c/botany-lovers

My old fiddle leaf fig lost half its leaves after I moved it three feet left

Had a fiddle leaf fig in my living room for 6 years. It was doing fine by the south window in my old apartment in Portland. Then I moved it three feet to the left to make room for a bookshelf, and within 2 months it dropped about 40% of its leaves. Anyone else have a plant that threw a fit over something that small?

Overheard a retired botanist at the arboretum lecture last Saturday

I went to this free talk at the city arboretum about native prairie restoration. The speaker, an older guy in a flannel shirt, mentioned that he'd been hand-pollinating a specific rare milkweed species for 12 years straight just to keep the local seed bank going. He said something like 'the monarchs don't care about your garden design, they just need the right leaf to lay eggs on.' It really hit me how much dedication goes into conservation work that nobody sees. Has anyone else run into someone who made you rethink your whole approach to native plants?

My mini greenhouse melted my seedlings in one afternoon

I set up a cheap plastic mini greenhouse on my back deck in Phoenix last spring, thinking it would protect my new pepper starts from wind. Came back from work around 5pm and the inside temp was 127 degrees, all 12 seedlings were wilted and crispy. I grabbed a box cutter and sliced three ventilation slits into each shelf level right then, then moved the whole thing to a spot with afternoon shade. Now I check the thermometer inside every hour on hot days and I never leave the door zipped all the way closed. Anyone else cook their plants before figuring out ventilation?

Had to decide between saving a struggling orchid or trying my luck with a cheap new one from the grocery store

I picked the struggling one because it felt wrong to give up on it, spent about 6 weeks nursing it with a chopstick and some cinnamon powder, and now it's got two new roots but yellow leaves everywhere - anyone else ever regret their rehabilitation choice halfway through?

Had a guy at the Denver Garden Show tell me my soil pH was all wrong

I was at the Denver Garden Show last spring, just walking by one of those free soil testing booths. This older guy, maybe 70, asked if he could test a sample from my bag. He dipped the probe in, looked at the meter, and said 'Your pH is 7.8, you're growing in concrete.' I had been blaming my watering schedule for yellowing leaves on my hydrangeas for two years. Turned out it was the soil, not the water. Has anyone else had a random stranger at an event spot something obvious you missed?

Overheard a guy at the garden center say moss is just 'lazy grass'

I was picking up a new monstera pot at Armstrong's on Saturday when some dude told his friend that moss is basically grass that gave up. It got me thinking about how we judge plants by human standards when they're just doing their thing in different conditions. Has anyone else caught a weird take on plants that actually made you rethink your whole approach to gardening?

Hit 150 houseplants this weekend and now I'm split on whether it's a good thing

I was doing my weekly watering routine on Saturday and counted out of curiosity. 150 exactly. That's more than I ever planned for. On one hand my living room looks like a jungle and I love it, on the other hand I spent almost 4 hours just checking soil and leaves. Some of my friends say it's awesome and others think I have a problem. Has anyone else hit a surprise number like this and felt torn about it?

Found out that cacti actually store CO2 at night instead of the day

Read it in a little book at my local nursery in Tucson and apparently it's called CAM photosynthesis, has anyone else been surprised by basic plant facts that seem backwards?

Appreciation post: The old lady who saved my 30 year old jade plant

Last month I was repotting my jade plant that I got from my grandmother in 1993 and I snapped the main trunk clean off. I was about to toss it but my 80 year old neighbor Margaret came over and told me to just stick the broken piece in dry dirt and leave it alone for 3 weeks. I did exactly what she said and now it has new roots growing out the bottom. Has anyone else had success with this kind of propagation method or did I just get lucky?

Hit 500 plant cuttings in my collection last week and I'm worried

I was just counting my propagation jars for a blog post and realized I have over 500 cuttings going right now in my Denver apartment. That's 500 little plant babies I'm responsible for. I noticed some root rot starting on a few because I got too spread out checking them all. Has anyone else had their plant collection grow way bigger than they planned and had to scale back?

That one guy at the nursery who told me I was overwatering my fiddle leaf

Last spring at Armstrong Garden Center in Sacramento, a random customer saw me buying moisture meters and said I was doing too much and to just stick my finger in the soil every 5 days. Has anyone else gotten unsolicited advice that actually ended up being spot on?

My little garden shed finally smells like soil instead of rotting wood

Three years ago I built a small lean-to shed for my potted plants in the backyard, but last spring the floorboards started getting spongy... I finally ripped them out last month and laid down a proper gravel base with pressure-treated planks, and now every time I walk in there it just smells like healthy dirt and peat moss. Has anyone else had a shed floor rot out on them even with good drainage?

Ngl I used to think propagations needed root hormone every time

For 2 years I was dipping every single cutting in rooting powder before sticking it in soil. Wasted so much money on those little bottles. Then my aunt who's been growing roses since the 80s told me most common houseplants root fine without it if you just use fresh cuttings and keep humidity up. She showed me by sticking a plain pothos cutting in water and it had roots in 10 days. Now I only use hormone for woody stems or finicky stuff. Has anyone else been overusing products they didn't actually need?

Hit 200 different houseplants before I even noticed

I was organizing my plant shelf last weekend and decided to count everything. Turns out I had 200 different species of houseplants in my apartment. I didn't set out to reach any number, it just happened over 4 years of collecting. Most of them are tropicals from a nursery in Tampa I keep going back to. Anybody else accidentally hit a big milestone without planning it?

My grandpa walked into my greenhouse and told me I was watering wrong

I've been watering my ferns and calatheas the same way for years, just pouring straight into the pot. He watched me for like 2 minutes and said "you're drowning the roots, they need to breathe between drinks." Turns out I was keeping the soil wet all the time instead of letting it dry out a bit. Now I check with my finger about 2 inches deep before I water anything, and my plants actually look way happier. Has anyone else had an older relative call them out on something basic like that?

Hot take: watering succulents with ice cubes is actually bad for them

I see people on plant forums swearing by ice cubes for low maintenance watering, but the shock of cold water can damage the roots over time and I've lost two jade plants this way, so am I wrong for thinking room temp water is the only way to go for these guys?

Learned that soil microbes actually talk to each other

Read a study from UC Davis last month. Turns out fungi in the soil send chemical signals between plants, warning them about pests. Made me rethink how I treat my garden beds. Anyone else pay attention to the soil food web now?

The new 'desert garden' at the Tucson botanical center is a joke

Went there last weekend and the whole section is just a bunch of agaves and cacti they clearly overwatered. The prickly pear pads were all swollen and splitting, and half the ocotillos looked like they were about to rot at the base. It's a desert garden, not a swamp. Has anyone else seen a public garden mess up basic plant care that badly?

My friend's 'low light' apartment plants looked dead for a year, then she moved them 3 feet.

She had a snake plant and a pothos in a corner she swore got light. They were pale and barely grew. After her lease ended in June, she put them on a different wall near the same window. In two months, they put out six new leaves total and the color came back strong. The corner was just that much darker. Anyone have a plant that perked up from a tiny change like that?

Shoutout to my neighbor who said my 'low light' ferns were actually getting fried

I was complaining to him about my Boston ferns looking crispy, and he asked if they were near my south facing window. I said yeah, for the morning light. He just goes, 'Stella, that's like four hours of direct sun, they're getting scorched.' I moved them about eight feet back into the room's corner last Tuesday, and the new fronds are already coming in green and soft, not brown. Has anyone else totally misjudged a 'bright spot' in their house?

Shoutout to the person at the Portland plant swap who said all succulents need full sun

I keep seeing this advice and it's just not true, especially for something like a Haworthia. I had a nice cluster in a south facing window in Phoenix and it got totally scorched in about two weeks. They do way better with some shade. Has anyone else had a plant fry because of bad light advice?

PSA: The plant swap at the community center turned into a full rescue mission

Last month, I went to our local swap and saw a guy trying to toss a huge, sad fiddle leaf fig into the dumpster. He said it had lost over 30 leaves and was a goner. I took it home, checked for root rot, and moved it to a brighter spot. It's pushing out three new leaves now. Has anyone else brought a plant back from the brink like that?

Just realized my orchid was getting too much light from a south facing window

I had a phalaenopsis that stopped blooming for over a year. I kept trying different fertilizers and watering schedules, but nothing worked. It finally hit me that the afternoon sun through my kitchen window was probably too strong. After moving it to a spot with indirect light, it took a solid eight months before I saw a new flower spike. Has anyone else had a plant that just needed a simple location change to thrive?

So my fiddle leaf fig finally put out a new leaf after I moved it 3 feet away from the window

I put my fiddle leaf fig outside for the summer and it hated it

Everyone in my plant group said a fiddle leaf fig would love a summer outside in partial sun. I moved mine to my shaded patio in early June. After two weeks, it dropped almost half its leaves and the new growth looked burnt. I learned they really can't handle any direct sun, even morning light. Has anyone else had a houseplant totally fail the 'summer outside' test?