Your houseplants and gardens - Yellow leaf means underwatered AND overwatered?! What a country!

[NoReturn]

>No plant posts for over a week.

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it was over 50 degrees today. in previous years it has been a blizzard or 10 below at this time of year. the 10 day forcast is all above freezing and frost.

I am pretty much killing myself not going out and planting the 50,000 wildflower seeds I have sitting here looking at me.

I too am waiting for the weather to turn. The outside plants are just sitting there. Waiting. I just need the weather to stay warm enough for a few days in a row then I'm going a-planting.
In the meantime I did clean up some dead leaves just because I see some green onions waking up already. I didn't throw them away, though. I know there are bugs in there so I put them all in a single container in a safe area so the bugs can wake up and crawl out when they're done hibernating.

 

[AnOminous]

A bit more reading says that if I prune the flowers off, it will continue to make more branches and get bigger. The flowers have been there over a week now. Anyone know if it's too late to prune them back? If it is I'll just let it run its course and get the seeds from it when they appear. Don't want to prune them then be left with a dying plant and no seeds.

Pinch those little things off every couple days, preferably before they turn into flowers and start sapping the plant.

This often causes the stem to split and two or more to grow out of it. Keep doing it and you'll end up with something like a bush. Usually my outdoor basil ends up with thick, woodlike stalks at the base.

 

[Lichen Bark]

I tried one of the leaves from it and it has a bit of a chemical taste from the plant food so I've put it on a flush cycle of just water to clear it all out.

I wonder if what you're tasting is just the normal bitterness the plant seems to produce once it flowers, and maybe not related to the fertilizer. If you want seeds, you might need to hand pollinate the flowers with a small paintbrush I think. You have to choose between seeds, or good tasting basil though.

I usually grow Italian (sweet) basil and Thai basil. I nip the flowers when I see them on both plants. However, I notice my Italian basil tastes worse once the flowers show up, even though I'm out there every day pinching off buds. The Thai basil flavor doesn't seem to be affected by the flowers.

I did some digging into some old garden forums. I think these two posts are insightful:

From 2008:

If you are growing genovese sweet basil, the flavor will become somewhat bitter when the flower buds start to form. The flowering is triggered when they have three pairs, or six leaves on the stem. We always cut it when it gets six leaves. There are some who don't notice a change in taste, others that do. My Italian in-laws can definitely tell if I've harvested when the buds are starting. I notice a different taste, but it doesn't put me off making pesto with it.

From 2005:
I like this one because it mentions leaf shape change, which now that I think about it, is something I notice happens during my growing season, and really never reverts back even though I pick flowers with my fingers.

Try to keep the plants from flowering by regular stem pinching. When plants produce about 8 leaves on a stem, flowers begin to appear. Prior to flower spike emergence, top leaves will look wrinkled and their edges folded. Once flowers form, nipping will not prevent further flowering. The plants stems must be cut back to two leaves on each stem to encourage vegetative growth.

I am going to try this method this year and see if it preserves the taste of my Italian basil. Usually I just replant new younger basil throughout the year. I think this means I'll be cutting them way earlier than I usually do, and more aggressively. I didn't know about the number of leaves thing at all, but it seems to be a thing. It might not be too late to cut them off, but you'd probably have to cut quite a bit off the plant to get it to go back to non-flower mode. Let us know if the taste improves, and if you decide to do an aggressive trim or just a nip.

 

[Layton Mysteries]

I threw out some old microgreens and they took off growing so I transplanted them to an actual bed. Now my problem is I don't know whether they are cabbages or broccoli. Anyone know how to tell the difference while they are about a month old sapplings?

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I am pretty much killing myself not going out and planting the 50,000 wildflower seeds I have sitting here looking at me.

I planted some wildflower seeds in a little woods clearing for the first time this year. I am really hoping they do alright. I think I didn't spread them out enough because they just sprouted and they are all close together in big clumps. Should I thin them out or just let them compete with each other naturally?

I buy basil plants from the shop and leave them on the windowsill watering them and picking leaves off them as needed. One plant when it got down to just four leaves left I decided instead of just buying another one I'd see if I could resurrect it. I put it under a sun lamp and gave it a bunch of plant food and it's come back gangbusters, nice large bushy plant in a few weeks. I noticed recently it sprouted white flowers, which I've never seen on any of my basil plants before. A bit of research says this means it is going into reproductive mode, the flowers will bear seeds and it will die.
A bit more reading says that if I prune the flowers off, it will continue to make more branches and get bigger. The flowers have been there over a week now. Anyone know if it's too late to prune them back? If it is I'll just let it run its course and get the seeds from it when they appear. Don't want to prune them then be left with a dying plant and no seeds.
I tried one of the leaves from it and it has a bit of a chemical taste from the plant food so I've put it on a flush cycle of just water to clear it all out.

Basil is an annual. With some annuals you can get them too if you keep them inside during the winter and baby them, but I've never had any luck doing that with basil. I've tried before but the stalks become very woody and they stop getting any new growth after a while, just maintaining a couple of leaves until they die. If you do want a lot of basil it does great in little hydroponic systems.

 

[one_time_user]

@Layton Mysteries, you can pinch a leaf and taste it, you should be able to tell pretty quickly by taste.

clumping wildflowers is ok because they hold each other up but you can definitely also move some around and hope. for the best. I have recently discovered and become obsessed with winter blooming flowers. what the magical fuck!

 

[Aunt Carol]

I buy basil plants from the shop and leave them on the windowsill watering them and picking leaves off them as needed. One plant when it got down to just four leaves left I decided instead of just buying another one I'd see if I could resurrect it. I put it under a sun lamp and gave it a bunch of plant food and it's come back gangbusters, nice large bushy plant in a few weeks.

Uncletuber Atomic Shrimp has what he calls the "Infinite Basil Project," where he grows basil on the windowsill until it starts to die, then roots cuttings from the original plant. It briefly tuned into the "Finite Basil Project" until he realized that the flowering stalks themselves were sending hormones telling any cuttings in the same jar not to root.

 

[RACISM]

Pinch those little things off every couple days, preferably before they turn into flowers and start sapping the plant.

Have been doing this, thanks for the tip.

I wonder if what you're tasting is just the normal bitterness the plant seems to produce once it flowers, and maybe not related to the fertilizer

Before I posted here they had been on the clean water cycle for almost a week. I tried some yesterday to see if there's any difference, and the weird chemical taste is pretty much completely gone. I'm sure it was the plant food. Which is a mix of four different feeds I mix together.

 

[Aiōn]

I buy basil plants from the shop and leave them on the windowsill watering them and picking leaves off them as needed.

Those potted herb plants you buy at the grocery store are usually like 4-6 plants crammed into a small pot so they look better. If you divide them up into their own pots then they should flourish.

 

[Cougar Pump]

I buy basil plants from the shop and leave them on the windowsill watering them and picking leaves off them as needed. One plant when it got down to just four leaves left I decided instead of just buying another one I'd see if I could resurrect it. I put it under a sun lamp and gave it a bunch of plant food and it's come back gangbusters, nice large bushy plant in a few weeks. I noticed recently it sprouted white flowers, which I've never seen on any of my basil plants before. A bit of research says this means it is going into reproductive mode, the flowers will bear seeds and it will die.
A bit more reading says that if I prune the flowers off, it will continue to make more branches and get bigger. The flowers have been there over a week now. Anyone know if it's too late to prune them back? If it is I'll just let it run its course and get the seeds from it when they appear. Don't want to prune them then be left with a dying plant and no seeds.
I tried one of the leaves from it and it has a bit of a chemical taste from the plant food so I've put it on a flush cycle of just water to clear it all out.

Nah just prune it. Cleanest small snips you can find and get as close to the top as you can. It'll put out two shoots either side of the cut and keep growing. Over time it'll become woody around the base and you'll find you get less leaves from it, but you can keep them productive for a very long time by trimming the flower heads repeatedly.

 

[Swagstika]

I need advice for my big pothos: The last month it has been developing a lot of yellow leaves.
I have moved it from the north facing office to the south facing living room, but I'm not going to put up growth light and such for it.
What else can I do? More nutrition? Less? Should I leave the yellow leaves on? Mist it?

 

[Biggimus Bettimus]

Is "companion planting" a myth? I know some things like squash + potatoes are heavy feeders and should be separate, black walnuts make the soil acidic, and beans fix nitrogen in the soil, but everything else seems marginal. I'm over here overthinking and resketching my garden plans every couple weeks, lol. I can't wait until we can start a few plants indoors soon.
BTW:
If your indoor plants get powdery mildew, i just lazily put baking soda over my sapling and kept watering it as usual and he figured out his biz and is now growing semi-happily again (might throw some plant food on them when I start my seeds)

 

[one_time_user]

I planted a dozen lenten roses in the back woody part of my yard today! I also put down critter repellent because my ass got chased by either an incredibly horny skunk or a rabid one. I put down mole repellent too because my yard looks like a war of mini enemies took place with bombs and bunkers, the entire thing is filled with little volcanoes.

 

[bliblblblbbllb]

I need advice for my big pothos: The last month it has been developing a lot of yellow leaves.
I have moved it from the north facing office to the south facing living room, but I'm not going to put up growth light and such for it.
What else can I do? More nutrition? Less? Should I leave the yellow leaves on? Mist it?

More nutrition is almost never the answer.
Misting is also basically never the answer.

Not enough light is very often the answer.

Since you said "big pothos".... is it horribly rootbound? Also, did you move it to anywhere that's near a heat source like a vent or oven?
If it's just too big of a plant to live off the light conditions, I'd recommend a chop 'n prop. Make yourself a smaller, bushier pothos.
Hard to give more advice without a picture.
My rule is that I remove any leaves that are more than 1/3rd dead. Yellowing leaves don't recover- if you push slightly on them do they pop off?

 

[Swagstika]

More nutrition is almost never the answer.
Misting is also basically never the answer.

Not enough light is very often the answer.

Since you said "big pothos".... is it horribly rootbound? Also, did you move it to anywhere that's near a heat source like a vent or oven?
If it's just too big of a plant to live off the light conditions, I'd recommend a chop 'n prop. Make yourself a smaller, bushier pothos.
Hard to give more advice without a picture.
My rule is that I remove any leaves that are more than 1/3rd dead. Yellowing leaves don't recover- if you push slightly on them do they pop off?

Alright, so:
No nutrition, no misting.
Yes to keeping it by the south facing windows (At least for the remainder of winter)
Rootbound: Hm, I can’t image it would be? I moved it from the standard size indoor plant pot to a knee high, much larger one (To counterweight for the largest climbing pole my plant store had) back in august. Back then, the roots barely took up one quarter of the “surface” area in the new bit pot, so I just stuffed it all down together in one side by the climbing pole. I can’t image it would have grown so many roots in like half a year to be root bound?
Heat source: Well, sort of, kind of. It stood near a radiator and was moved near another radiator. But the radiators are only supplemental and never seem to go above barely lukewarm because we have some weird central air system for temperature and air conditioning.
I would be pretty upset if I had to chop it up, but I can´t really offer it better light than I have up in the frozen north…
The leaves doesn´t pop off though: I have to sort of wiggle them a little to break them off from the stem. Does that mean anything?

 

[NoReturn]

Is "companion planting" a myth? I know some things like squash + potatoes are heavy feeders and should be separate, black walnuts make the soil acidic, and beans fix nitrogen in the soil, but everything else seems marginal. I'm over here overthinking and resketching my garden plans every couple weeks, lol. I can't wait until we can start a few plants indoors soon.

It's complicated.
I've seen people online saying it's a total myth, but I've done experiments in my own life and have proven (at least to myself) that it's usually at least worth a try depending on the type of plant.

Crop rotation also works in planters, so you can just cycle things around and save on fertilizer.
Legumes, leaves, fruits, roots, in that order.
Legumes are nitrogen fixers.
Leafy veggies need lots of nitrogen.
Fruits need SOME nitrogen and lots of phosphorus.
Roots like potassium and phosphorus and don't need a lot of nitrogen.

So to combine the two, you can shove a pea in with something that might have nitrogen-depleted soil and it'll work.

Alright, so:
No nutrition, no misting.
Yes to keeping it by the south facing windows (At least for the remainder of winter)
Rootbound: Hm, I can’t image it would be? I moved it from the standard size indoor plant pot to a knee high, much larger one (To counterweight for the largest climbing pole my plant store had) back in august. Back then, the roots barely took up one quarter of the “surface” area in the new bit pot, so I just stuffed it all down together in one side by the climbing pole. I can’t image it would have grown so many roots in like half a year to be root bound?

Rootbound in your case is unlikely. Light is probably the determining factor. Light + damp soil. Try checking how wet things are in the pot. Stuff dries slower in winter.

I would be pretty upset if I had to chop it up, but I can´t really offer it better light than I have up in the frozen north…

Try a growlight! You can get some decent cheap ones.

The leaves doesn´t pop off though: I have to sort of wiggle them a little to break them off from the stem. Does that mean anything?

Just that it wasn't done self-pruning when you popped it off, you can let them get to crispy before you pull them unless you:
A. Are neurotic like me and just want to do something
or
B. Care about aesthetics

 

[Lichen Bark]

Is "companion planting" a myth?

I tried it once when I was battling cucumber beetles. Supposedly they deter the beetles. I planted marigolds between the cucumbers, but I never noticed any difference. Garden looked nice with flowers though. Still had lots of beetles! Mint repels mosquitoes? Well I have 100sq ft of mint and I still have mosquitoes, they fly out of the mint at me lol! Maybe there are combinations that work, but I wouldn't change my whole garden strategy for companion planting. Strawberries and asparagus another suggested one, but if you look at the asparagus patches with those plants they don't look great to me. You could probably achieve a lot more garden satisfaction experimenting with different mulches, and working on a compost pile. Sometimes the companion plants "reduce weeds" but mulch does a much better job at that in my opinion.

I think it makes sense to try and attract predatory insects to your garden though. @NoReturn mentioned they built some spider habitats out of dead sticks and stuff, which is smart, because spiders do help. I like looking at the cool "companion planting" charts. I still plant Borage and German Chamomile in my garden because I do like how it attracts the pollinators and the predatory flies, but they get their own little spot, Borage gets huge so I can't imagine planting it close to another plant I was trying to harvest, they would fight for light.

I'm starting an asparagus patch this year, and instead of companion planting it with strawberries, I am designing the garden with a rock border (like a fire pit) so I can safely burn it in the spring. Apparently the asparagus bugs overwinter in the old branches and surface of the soil, so cooking them with a quick brush fire can help manage their population, without killing the deeply rooted asparagus.

 

[Bassomatic]

Since I'm working from home as a cripple for next week or two poppa basso brought me an orchid.

Guys /girls plz help. This thing is going to die faster than a toddler at a pit bull parade .

 

[NoReturn]

Since I'm working from home as a cripple for next week or two poppa basso brought me an orchid.

Guys /girls plz help. This thing is going to die faster than a toddler at a pit bull parade .

It's not dying when the flowers are gone, but then you'll have an orchid that's just a collection of fat leaves. Don't feel too bad about it.
Also never water it with an ice cube. That's a dumb internet hack that doesn't work.

 

[Bassomatic]

Thanks for the heads up. I don't do indoor plants well. My dad has a pretty good orchard collection so even with his advice I'm nervous.

 

[Lichen Bark]

Since I'm working from home as a cripple for next week or two poppa basso brought me an orchid.

Guys /girls plz help. This thing is going to die faster than a toddler at a pit bull parade .

Haha, I've had an orchid that hasn't changed in like 3 years, it's perpetually frozen with like 3 leaves. It's still mad at me for putting it in that sunny window one time, and has never recovered. Maybe its time I repot the stubborn bastard, it's still holding onto one sun scorched leaf out of spite.

"See! See what you did to me. *wiggles damaged leaf*"