Cottonwood Board Shop Home

The Budget Way and When Not to Panic.

Are You on a budget? Okay, one way around this is to start your house-plants by way of seeds, or cuttings. Cuttings can be acquired from friends and family; and seed can be bought at most plant nurseries.

Cuttings- I shall delve into the matter of how to take and plant cuttings, in another article. For now, I will just give mention to a few plants that will readily strike from cuttings.

Happy Plants, or Dracaenas, are quite easy to propagate from cuttings. It was once believed that they could be grown even if the cutting was planted upside-down. Er, no!

If it is colour, or flowers, you are after, Impatiens, or Busy-Lizzies, are very easy to strike. Fuscias, too.

Leaf-colour – Aluminium plant, Freckle-Face, Mother-in-Laws-Tongue for green/white combinations. Coleus, for striking, vibrant, reds and yellows.

Big Shiny Leaves – can’t go past Monsteria Deliciosa.

Ferns – readily strike from plant divisions and come in a multitude of varieties and shades.

African Violets – fairly simple to strike, provided you have the patience.

Philodendrons – climbers, for the most part, easy to strike and come in a variety of shades of green.

Where you get your cuttings from, is up to you. Friends are always a good mark.

Seeds – I shall delve into the matter of seeding methods, in another article.

Those listed below are easy to germinate or to acquire.

Palms are fairly straight forward to germinate, only requires seed.
Impatients, Begonias, cyclamen, polka-dot, or freckle plant, for colour – from cuttings.

When Not to Panic.

If you have little or no experience with growing plants, the whole thing can be a daunting prospect.

Here are a few guide-lines for you:
If the leaves on the bottom of the plant go yellow and/or fall off – DO NOT PANIC. You have not killed it. Leaves, just like flowers, reach a use-by date, no different than the loss of a few stray hairs from your head – doesn’t mean your going to go bald overnight, or die. If ALL the leaves on the plant go yellow and/or fall off – ‘something’ has gone wrong. Now, this could be for a variety of reasons, but most likely it will be either: too hot, too cold, too wet, or too dry.
Too Hot:
If the leaves have changed colour and are a little bit crispy, too close to the heater, maybe, or in full sun behind glass. Or, you forgot to water it. Tsk, Tsk!
Too Cold:
Plants just sitting there? No new growth,or browning of the tips – possibly in a draft. Could also be, too close to a window in cold weather – glass transfers the cold really well.
Too Wet:
Probably the biggest problem with new-comers to indoor-gardening, namely, over-watering.
Coming a close second, under-watering.

When watering potted plants potted plants , it is best to soak the pot. By this I mean, put the pot in a bucket and begin filling it with water, until the water comes up to just beneath the top of the pot-lip.
Leave it there until air stops bubbling from the soil, about 20/30 minutes. Then remove the pot and allow it to drain, just until water stops actually flowing from it.

This extra care allows the soil to soak up lots of water, removes air-pockets and gives the plant some extra moisture reserves.

How can you tell when an Indoor plant has the correct amount of watering?

Just because a pot looks dry can be a bit deceiving and does not necessarily mean it needs watering again.

Dig your finger into the soil of the pot, about an inch and a half. The soil should be a darker colour, soft and feel DAMP – not wet.

If this is so, leave it for a day or so, if it feels too dry, obviously, it needs water.

If it is WET, you are probably over-watering. First check that it is not sitting in water, like a full saucer, remove it and drain.

Sad Plants:

Too often people panic as soon as a plant droops a bit.

Best bet is to first rectify any of the causes given above, then leave it alone for a day. If the plant was too hot, or too dry and providing it is not actually crispy, it will rectify itself within hours. If it was too wet, or cold, you should see recovery within days.

These are only the obvious remedies, the more, less obvious, I shall address as we go along in later issues. Most indoor plants will appreciate being sprayed with a fine mist of water once in a while. Makes them look fresher, too.

Too difficult.

If it all proves too difficult, there are some magnificent ‘fake’ plants available, these days. This does not mean failure, with the time constraints of work and family these days, sometimes ‘real’ plants are just not practical. So good are these ‘fakes’, that many experienced gardeners can be fooled at a glance. Me, included!

Then again, some people just do not understand plants. I myself, just do not understand cars – I can live with that.