Annual or Perennial? Have you ever wondered what the difference was? When you get into gardening these two words are thrown around a lot. So, what is an Annual and what is a Perennial? Annual- Annuals only live once a year. They usually germinate, and die off after a year, or when the seasons change, depending on your climate zone. If you prevent an annual from seeding, it may live longer then a year. Types of Annuals: corn, beans, grains, marigolds, blue eyes, daisies, begonias, and much much more. Perennial- Perennials are plants that live for more then two years. Some perennials are only grown as annuals depending on the climate they are grown in, and the gardener. Types of Perennials: Wooded plants, orchids, ferns, aster, baby's breath, and much more. So there you go, a little less trouble when it comes to deciding between an Annual and a Perennial. I hope you enjoyed thi...
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Hello everyone. I have some prime plants that I need to try to propagate. I am trying to propagate my Coleus, Jade Plant, and Aloe. I really need a new project, and this will be a good one. Coleus To propagate a coleus you will find a 3-5 inch section of the plant. Cut off any flowing (this will take away nutrients from growing, and probably kill off the cutting). Remove the leafs on the bottom two inches of the cutting. Fill a cup, or a jar with water. Put your cutting in the water so about 2 inches of the cutting are in the water. Wait....for about two weeks. Sometimes a week will be okay. Once your Coleus has about 2-3 inches of roots coming out of it. Now we plant. and there you go. Jade Plant This can be propagated a few ways. First way is the leaf way. Pinch off a leaf. Place in semi dry dirt. After about two weeks there you go. Water just a little bit every week. ...
I looked at my little lemon tree, and it looked very sad today. As I examined the tree a little more, I noticed that the soil had way to much water! This is very bad for plants. If there is too much water in your pot, your plants will drown. Yes really. Over watering is actually one of the leading causes of death in house plants. So what I did, was I replanted the tree in some fresh clean and dryish potting soil. This should help out a bit. But how do you know if you are over watering the plants? Let the top inch or so of soil dry out. If the soil feels dry to the touch then you can add some water. If your soil is moist and visibly wet on the surface, let the poor thing dry out for a while. Your plants roots need oxygen, but not too much either, that can damage them too. Your plant will tell you when it has too much water. The leaves will turn a dull green. Stop watering right away. The best thing to do if you can, is to re-pot the plant if there is so much water t...
Hello everyone, let's get a little dirty. I'm talking about soil. Now I have been using a soil from Sta-green. I feel it has worked pretty well, but perhaps when the spring comes I will try a different brand. On your bag of soil there are going to be some numbers. On my Sta-green they are .10-.08-.06. what does that mean? Why should we care about those numbers? Let us take a look. There are three numbers on each bag of soil, or fertilizer. The numbers are representative of the main elements that are in the fertilizer. N-P-K. Nitrogen-Phosphorus-Potassium. Awesome, so what does that mean for you and your plants? Nitrogen: Nitrogen will make things green. If you are growing grass, or just some trees or even some herbs, Go with a higher Nitrogen. If you are growing flowers, or something that grows fruits, use less Nitrogen. That's good to know huh? Phosphorus: Phosphorus, this is your power element. Phosphorus helps with photosynthesis. This element also helps tu...
The Jewel Orchid has some awesome looking leaves. There are many varieties of these plants. Mine has silver veins running along the leaves. I'll give you a care guide so you can raise one too if you are lucky enough to come across one of these. Light: Jewel Orchids prefer low light levels. Too much light and you may burn up a leaf or two. I had mine in a pitcher when I first brought it home, and put it in a window, it did pretty well though. However mine is at 100% humidity. Soil: Keep the soil moist, but not with over flowing with water. Sphagnum moss is okay for this plant, but you will want to give it plant food. A well draining orchid mix would be ideal. Water: Bottled water is best, to cut down on fluoride and any salts that may be in your water. Only water if the soil is becoming a little too dry. Temperature: Keep your Jewel Orchid above 60 degrees. They are tropical plants and prefer tropical temperatures. So if you can keep it around 80 that would be a bit bette...
The dragon tree is an interesting looking tree. It takes a couple of months to sprout, but once it does, it grows fairly fast. Here is what you need to know to take care of it. Light: The dragon tree does great with high levels of light. Keep the tree indoors if you live in a region that drops below 60 degrees. Water: When you have this plant in its potter, allow the top inch of the soil to dry out first, before you water it again. Soil: Give this plant a decent potting soil, that has a good drainage. Problem: Over watering can cause the roots to rot. So be careful when watering.
The Venus Fly Trap is a fun little plant, here are some tips to keep them healthy and happy. Light: Give these guys around four hours of direct sunlight a day. Soil: Pick a soil that is low in nutrients. Having the fly traps in shagnum peat mosss is a good idea. This way the medium is will stay moist for a longer time frame, and it will be void of nutrients. Water: Make sure their soil stays moist. these guys thrive in high humidity, but if you are not going to have them covered, make sure your soil is moist. Dormancy: The Venus Fly Trap needs a few months of dormancy a year. an easy way to do this, is you will put the potter that they are in, in your fridge for two months. As long as your fridge doesn't go below 40 degrees that is. After two months you can take them out and they will spring back up. Growth: To get bigger fly traps, cut the flower off as soon as you see it. This will force the fly traps to continue to enlarge.
Lucky bamboo is generally what you can buy in pet stores, or in your local Wal-mart, is actually part of the lily family, and various other house plants. More then likely you will get this plant from a store,or as a gift. If there is already a container for the bamboo, then you can skip a head a little bit. If not, keep reading. Take a container that you would like to put the bamboo in, and put some decorative rocks or pebbles in the bottom. Or you can even use soil like I do. If you use rocks you will want to fill up the container about 3/4ths of the way with rocks to hold the bamboo. If you are using soil, you will want to have about an inch of the bamboo under the soil. If you are using rocks, fill the container up to the top of the rocks with water. Replace the water after a month, or add new in when the water is almost gone. Some houses may be a little dry. When you do use water make sure that your water doesn't have much fluoride in the water, as lucky bamboo is...
Sun: Keep out of direct sunlight. If leaves turn brown move to a more shaded area. Water: Little water is needed. Can go a week or two without water, and soil only needs to be lightly damp. Fertilizer: little fertilization is needed, but plant will grow much faster with a decent fertilized soil. Miracle-Gro 15-30-15 The larger the plant, the more potent the Aloe inside becomes. Give plenty of room for growth in a pot. So as the pups can have room to grow.
Jade Plant The Jade Plant is an easy houseplant to care for, thus why you see many people having them. The Jade Plant is characterized by plump, full leaves with a glossy appearance coming off of thick stems. In the right conditions, Jade Plants can reach up to 4 feet in height and width. Jade Plants prefer moderate light levels. Placing it this houseplant in a east or west-facing window or within 2 to 3 feet of a south facing window works best. Overall, try to allow the houseplant to receive 3 to 5 hours of bright, direct sunlight each day. If the stems become spindly, your plant is probably not getting enough light. The Jade Plant requires low water levels. You should allow the soil to dry out almost completely in between watering. A good way to tell if you houseplant is not receiving enough water is if the usually plump leaves become wrinkled. This houseplant is usually pretty good when it comes to common pests such as mealy bugs or mites. If pests appear spray a so...
Fuchsia Sun: Morning and After noon sun but not Mid day sun. Bloom Time: Blooms repeatedly Foliage: Grown for foliage Evergreen Dark/Black Smooth-Textured Other details: Average Water Needs; Water regularly; do not over water Soil pH requirements: 5.1 to 5.5 (strongly acidic) Propagation Methods: From hardwood cuttings
Princess Lily Light: Full Morning and After noon sun. Keep out of Direct Mid day Sun as it is too hot for the leafs. Fertilizer : A mix of fertilizer with NPK 12:10:18 is excellent and suitable for these plants. Water: Princess lilies prefer a well-drained soil that is moist, but not soggy. Water regularly to keep the soil from drying out, but do not allow the plant to stand in water. Pruning: On young plants, pinching off the stem tips promotes a fuller plant with more branches off of the main trunk. Remove dead branches and leaves immediately and deadhead blooms that are done. The princess lily multiplies through rhizomes, which can be carefully separated in the spring to create more individual plants. Hardiness: USDA Zone 5 (Most of Michigan)
Coleus Plant Pinch your plant. Coleus plants can get leggy. Pinch growing tips often to encourage them to branch out and stay bushy and full. Also pinch off its small, insignificant flower spikes as soon as you notice them because they will detract from the beautiful foliage. Keep it moist. Coleus leaves will wilt and may fall off if the soil is too dry. You'll have a much healthier-looking plant if you keep the soil moist at all times. Use a pot with drainage holes and water thoroughly. Origin: Southeast Asia Height: Up to 2 ft (60 cm) Light: Bright light. Some direct sun is okay, except intense summer sun which will scorch the leaves. Too little light dulls leaf colors and may cause leaves to drop. Water: Keep soil evenly moist. Leaves will wilt if thirsty. Humidity: Moderate humidity. Set pot on a tray of wet pebbles. Temperature: Average room temperatures 60-75°F, 16-24°C Soil: Any good potting mix Fertilizer: Feed every 2...
Hey everyone, so I threw my money tree out. It was hardly hanging in there. That is okay though, because I have a friend who started growing some lemon trees, so I traded for one. I traded one of my five gallon pots for a healthy little lemon tree. The little guy is in a pot that will last through the winter and come spring I can replant to a nice size pot. I'm going to post some care instructions in case you want to grow one from a seed too. Oh before I forget the coolest part of this tree, it was grown from a store bought lemon seed. Care guide from seed. If you cut open a lemon and you plan on using the seed, make sure you keep the seed moist, if you let it dry out, it may damage the seed. So if you don't have a pot ready for the seed to go into, take some paper towel, wet it down, and wrap the seen inside of it. Keep the paper towel wet until you can plant the seed. Try to plant the seed within 48 hours. Pl...
As our doors are becoming shut more often as the winter months approach, you may notice a few bugs here and there inside. Or perhaps you brought some of your plants inside, and a few bugs came inside with them and you just can't catch them. I'm going to give you a simple solution that will take care of most of your bug problem over night. 1. Grab a cup, or any bowl. 2. Pour about 1/4th of a cup of apple cider vinegar and a few drops of dish soap. 3. At this step just place the cup anywhere around your house. The apple cider vinegar will attract the bugs to it. The soap will break the surface tension and the bugs will drown. I put my cup in a room I don't use too much, or in the kitchen when I go to sleep, That way I don't have to smell the vinegar. I hope this helps you out a bit. If you have any other solutions please leave a comment. Thanks for reading. Garrett
For the past few months, my plants have looked good to okay. I find that it's always nice to pinch off the unwanted parts of the plants. If you haven't pinched a plant before, it is a very simple process. You can take a pair of scissors, or your fingers and simply snip, or pinch off dead or dying segments of your plant. I have a few wooded plants, and I find my scissors work much better. Also some of the hard to get spots on more fragile parts of your plant, you might want to use scissors as it is a bit easier to get in the hard to reach areas. From my reading and experience, most plants thrive when they are pinched regularly. Most of my wooded plants do much better when I take off the dead and dying parts. So last time, I transferred the coleus plant into soil. It seems to be doing okay right now, just keeping the soil moist and hopefully it will take off. Also I planted some Rosemary. I like growing my things I can use to cook with. My mint plant was great for tea...