It’s Halloween tomorrow, so what better way to embrace the spooky season than to reflect upon our horrific plant experiences.
A few of our staff members felt brave enough to go back to those dark times, and remember the hard lessons learned. So here we are sharing our mistakes and failures in hopes that you don’t have to experience them yourself.
Enjoy!
Sticky Schefflera
One day, early in my plant parent career, I became the proud owner of a schefflera. By reputation, these plants are easy to grow and rewarding to have as part of your collection. Naturally, I was very excited to have one and I had the perfect spot!
Several years passed and the plant was thriving. However, unbeknownst to me, a large and very gross colony of scale had infiltrated my perfect plant.
They were happily multiplying on the undersides of the leaves, sucking out the sweet juices and secreting sticky residue on every surface in the vacinity. How they got in the house? I have no idea. Eventually, after failed treatment attempts (neem oil and systemic applications) I had to cut my losses. It was a very sad day that I will never forget.
The lessons I have learned are:
1) Quarantine new plants for a minimum of two weeks (I failed to do this)
2) Routinely check your plant friends for pests (scale, spider mites and mealy bugs are common)
3) Treat these pests as soon as you detect their presence! If you’re not sure how to proceed, our staff at Shonnard’s can assist you!
A Drowning Citrus
One of our first plants together as a couple was our lime tree. Both of us didn’t notice that it didn’t have good drainage and it was dying before our eyes. My learning experience was all Citrus plants love cactus mix and a pot that has drainage.
African Violet Mutilation
I used to work in an office where there was a giant African violet plant growing that was left behind by a previous employee. One day a coworker said it would probably rebloom if it was repotted. This plant was lush, probably 10 inches wide, and it was in about an 8 inch pot at the time. So, for some reason, with absolutely no plant experience (yet), but wild optimism that I could figure it out, I took it home feeling determined to revitalize the plant by giving it fresh soil and repotting it.
All I remember is taking it out of the pot, discovering a thick and tight root mass and ‘guessing’ that I needed to break up the plant so that I could repot it.
It’s a blur, but there was pulling, tugging, cutting, crunching – honestly, looking back on it I feel like I mutilated this poor plant. It wasn’t until I had a dirty mess on my kitchen counter that I finally thought to Google what I should be doing to repot an African violet. Sadly, I did everything I shouldn’t have, and being a complete novice I thought I just killed the plant entirely – so I thew it away…(here comes the shame, again.).
I still feel deep guilt to this day – I want to drop my head, and cringe. Ugh! I’m so sorry African violet!
Here’s the lessons learned from my shameful experience:
- Do your best to not disturb the roots of an African violet when repotting.
- Take a little time to do a little research into what a plant likes before messing with it. This will help you be prepared with the right soil, pot size, and have a better idea of what to expect.
- If you are way too intimidated to repot a plant, then find a place like Shonnard’s Nursery who offers repotting services. Pay for the repotting service, but watch and ask questions so that you can learn to try it yourself next time. There’s always someone out there who is happy to help you!
The Bare Naked Ficus
I got a Ficus benjamina tree a few years ago from a dear family member. At that time it had to have been 10 years old, so I really didn’t want to mess this up. Ficus trees can be very finicky… I was absolutely terrified of killing it. I found a nice, warm, and sunny spot for it in my room. It did great all summer through fall, then winter came.
Slowly but surely ALL of its leaves fell off till there was only TWO LEFT!! I was devastated and ready to give up. I then realized the Ficus was right by a vent when I saw the branches moving in the forced air. The warm and dry air was flowing throughout the whole tree. I then moved it to a different location with no direct contact with that dry air and within a week it had new leaves forming!
Lessons learned:
- Always try to better understand the “ecosystem” within your home. Small things can become large issues when bringing plants into the picture.
- Never give up! Try something different to save the plant(new soil, smaller/bigger pot/LOCATION) even if it looks grim.
Snake Plant Blues
I was gifted a snake plant about 6 years ago. It was a little guy in a 2″ pot, and it was very happy in that pot.
I watched it grow and put on many more leaves over the years. It got large enough that it was practically jumping out of the pot. I decided that it was time to repot it. I started out with a 6″ pot, thinking it would grow into it.
Once it was in there, I very quickly realized that it needed something smaller. I downsized to a 4″ pot, which was still too big. I did leave it in that pot, packed with good cactus soil, but it was never the same. Some of the leaves started to brown and sag, and it just looked so sad. It was likely getting too much moisture, and apparently it liked to be rootbound.
Lesson learned! If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!