learnasigrow

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It died 😭😭😭 I tried so hard guys. Every time there was a fly in my house I would carry the plant around until I could get the fly to land in there and then I’d put a paper towel over the top so they couldn’t escape. But the silly plant would not EAT. I swear I tried…

October 23, 2024

Welcome to the most recent addition to my plant family! My boyfriend bought me my first ever Venus fly trap. I read that it needs to be watered with either distilled water or rain water, so I bought a gallon of distilled water at the grocery store. During the first watering, I accidentally poured some of the water directly onto one of the traps and convinced the plant it caught something. I got to watch it shut, in real time! I was shocked how quickly the traps close, it's fascinating to see.

For that first attempt I watered from above, pouring the water down onto the plant. I'm wondering if it would be better to water the plant from below. I haven't tried removing it from the decorative urn it's in (I got scared!) but I assume there's a plastic farm pot in there. I think before the next watering, I'll try to pull the farm pot out and "bottom water" the plant. This is when you place the plant on a tray or bowl and pour water into the tray, and the plant soaks up the water slowly. If I use this method, I should hopefully avoid causing the traps to shut accidentally. (The one that shut seems fine now though! I watered it a few days ago, and it has since reopened).

I'm really excited about this one. We'll see how it goes!

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February 25, 2025

Look at this pretty bouquet my partner gave me for our 8 year anniversary!

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February 25, 2025

An update on this golden pothos plant: the leaves may not drape over the basket the way I originally intended, but I think it looks beautiful! The plant doesn’t receive much light in this spot, but it seems to be doing well anyway. I’ve been doing a better job of watering it in a timely manner over the past few months.

This is the same plant I watered here. I still haven’t changed the soil… oops.

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plant shadows - from saturday, 22 feb 2025

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February 5, 2025 - I’ve been giving this plant more care lately, and it shows! It’s looking brighter these days, and lifting its leaves more.

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January 13, 2025

Happy new year everyone! Today’s photo is of a ZZ plant cutting (that I took from my dying ZZ plant oops). I hear ZZ cuttings take a long time to develop roots but I am going to attempt it! I’ve placed it in this little bottle and will change out the water every few days. Here’s hoping it’s able to grow new roots!

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October 25, 2024

This is a kalanchoe plant that I bought for my boyfriend several months ago. It has grown so much since then (and probably needs to be moved to a larger pot)! It was blooming consistently for months after we got it, with such beautiful, tiny flowers. I think this particular plant had started flowering already when I bought it, but I read online that they need a few months of darkness before they will bloom, so I’m not sure if we’ll get flowers again. But who knows! I just think I’d feel bad leaving it in the dark haha.

When I get a larger pot for it, I’ll make sure to take a photo of the repotting and share it! And that means we can plant something new in the small pot… I’m already planning ahead lol.

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October 25, 2024

Here are my baby Pilea peperomioides! I took these pups from my large Pilea plant several months ago. (The one in the white pot below is older than the ones above. I have a post on it here where you can see a previous photo). They’re so cute! Unfortunately all my pileas seem to be pale lately… I could definitely water more often, but I wonder if there’s another issue? I haven’t spotted any pests. I read online that fertilizing the plant might help. I have two free samples of Bios plant fertilizer that I’ve never tried so I may give that a go. I always get scared when it’s time to try something new with plant care lol! But they seem to be suffering from my current care method, so trying something different is worth the risk. At the very least I’ll learn something!

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October 25, 2024

This plant has survived my neglect quite well… maybe under-watering is the way to go for this type of plant.

See a previous photo here! They’ve grown so much!

I believe these are echeveria. I planted them from the leaves of a larger plant, and you can actually see the dried original leaves attached to the sprouts. I have hope that the single large green leaf will also sprout another plant. It’s still green and hasn’t shriveled so it must be living!

I repurposed a microwaveable food cup for the planter, and a tin candy lid as the water tray.

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October 24, 2024

I gave this echeveria a much-needed watering today. I had left it without water for at least a few months and several of the lower leaves died. I pulled them off today, and though the plant is a bit funny-looking now, it should be happier than before. I am thinking of planting it a little deeper in the soil though, since those bottom leaves are now gone; I’m afraid it might be too top heavy if i leave it as-is.

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October 24, 2024

This is my kalanchoe plant! I took cuttings from it recently as you can see in this post. I may change the soil soon and try to re-center the plant in the pot, because it’s a bit lopsided now.

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October 24, 2024

I gave this plant some attention today after leaving it a little too long without water… oops. This is a variegated Bonnie spider plant that I bought from a big box store. I also removed a lot of brown leaves from the plant today (I see in the photo that I missed some). You can see a previous post about this plant here. It’s definitely a bit droopier these days! Hopefully now that I’ve watered it and removed the dead leaves it’ll perk up again.

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October 24, 2024

I want to share a piece of plant care advice that stuck with me. I learned this from Plants with Krystal on YouTube. I can’t find the specific video, but the advice is this:

“Take care of yourself first."

Your health is always the most important. You can work with what’s left of your plants later, or start new. This summer I spent most of my days just trying to take care of me, and as a result many of my plants were under-watered or overgrown. It’s ok. It happens. What I do now is assess what's left, pick up the pieces, and salvage what I can salvage. For me, this is a big part of the plant care journey and I want to share it here.

I hope you’re doing well. Take care of yourself.

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October 24, 2024

Watering time! It’s been awhile since I gave this plant attention. The soil was super dry before I watered it today. The plant must be pretty hardy; the leaves are still bright in color. Hopefully I can nurture it to grow bigger and stronger. I watered it in the sink and sprayed it with a water/hydrogen peroxide mixture.

I might do a soil change here soon. I think it’s in the same soil it had when I bought it!

I think this plant is a golden pothos but I’m not 100% sure.

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October 23, 2024

I lost these cuttings to mealybugs not long after posting the previous photo. And by that I mean, I saw those pests and yeeted the plant in the trash lol. I actually think the bugs were inside the planter itself; it had just been given to me, it had a lot of crevices, and the mother plant didn’t show any pest issues.

Sometimes it’s not worth the risk. I said goodbye to these little cuttings and the planter too to avoid a bigger problem. The mother plant is still alive and well! I actually took more cuttings from it recently. Hopefully this round has a happier ending!

May 15, 2024

Here are the cuttings I took a few months ago from my Kalanchoe plant! I put them together in this planter and I think they've grown since I planted them. The planter doesn't have drainage, so I have to be extra careful about watering. I've found that my larger kalanchoe does fine when I let it dry completely between watering, so I do the same with these smaller ones. It helps me avoid overwatering which can then cause root rot. Fingers crossed they stay healthy!

I planted these in the Sol Soils "Succulent Gritty Mix".

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October 23, 2024

Just want to share an update here. After harvesting the scallions a few times, they eventually became very pale and sickly, and at that point I tossed them. RIP scallions. 🥲 (This was several months ago).

If I do it again, I’m thinking I’ll try a deeper pot (or just plant them further down into the pot) so they have a stronger base. Also I will probably look into fertilizers, since I didn’t use any here.

April 23, 2024

I think my scallion plant is ready to be harvested again. 😅

Also - the stems have been leaning/twisting lately. I think I must’ve turned the pot slightly at some point and caused the stems to twist around to reach the light. I’m also wondering if I should’ve planted them deeper into the pot to begin with. I’m also thinking I could add a stake to help them stay upright.

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October 23, 2024

My main kalanchoe plant grew much too tall for its container, so I decided to propagate it. I trimmed the tallest stem and planted the cuttings in soil (I used the "succulent gritty mix" from Sol Soils since I already had a bag of it). I am not an expert by any means; I work mostly on trial and error. I watered the plant in the sink and sprayed with a hydrogen peroxide and water mixture.

The transparent container was from some cherry tomatoes I bought at the grocery store. These are the perfect containers for plants of this size because there are already drainage holes! I'm using an old takeout container (which is missing its lid anyway) as the watering tray.

Fingers crossed this is successful. 🤞