery or anything like that?

I've let my pothos dry out this last week and it seems to have perked up somewhat. So thanks!

Hiya.
I'm pleased to hear the Pothos is picking up.

I was reading your journal. I'm sorry to hear about Herman, i hope he's going to be ok I've had several cats over the decades, all of them from a local cat sanctuary. The last one i had to have put to sleep four years ago. He was old and his kidney's were failing. I had take him to the vet to have a lump removed from his back. The vet did a blood test to make sure he was well and could cope with the anesthetic, given his age. Thats when they phoned and told me about his kidney's. It was a sad time for me losing my best friend. I havent considered having another cat, maybe when i retire i'll think about it.

Do you think the macrobiotic diet has helped you in any way? I must sound a little ignorant, but what does a macrobiotic diet consist of?

I work in a garden centre, which is a 20 minute walk from where i live. It's not the best job in the world, our boss has the approach of 'cater for the customers and sod the staff'. Aside from the obvious plant addiction, i stay there because no one else would employ me. I have rhumatoid arthritis, which is slowly getting worse. I know it's only a matter of time before his bossiness finds an excuse to make me redundant.

What is your line of work?

Sorry to hear that your boss is one of those- I worked in retail for some time (during school and for a while after) and experienced similar attitudes. Working with plants would at least make up for it by being interesting and somewhat rewarding. I hope that if he does find a reason to let you go, that you'll be eligible for disability or some other kind of compensation.

I work in accounting for a real estate company- we own and operate managed housing communities around the country. The nice thing about being in accounting is you're way under the radar in regards to customer type things.

Thanks for your well wishes about Herman. That means a lot- he's a special guy. I'm very sorry to hear about your loss. I remember how hard it was losing my special friend all those years ago. I've had several cats over my lifetime, too.

Macrobiotic basically means eating whole foods- avoiding processed stuff like white flour, refined sugars, etc- and avoiding animal protein. Some macrobiotic advisors allow for the consumption of fish, but I don't eat any fish products either. The goal is to have one's diet consist mainly of whole grains, fresh local vegetables, some sea vegetables, soy products and fruit. One should aim to consume local produce to the best of one's ability- seasonal and indigenous is best.

I can't say I adhere to all the basics- I can't bring myself to give up tropical fruit, nor nightshade vegetables. But I do try not to overdo them. I'm not convinced that all the yin/yang balancing stuff behind it is legit (sounds a bit new-agey to me), but most of the principles seem sound.

I'm hoping that it will help me to return to my pre-thyroid-problem weight and alleviate some of the other residual symptoms. I have noticed that I experience a lot less fatigue in general, and far fewer food "cravings".

Sorry to hear about your arthritis. Especially that it's getting worse (as it does). I hope your doctors treat you well?

Oh- and might I add that I've never before eaten so many beans. I used to really dislike them... it's a good thing I've learned to like them.

Hi
Sorry it's taken so long to reply, i've been moonlighting on another site. There is'nt much to keep on hootoo just now.

How is Herman doing?

I'm back at work now, which is going ok.

Sorry to hear about your health problems, i imagine it must have been a pretty scary time for you. Are you fully recovered now?

It's a short note as i'm about to leave for work.
Catch you later