The Growing Patch

White powder Mildew.  If you have found a few white spots on your plants, join the club. These white spots can appear on most plants. Don't worry too much, this mildew is generally not fatal to plants. It will cut down on photosynthesis of your plant. These mildews are a type of fungi, however there is nothing fun about this guy. There are several species of the mildew. They all function in the same fashion. The different types of mildew don't affect other plants. If you have mildew on your coleus, you wont get the same species on your jade plant. What causes white powder mildew? High humidity, or just a general dampness around the plant. Poor air circulation Make sure that you take care of the mildew as soon as you can. If you do not your plant can be in a bit of danger. It won't receive full photosynthesis that the plant needs, and won't be able to process the nutrients properly. I'll wait till winter.   If you think the winter will solve your prob...

  Leaf Burns, and what causes them.     Have ever noticed sometimes on your plants, you have leafs that are burnt, and don't know why? In this article, I am going to talk about a few reasons why your plant has burnt leafs. There are a few things that you can do to take away leaf burn. Check the plant's water, sun, and temperature needs. Water - Some plants need more water then others. But if you give too much water, or not enough water, your plant could start to have burnt leafs. Check around for care guides to make sure you are giving the right amount of water to your plant. I suggest when you buy a pot, make sure it has a drainage hole, and a saucer to catch the run off. This will help your plant not sit in excess water, also help the humidity in your home. Humidity - Some plants need a higher humidity. I would suggest that you again check the care guide for your plants. If you don't have enough humidity in your house during the winter, mist your plants leaves....

  Update    Congratulations to me! I have successfully taken care of my spider mites. In a few days I will do another sweep just in case there are eggs that didn't die. If you need to know anything about spider mites, check out my posts for  Part 1  and  Part 2   If you have spider mites, they are pretty easy to take care of. Good luck.

 Hello again.  So yesterday I was able to identify, and take action against some spider mites.  The method that I used was the alcohol and water solution. Alcohol and Water   Take a spray bottle, add one part rubbing alcohol, and one part water (1:1) put them in the bottle together. Then spray the undersides of the leafs, and base of the plant. How did it work?   The alcohol and water worked great.  My plants are super green today.  There are almost zero webs, and I took a white piece of paper and put it under the leaves that I knew for sure had spider mites on them.  Some fell off and didn't move.  I killed them dead. Great, you got them all right?   NO! I noticed a few webs on my aloe.  So I went through my plants in fine detail.  I sprayed every little bit of the plants.  The worst part was my Coleus.  There are so many leaves, that I had to spray so much. But I should be set now.  In a fe...

Spider Mites, how i loathe thee. If yo do know what spider mites are, I'm sorry. If you don't know what spider mites are, I'm sorry. I found out today that some of my plants ended up getting spider mites on them. DOH! So what is a spider mite and what do they do?  Spider mites are super small, and leave webs like a spider. They eat plants, and breed like wildfire. They are not very nice looking huh? You don't have to worry about them hurting you. They eat plants. Spider mites do get fairly big though. (Just writing about this gives me he Hebe geebies.) So how do you get rid of them? There are a few answers to that. First if you are able, isolate the plants that you see webs on. If you can enclose the plant in a container, you can raise the humidity for a few days and they should do the trick.  What if that doesn't work, Help my plant is dying! Well you can take rubbing alcohol and water in a 1:1 solution, put that in a spray bottle. When the solution is in ...

 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