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

[Lichen Bark]

How do you prune cacti? One of mine got to over a foot long in a little pot and I had to snip it half way. It's still alive of course, but it has scars from where I trimmed it.

Cacti are very slow growing so they don't prune well in my opinion. What you could have done is taken the upper half of the cacti that you chopped off, let the wound dry out for a few days, then put it in soil to root. If your cactus sometimes put's out sideshoots, and you don't want it getting bigger I usually cut those off early. What will probably happen now is the cactus will start a new offshoot close to the scar, and it will probably not look great. You should go into the trash and dig out the cactus cutting and repot it.

 

[Swagstika]

Steven the stephania erecta continues to surprise me. He has been really weird and funny to have so far. His pervy grabbiness and molesting everything around him aside, even his growth pattern has been entertaining.
The first months I had him, he did nothing. Absolutely nothing. Even dropped a few leaves like a little diva. Then he grew a 4 foot long antenne that stuck up at a perfect angle until it grew to heavy and collapsed on itself. Then he grew even more grabby antennas, but they ended up very leggy. Then the leaves and ends of the antennas started dying from the tips and I cut him back almost every week until he ended up with just 8 big leaves and some short stumps for winter. Now, in the end of freaking february, in the cold and lack of light, he has started sprouting a whole bunch of new leaves?
Little weirdo.

 

[Adrenochrome Dreams]

Does anyone else here feel bad about killing plants? It’s bad enough when it’s a weed, (and I avoid killing those in flower for the bees) but I have a bunch of existing ornamentals in my garden that are pointless.

I really need all the space I can get for growing veg, plus with the difficultly pollinators are having all ornamentals need to have value to wildlife.

But it just seems such a shame and a waste to kill established plants. I feel bad. They are alive.

I need emotional support.

 

[NoReturn]

I need emotional support.

You're making the right decision, but I agree it does suck. Can you compost them, maybe?

 

[Aunt Carol]

I have a bunch of existing ornamentals in my garden that are pointless.

Any local sites or buy nothing groups you can offer the plants up on?

I got a whole mess of iris rhizomes from a "come and take 'em, I need to garden" listing.

 

[Pickman's Modeling Agency]

Mushroom grow bag FINALLY getting close to fully colonized. Hoping for pins in the next week or two.



Started my tomato seeds last week and they have begun to sprout. Need to harvest some vermicompost and add it once it's time to bury the stems a bit.

 

[Optavia Sales Rep]

My mom planted this aloe over a year ago in a too shallow pot. Now I get to harvest all these overgrown babies and put them....somewhere. I've already taken the four from the center out so I could count how many more pots I'll need. I'm pretty sure that the stalk at 8 o'clock is the original plant. Maybe.

 

[Swagstika]

Ver archivo adjunto 7060234
My mom planted this aloe over a year ago in a too shallow pot. Now I get to harvest all these overgrown babies and put them....somewhere. I've already taken the four from the center out so I could count how many more pots I'll need. I'm pretty sure that the stalk at 8 o'clock is the original plant. Maybe.

Can you turn them into some sort of health-aloe-drink thing or something?

 

[Pickman's Modeling Agency]

All of my tomato sprouts have shriveled and I need to start over. Lame.

Finally have pins on the mushroom brick. Hopefully will have mature mushrooms to harvest in another week or two.

 

[Imp]

How do I keep birds nest ferns in the winter? I'm in the deep south and for summers I keep them on my deck in a mostly shady spot and they flourish. Winter I have an attached sunroom that often gets very cold (mitigated with a heater to not go below 50F) but also very hot when sunny. Dried out and deaded x3. Bathroom counter no direct sunlight dead x1. What do? My house is mostly shady but gets afternoon sun on the backside.

 

[Courtney Gears]

yesterday, i found an onion that had fallen into a corner of my pantry. it's put up a shoot about a foot tall.
if an onion can survive in the corner of a dark pantry for at least a month, surely i'll be able to avoid killing it... right??
it's a standard white onion from a grocery. any tips for planting it? is it even viable?

Does anyone else here feel bad about killing plants?

one time i felt bad picking leaves from a relatively small basil plant
something about the way i was picking from it and not harvesting it entirely got me..!

 

[NoReturn]

it's a standard white onion from a grocery. any tips for planting it? is it even viable?

I planted an onion like that once. Just shoved it in the dirt.

 

[Sperg_rancher]

Mushroom grow bag FINALLY getting close to fully colonized. Hoping for pins in the next week or two.

extremely healthy rhizomic mycelium. that will be a good grow for sure.

 

[suspended animation]

any tips for planting it?

Since it was in a really dark spot, you'll have to gradually adjust it to brighter light until it can survive sunlight.

Watch out for squirrels; one ate my chives so they may have a taste for it?

 

[Pickman's Modeling Agency]

extremely healthy rhizomic mycelium. that will be a good grow for sure.

Decided to open the bag now and fruit in a bin rather than following the bag instructions to wait until 1st harvest to open. It's not an ideal bin, but should be more room to grow.

 

[Sperg_rancher]

Decided to open the bag now and fruit in a bin rather than following the bag instructions to wait until 1st harvest to open. It's not an ideal bin, but should be more room to grow.

Let's GOOO! I havent seen those stringy root-like things before, are those mycelium, or just part of the grain?
A good grow in the making. Or at least a shit load of aborts. those are great too.

 

[Neodanthril]

This year I am doing hibiscus, hyacinth, rosemary, oregano, Roman chamomile , regular and red rubin basil, lemongrass, peppermint, pineapple mint, and chocolate mint all for various recipes and seasonings

 

[Pickman's Modeling Agency]

Let's GOOO! I havent seen those stringy root-like things before, are those mycelium, or just part of the grain?
A good grow in the making. Or at least a shit load of aborts. those are great too.

Part of the grain/substrate that came in the bag - I imagine it's the coir, since I use it in the garden and the stringy bits are normal. Been keeping the bin as humid as possible and have a little meter inside. In the move, I knocked off several of the little guys and didn't want them to go to waste. Just enough to know that we're coming along nicely. I am very excited for the batch, lol.

 

[Swagstika]

Ver archivo adjunto 7037297

Steven the stephania erecta continues to surprise me. He has been really weird and funny to have so far. His pervy grabbiness and molesting everything around him aside, even his growth pattern has been entertaining.
The first months I had him, he did nothing. Absolutely nothing. Even dropped a few leaves like a little diva. Then he grew a 4 foot long antenne that stuck up at a perfect angle until it grew to heavy and collapsed on itself. Then he grew even more grabby antennas, but they ended up very leggy. Then the leaves and ends of the antennas started dying from the tips and I cut him back almost every week until he ended up with just 8 big leaves and some short stumps for winter. Now, in the end of freaking february, in the cold and lack of light, he has started sprouting a whole bunch of new leaves?
Little weirdo.

One month Steven update after his weirdly timed growth spurth.
I already snipped off half of a tentacle to contain him, but he just keeps growing and grabbing!

 

[a hapless toad]

I knew the previous owner of my new house was an avid gardener and discovering what's in my yard as spring progresses has been delightful.

So far I've found crocus, grape hyacinths, squills, tulips, bearded iris, and daffodils, none of which have been eaten by the deer (yet).

Unfortunately a bunch of them are growing along the foundation of my house and I've got workers coming this week to trench about three inches down in preparation for painting...

So this weekend I've got to go on a bulb rescue mission and I'm not sure what to do with some of the survivors. The iris are going into a galvanized washtub with potting soil (they're just coming up so they'll be able to settle in and do their thing until I can find them a new home in the fall).

But what should I do with the crocus and grape hyacinths? They're just blooming now and it kills me to have to dig them up - especially since I really don't have anywhere to put them right now.

Is the rescue mission pointless? Should I just take the L, let those bulbs go, and plant new ones in the fall?

Edit: Also I've got a massive buddleia that needs a prune but everything I've read is like knock em down to the ground in spring once they come out of dormancy and you see the first green shoots. Despite being in zone 6 it never went dormant and I'm like uh, did I miss my chance to hard prune? How far back do I take it? I know they grow like crazy and are nearly impossible to kill once established but I also don't want a huge bare spot for months...

Edit 2: Another consideration for all of my questions is to note that even though it's technically spring?

It's going to be in the teens next week.