texts: I bought my Yucca plant in February and it was fine. I believe I might have over watered it. Recently I saw the leaves turning yellow, I decided to re-pot it with cactus  soil and one spray of plant food. I added a small amount of water to soil so  it’s  not completely dry.  The plant really started to die after, a lot of it’s leaves started to dry out and I was left with very few.  Then I noticed they all wilted none of them spiked up anymore, but they were still very green.  I decided to re pot it again but cutting the trunk and getting rid of the rotten roots.  When I cut the trunk the middle feels it has moisture.  Is this Yucca plant worth saving?


texts:
Sometimes I buy a little carton of grass at the pet store for my (indoor) cat to nibble on.  She likes it but it always seems to die off within a week or two.  I'd really love to have a sustainable grass colony if this is possible.  What can I do to maximize the grass's chances of surviving?

This carton only cost 99¢, but still...


texts: How do I get rid of Snails, Slugs, and Earwigs

texts: My garden has a huge problem with earwigs, Snails, and Slugs, and many of my plants are dying. How can I effectively eliminate these pests.


texts: Can I reattach a lawnmower pull-cord after it detached?

texts:
The pull cord on my lawnmower is loose and might have detached from the crankshaft. I am unable to start the lawnmower.

I don't have much experience fixing things, but is this easy to fix, or should I take it to be repaired?


texts:
I am growing lettuce for the first time in. I have harvested a few lettuce leaves and the plant is now flowering. The flowers have been for around 20 days now. I wanted to save he seeds from this plant.
Could some one suggest the right time to harvest the seeds.


texts:
Oh, the things I have done to my mother-in-law's Hoya plant:

First, I watered it weekly. Neither the plant or the mother-in-law liked that.
Then I had the audacity to re-pot the root bound mess. I can't win with this plant.

It needs a level of neglect that is too much for me. Not "has reached", but legitimately wants to be neglected. Rumor has it that it will not flower for two years after being re-potted. What is your experience? Is this true?

So my question is this: Will it take my Hoya 2-years to bloom after being re-potted? Or will it be sooner???


texts: How to grow aquatic floating bladderworts from seed?

texts:
Along with my previous question about Sarracenia, I'm also thinking of growing floating Utricularia (bladderworts) in the pond. Still not quite decided on the species (there are invasive issues to consider), but I am looking at suppliers. If I chose seed instead of plants, how would I germinate them?

Would getting a jar of pond water (should be full of microbes and daphnia) and dropping the seeds in, be sufficient? I don't want to drop them straight in the pond, because I think the fish will eat the seeds.


texts: What is causing damage to my summer squash and zucchini plants?

texts:
I have a variety of problems with my summer squash and zucchini plants:

The summer squash (and to a smaller degree the zucchini) has clear spots in the leaves:

This morning one of the zucchini plants was dead and looked as follows with a white maggot inside:

My questions:

Are these problems related?
What is happening to my plants?
What can I do?

EDIT: I live just outside Washington, DC on the MD side. I have a sprinkler like automatic irrigation system. The ugliest leaves are the ones that receive the highest amount of sprinkler water that goes on for 3 minutes at 9am and 9pm. Could this be the culprit? Am I over watering? Am I watering the leaves when I shouldn't? Do I have the wrong watering schedule, that is making the plant prone to this disease?

There is nothing alive in the dirt. The summer squash lives in a raised bed. There are one eggplant, one tomato, one green pepper and one basil in the same raised bed. All other plants are thriving.

The zucchini lives in a rectangular container. It is pretty big and there are other zucchinis in there. The zucchini plant, has a orange pulpish where the damage occurred (not sure it is visible in the second picture).


texts: What are these white with black caterpillars eating Petunias in Albuquerque, New Mexico?

texts:
I'm visiting grandparents in Albuquerque, New Mexico and am trying to help perk up some of their potted and hanging potted plants. It doesn't take long for plants to dwindle in this area (dry and hot and high altitude).

I keep finding tiny caterpillars (or worms?) that are no longer than the width of my pinky finger nail. They're white with one wide horizontal black stripe (not from head to tail, just across abdomen). They are not fuzzy, and have no spikes. They are chewing on the flowers only from what I can tell, Petunias specifically. They chew on them before the bloom is even open! And the ones that have opened get torn up too!

I treated for mites, and the spray consisted of garlic oil, cottonseed oil and neem. The mites disappeared, but these little white and black buggers did not.

Can you please help me to identify them for me, so I can research how to get rid of them? I'm not finding matching pics online. Or do you have any tips to get rid of these? I know the Petunias specifically won't last too too much longer, but until then I'd like to keep up with them as much as possible during my stay.

Please refrain from discouraging keeping these flowers in this climate or recommending others-locals here have already warned us. My grandmother just moved here, has little income to get more and it gives her comfort to look out the window and see her flowers, during hard times.

This is a picture of what might be the "baby" or "larvae version" of pest. It's not a good picture, and was taken at night with flash, so you can't see markings, but he's white. (I'm still trying to get a good picture, my luck- they're hiding when I try to get a picture!)

Here's a picture of the damage.


texts: Tree Biology, identify tree by the roots

texts:
I have some roots in my pipes under my house. It will change a lot of liability if I could identify which tree the roots are coming from. I was curious if root cells, looked at under a microscope, differ from one tree species to the next? I have 2 different trees (of different species) in my yard and community common area, and was wondering if there was any way to identify which tree the roots came from?

Thanks!


texts: Lemon tree that got left outside during a cold night

texts: I stupidly, but in error left my lemon tree outside over night when it was really cold and now all the leaves have died and are starting to drop off. If I scrape the bark on the trunk it is still green. Is there any hope?


texts:
I grow lettuce using vertical hydroponic method.

I live in Jakarta city, Indonesia, started planting the lettuce at September 7th, 2019 and today (October 10th, 2019) should be the harvest day. But it seems the lettuce growth have stunted since one week ago. I didn't measure the air temperature, light intensity, and air humidity during cultivation period, but in my place the average air temperature 30 - 35 ⁰C on the afternoon and 28-29⁰C at night, light intensity around 18 - 65 klux, air humidity around 45 - 55% in the morning and 80% at night. The electrical conductivity nutrition around 0.9 - 2.27 mS/cm.
What caused my lettuce stop growing?


texts: Unexpected wilting and leaves curling in a serrano pepper plant

texts: About 5 days ago, I noticed that one of my 5 serrano pepper plants that a planted in a 10l container started to wilt a bit with some leaves that started to curl. After searching on the internet, I realised it could be some underwatering problem, so I reasonably watered it (even though my 4 other serrano plants which are in the same container were doing completely fine, so I wasn't  completely convinced that underwatering was the cause anyway), but obviously it gave no results, and the affected plant continued to wilt and curl even more. I was intrigued by that, and I started to dig around the bottom part of the stem in the soil until I observed a sudden narrowing down of the stem at the base. After checking in the 4 other serrano's, there wasn't any narrowing down, so I suspect this narrowing down of the stem to be linked with the wilting and curling of the plant, but I have no clues about what's happening  and how to save my plant. So what do you think is happening to my plant and what do you think I could do to save it? Thanks for your answers ;)


texts: If my cucumber vine had a fungal infection, do I need to disinfect my trellis before using again, and if so, how?


texts: Do plants react differently to artificial light than to sunlight?

texts: Sun light is 5700Kelvin and up to 100 000 lumens per square meter. If I was to use Halogen or LED light's with similar properties would plants (sunflowers in particular) know the difference?


texts: Can somebody identify this flowering bush?

texts: I think this is a bush, but I'm not sure. It has orange flowers that bloomed in July. Hummingbirds love it.


texts: Building Gothic High Tunnel (Elliot Coleman style) in Alaska

texts: I'm in the middle-phase of planning an Elliot Coleman gothic hoop house.  I have ordered the pipe bender from JohnnySeeds.com and am wondering if anyone has any experience in building in a cold climate such as Alaska.  I was recently told that Poly plastic can get very brittle in extreme cold and break.  This is causing me to second guess this type of structure, because replacing plastic every spring would not be cost effective.  Any thoughts on the matter would be greatly appreciated.


texts: My girlfriend recently purchased a couple of new houseplants for our home. When she got them home, however, we realised that neither plant included a label to identify it. My best guess currently (based on essentially zero horticultural knowledge) is that they're both some form of Chinese Evergreen, but I'd be grateful for any help with identifing them, and, if possible, some simple advice for how best to care for them.


texts: What is the most effective way to eradicate burdock, curly dock and mugwort from a field?

texts:
We've got a small "meadow" area that is in bad shape from new home construction. Despite heavy seeding with native warm-season grasses and proper mowing, the area is overrun with mugwort, curly dock, and burdock. If we don't take this step, the homeowner is going to install sod.

So we'd like to go off our typical organic approach and chemically remove the offenders in a single or single series of applications.

This would be a one-issue chemical treatment in an otherwise toxin-free management - meaning we would consider a series of broadleaf herbicide applications this fall/spring, but would then revert to natural management. We want to leave the native warm-season grasses intact. Everything else is fair game, but the real targets are those listed above.

I would say we would follow up with soil amendments, but soil "improvements" tend to favor weeds over our native grasses. We just need to give them a chance to get established.

What chemical would be most effective?
When and how often should that chemical be applied?
How should the area be prepared for this application(s)?

And finally, is there anything we're failing to consider?


texts: How does a bow-knife weed cutter compare with a string trimmer?

texts:
In hard-to-mow areas, I use a string trimmer to occasionally cut back the weeds. I recently found a tool for sale which could potentially be used in a similar fashion, but without any gas. It's called a Bow-Knife Weed Cutter. I found it here, but other people sell similar tools. It looks like this:

The spring blade can be released for storage, and sits straight. I realize it may take more energy (which I don't mind) but it is also considerably lighter in weight than a commercial grade string trimmer.

How long (hours) can it be used before needing to be sharpened?
How does it compare to a gas powered string trimmer in regards to the cutting speed?
How well does it handle small woody plants (ie, roses or blackberries) that I may run across?

The customer reviews I've read seemed fairly contented, but there weren't many.


texts: Is a Monios-L T5 LED Grow Light good for all life stages of flowers?

texts:
There is an overwhelming amount of lights to choose from for optimal plant growth. I have purchased a Monios-L T5 LED Grow Light but am uncertain if it is suitable for seedlings. I am currently trying to grow indoors:

Pansies
Snapdragon
Forget-me-not
Cosmos
Lavatera
Bee Balm
Corn Salad
Hibiscus
Zinnia
Geranium
Coreopsis


texts: How can I ensure a crop of potato seeds?

texts:
Background:
I did an experiment where I put the cut seed potatoes directly onto a live lawn, and then covered with 4" of premium bark mulch. The plants did exceptionally well, and I noticed that a large number of the flowers successfully set fruit. I have an estimated 450 fruits.
Questions:
I would like to save the seeds, and try to start some new varieties (just for showing off).

How can I make sure the fruits don't drop?
What differences should I look for when the fruits are ripened?
How do I store the seeds?

Pictures:

Update:
As of 8/8/14, the plants have dropped the fruits, which are darker, more purple, and they have started drying out. The seeds inside are still soft and white.


texts: Lavender (angustifolia) not handling the full sun well

texts:
I started these English Lavender from seed and they've been doing well a week or two after germination. Now that they have about 6-8 true leaves, whenever the sun is out, especially on a cloudless day, they would start to wilt/ drop like on the picture. They would go upright again after moving them into an area with less sun/diffused light. I water them before the sun is out so I don't think it's dehydration. What could be the problem here? Am I doing something wrong? I thought these Mediterranean plants love to be under the full sun in the middle of the desert, so why can't they handle full sun?

I would really appreciate any responses, thank you!!


texts:
I planted some sweet potato tubers that have been growing vines for a few months now. The plant is potted in the same cactus soil I use for my cactus plant-- very high drainage-- in a tin pot with a dozen drainage holes on the bottom. I water it with about half a cup of water + plant food per week. I feel that this is not too much, but please let me know if it is.
I recently got an infestation of fungus gnats. I didn't realise what it was at first, so unfortunately I didn't start treating until there were about 50-60 (based on the number of adults I've killed with sticky tape/ a makeshift sticky swatter). In summary, I'm catching the adults, I've mixed up the top inch of soil with about a quarter cup of cinnamon, and daily I spray the top of the soil with 3% hydrogen peroxide solution.
Are there any other preventatives measures I can take? I had fungus in the pot about a month ago, which I'm sure lead to this situation, but I water so infrequently I'm not sure what to do about that. Should I start watering it with a <3% hydrogen peroxide solution as opposed to regular filtered water? Not sure if long term that would harm the plant. Also please note that my cactus doesn't have gnats, so I don't think it's a soil quality issue.


texts:
This palm tree has been grown in my parents' yard for more than a decade (perhaps two). I'm not sure of its identification.

It has grown a lot (perhaps too much, for the surrounding space), and, though we tried to constantly prune the lower leaves with the hope to make it develop a trunk and make it go up, we have not been very successfull.

Any information and advice would be appreciated.

Update: to aid with identification: the yellow-brownish thing is a cluster of fruits (drupes), about 2 or 3 cm long. The lower leaves are hard, like spines (or daggers!).
The description of the Phoenix palms fits quite well, I'm thinking.

Update 2 (Jan-2018) : Two years later. It looks healthy, but it keeps growing wider and still no trunk.


texts: Are my poppy seedlings dying? How can I save them?

texts: Are my poppy seedlings dying? I leave the plate filled with water everyday. How can I save them? (Even if it means ripping some off and leaving them more spaced out.)


texts: Choosing between Triticonazole and Tebuconazole for rose black spot

texts:
It seems that only two systemic fungicide are still on the UK market sold for rose black spots being Triticonazole (UK brand name: Fungus Clear Ultra - Scotts Company) and Tebuconazole (UK brand name: Bayer Garden Concentrated Fungus Fighter)

Can anyone point me in the direction of any research that shows how there effectiveness compares with each other?

(At present I try to use both in year and need to spray my rose hedge every few weeks to keep it clear of black spot.)


texts:
OK, I have been attempting to get a shallot bed going the last couple years.  I chose to go with seeds, but really have had little luck.  If I start inside I have had little luck transplanting.  I may have not allowed them to get large enough, but I think the bigger issue was weather conditions that tend to go rapidly between cold/wet to hot/dry with drying winds.

I have attempted direct sow, but with very low germination rates.  Those have lived, and I am now up to about 10 live shallots, From about 400 seeds over two years.  My definition of very low germination, two years and still I will not have enough to harvest for table and still have sets to replant to really get a bed established.

What I am dealing with for background:  USDA zone 3, very cold winters, short growing season, and rapid changes from winter to hot dry summer.

At this point, I obviously would have been better off starting two years ago buying sets or even live plants, but now, I want to get the bed going in earnest next year with enough success that I can harvest and use and still have plenty left for ongoing, so I am looking for advise/thoughts on options.  I am thinking I could either try earlier with indoor starts, maybe 12 weeks before last frost dates and hope for transplant survival with bigger plants, or should I try starting seeds now in pots and try to get them to single set size and harvest those in fall to get them a cold rest period and plant in spring, or is there another, better option.  (No, none of the other gardeners I know raise shallots and have spare sets to share.  When I asked, they are more than eager for me to share with them though as when they have tried they had similar results.)

Am I way off base with either approach and is there a better option I am overlooking?  Also, in starting from seed, is it better to tight pack and start as a bunch then separate at transplant as nurseries do with onion starts, or give them room?


texts:
I found this giant grub (at least I think it's a grub) while fixing up the mulch around one of my trees.  This thing is huge.  It's thicker and as long as my finger.  Only has six legs.  Anyone know what kind of grub it is?  I live in Southern Texas.

I am surprised its even alive as I laid down grub control in the beginning of August.


texts: I left my apartment for a month and took some of my plants with me. I left him behind, because he seemed to not like that much water. Now he looks dehydrated and part of his stem looks burnt. Wanted to know what kind of succulent he is to better fit his needs.


texts: Tips or thoughts on pruning old giant leggy jade?

texts:
I have an old leggy jade tree that has a lot of horizontal growing branches. The stems are thick and woody and are already spilling over the sides of the pot, so there's actually only one or two vertical branches. I'd like to get it bushier and grow more horizontal to fill in the gaps.

Looks like I'll have to be pretty aggressive about pruning it back. What do you guys think? Will pruning the horizontal growing branches encourage it to grow upwards? It's also a bit lop sided and the heavier side is what is in the picture.


texts: bright spots on tomato leaves - illness or just to much watering?

texts:
I've transplanted tomatoes into the bigger pot. I am keeping the plants in the green house. My growing ritual is somewhat unusual, but I am determined to give it a try. When transplanted I cut the main stem and plant them 25cm deep.

After 10 days, i noticed some whitish-yellow spots on the leaves. See images below. I am wondering, what is this? I haven't found exact match of such leaves on google, but it look similar to oedema or leaf mold. Do you know what is wrong with my tomatoes? Besides this spots, the plant looks great and has lots of new growings.

Here are some more images: http://imgur.com/a/GUj6Q

UPDATE after a week: The plant is doing just fine. Very few of the spots turned into holes, the others remain the same size and shape.


texts: Optimal hydroponic nutrient solutions for different herbs

texts:
I'm planning to grow different herbs hydroponically: basil, sage, mint and thyme.
I would like for the nutrient solutions for each herb to be the closest possible to the optimum.
For basil I found this resource elaborating on the target ppm per each nutrient, and also this answer for sufficient ranges. However, I couldn't find similar tables for the other herbs.
I would be grateful if anyone could provide such tables of sage, mint and thyme (and optimally if there was a source which provides optimal nutrient solution for any herb and/or plant).


texts: What is this mass of ground cover with rose-pink "bead" head flowers

texts:
I have this ground cover plant all over my mostly shady back yard. It is tiny, flat, close to the ground with dark green pointy leaves and a little taller stem with rosy pink "bead" flowers on top. I have not been able to identify this for years!
Location: Southern New Jersey


texts: How far do I space apart watermelon seedlings?

texts: I just bought Icebox watermelon seedlings from the nursery. The instructions just say to stick the whole batch into the ground (the inner cardboard is biodegradable). I think these are just generic instructions that appear on all the various seedlings that Bonnie sells. I'm wondering whether I need to do something extra for watermelon in particular. It appears like there are three seedlings. Do I need to space them apart or can I just plant them as is?


texts: Chrysanthemum flowers and buds turning brown and dying, leaves wilting and getting brown spots

texts:
I bought these mums less than a month ago and planted them in Miracle Grow Potting Soil. Kept them in sun for 3-4 hours and in shade for the rest. They were left in sun for a couple of days at around 90 degree F. After watering them in the evenings they appeared to recover. After a while, I saw white powdery substance on the leaves and assuming it was some kind of fungi, I sprayed Neem Oil and water mix. The powdery substance disappeared but soon all flowers turned brown and I thought that happened cause of hot temperatures. But the leaves would never feel as fresh as when I bought them. Then I noticed all flower buds browning and falling and brown spots showing up on the leaves. I also noticed small white larvae (4 in number) feeding from the plant stems and then they'd disappear below the leaves. I removed all of them and since then I have not seen any.

I have other plants too (Mint, Basil, Other Mums) potted in the same soil which seem healthy for now.

Is there anything that can be done to save this plant or should I discard this plant and the soil to prevent the infection (if any) form spreading ?

P.S - The plants are located in Seattle, WA, USA area. This year the summer has been rather brief.


texts: Does it matter if I use water that previously boiled for watering plants?

texts:
A lot of time I have water that was left in the kettle from the previous boiling, and I want to replace them - so a good use would be to water my plants - does it matter to the plants if the water were pre-boiled?

What I can think of, is that it can matter since boiled water has less dissolved oxygen - but I have no idea if for good or bad (or none at all).

Also, if it does matter in someway - is it general for plants, or for specific families?


texts:
I just got six gallons of red onion bulbs for planting, since the store was getting rid of them at 50¢/gallon.

I intend to plant them late fall and let them go over winter, since that worked so well for me last year.

How can I store the bulbs for four months until late fall?

Further, six gallons is alot of bulbs of one variaty (I was wanting two gallons of white, two of yellow, and two of red, but accidentally got six of red only).

So, I'd like to plant half this fall (4 months away), and half next fall (16 months).
How can I store the bulbs for 16 months?

I have half gallon mason jars, and a vacuum jar sealer - would that be sufficient?
I can place the jar down in a storm shelter, or in a dark pantry cabinet, or place them in a freezer.


texts: After eating a Honeycrisp apple, I thought I would dry the seeds out and attempt the germination process, just for fun. One apple produced eight seeds, so I sat them on a paper towel to dry them before starting the winterizing process. In a matter of 3-4 days, however, the seed coating started opening and some of the inner white seeds have come out on their own. Is this normal? Does it impact the steps I should take to winterize the seeds to prepare them for germination/implantation?


texts: Chili flowers wilting few days after opening

texts:
I have 20-odd chili plants (capsicum frutescens) indoors. Planted seeds last year around June. I think initially the plants were struggling with humidity, so I started spraying water in the air daily (I noticed a big jump in growth after that). I water the pots once the top of the soil gets dry (I dig a bit with my fingers to check soil humidity in case it's still damp). I'm not using any nutrients (most of the soil I use has N 160 mg/kg, P 220 mg/kg, K 550 mg/kg, humidity 35%)
Here's the thing, flower bulbs are growing on 50% of the plants, but once the flowers bloom, they last a few days open, they slowly start closing and then they wilt away and die (it's not just a few, it's all of the flowers I've had so far). I am manually pollinating them every 1-2 days.
Any insight? I've read that flowers wilting can be due to poor humidity, watering patterns, lack of nutrients... I'm a bit lost on what to look into next. Maybe I'll add pebbles at the bottom of every pot for drainage (used terracota pots with a plate underneath before in about 50% of the plants, but the growth was worse than with metallic pots, so I switched them all to the latter).
Here's a gallery of 3 of my chilis: https://imgur.com/a/ub0W512 (if it helps diagnose the problem, I can take pics of all plants and post them)


texts: I have read that one shouldn't compost nuts or peanut butter because of their high oil and fat content. I am wondering if the same thing goes for peanut shells? I have a lot of peanut shells and I hope I can compost with them rather than throw them away.


texts: What is a good way to get rid of fire ants in Florida?

texts: I unfortunately have huge 3 feet across and larger of fire ant nests in the yard.  I have tried Ortho Orthene and Spectracide but they aren't getting all the ants.  They just pack up and move over five or ten feet.


texts: Should I prune off a branch connected to a large weak crotch on my apricot tree?

texts:
I have an apricot tree that is 4 or 5 years old.  It is doing well, but one of the main branches has a weak crotch and included bark.  My peach tree had the same problem, and got split in a wind storm last year.  So I wanted to proactively take care of the problem with the apricot.

The weak crotch can be seen here:

It is the branch on the right side.

My question is: Should I prune that branch back heavily to prepare to take it off next pruning season? I think the other branches are now thick enough and developed enough that the shape of the tree won't be hurt too much.
Suggestions and comments are welcome.


texts: I often find some of my potted plants have root rot problem. They start dying from below. I was been advised in the past to avoid over watering but even if I maintain that and the soil remains between dry to moist, still root rot occurs. Rather I feel perhaps it happens more if watered less. Usually I have noticed this problem with Pothos, ZZ plant and other indoor plants that are grown in low light. What might be going wrong ? My soil is porous and has a lot of coconut fiber added to it. But still there is problem.


texts:
I've started growing a tomato plant a month ago and it is still pretty small. Around 7 cm high.

I grow it with a small fluorescent light ( T8 model ) in my basement.

Why is it growing so slow?

Is it the inadequate temperature?
Too much / not enough light
Inadequate water amount
Too small/big pot size


texts: What tulips are best for perenniallizing in a clay-base soil?

texts: I have tried several times to plant tulips and have mixed results. They all do well the first year, but after that some varieties consistently die and others thrive and spread. After a little research, I found that this is common among Holland-grown tulips. Some varieties are perennial and some aren't. I have two questions. The first is, how do people in Holland maintain and multiply the non-perennial tulips? More importantly, is there a listing of tulip varieties, showing which are perennial?


texts: Edible plants for very shady indoor location

texts:
The only location in my apartment where I can fit plants is a southwest facing window. However, the window is shaded for most of the afternoon by the heavy foliage of some alders, so it gets very little direct light. Perhaps an hour (if that) around noon and another hour late in the evening. On the plus side, all the walls around, both inside and outdoors are lightly colored, so it seems relatively bright with indirect light for much of the day.

So far I've only had some chives growing there, which seems to have done alright. I would like to add other edible plants, both herbs and if possible some vegetables.

What plants would work in such a location right now in late summer, and what could I try next spring?


texts: 17 year old Ficus suddenly dries up and loses all leaves?

texts: I have a "Twisty" Ficus tree that has survived my wife for 17 years. This is the only plant/tree she as ever kept alive for more than a month. It is in the wrong place(6' from the main door), has seen numerous drafts, temperature changes, lack of watering, kept in the same pot, and no fertilizer for over 17 years. Despite all this, it has survived. Vegas had it 20-1 it wouldn't survive the first year, let alone 17. Every once in awhile it would lose some of its leaves, and I read that was normal, especially considering where it's located. Suddenly in the last few weeks since Christmas, it started to dry up and lose all its leaves. The leaves are not healthy, but all dried up. Watering has remained consistently bad, but the same its been for 17 years. Has this Ficus finally succumbed to my Wife's  anti-plant terror of treatment, or is it saveable? Any suggestions welcomed and we have a medical team on standby...


texts: Can a Mexican sage survive losing all its stems?

texts:
We planted several Mexian sages (Salvia leucantha) 3-4 weeks ago. They had taken very well to our hot, dry weather (Sacramento, California - Zone 9) and being watered on a drip system. Here's a picture of one of them to show their former size/condition:

.

Unfortunately, this morning my 3 year-old son decided to stomp the ever-living daylights out of several of these, breaking off all or nearly all of the stems. Here are two pictures of stomped plants, with breakage locations and surviving shoots circled:

Some of the stomped plants have no surviving shoots; all that remains above ground is about two inches of woody growth.

Should I give up on these and replace them with new plants, or is there a chance they'll survive and recover? If they could recover, how long should I wait and what signs should I look for?


texts: New leaves with holes on my spathiphyllum

texts:
for a while now new leaves on my Spathiphyllum are being born with some holes and signs of "burn" on the edges (see some pictures at the end of the post). At first I found old leaves started having these "burn" signs on the edges, but after doing some reading it seemed to be from improper watering and has improved since. But the issue with the new leaves persists.

The plant from this question seems to have a similar problem and there's a suggestion about moving it to a place with better light. The place where my plant is at right now gets plenty of daylight, but not directly. I can try moving it but it would probably mean moving it to a place where it would receive a couple of hours of strong, direct sunlight, so I wanted to ask first to see if my specific case looks similar.

Pictures:

Small hole in a leaf, it didn't get worse as time passed

One of the worst ones. Again, it was born that way but didn't get worse with time.

A new one as it was being born, you can see it already shows issues:

And this is the same leaf, a couple of days later:


texts:
My pepper plant was found as a sprout in my sink drain, so I don't know what kind it is. It's either a bell pepper, green or yellow, or some mini peppers of various colors. That's all we buy from the market.
I've read that peppers from the market might be hybrid, in which case the plant from a seed might not grow true to type.
My sprout has now grown quite a bit, and at first it did well, but the leaves are now emerging deformed, as shown below. Is it possibly pests? Might it be mites? A virulent virus (not corona)?
The plant is certainly not doing well. At some point fairly mature leaves started drooping, and were not really deformed but became misshapen after being fully formed. Now the leaves are deformed from the moment they come out, and they stay quite deformed even as they grow quite a bit.


texts: Is Mike McGrath correct when he says vegetable scraps shouldn't be added to compost?

texts:
I'm composting for the first time this year, in a back-yard composter. I have some leaves in there, and I regularly throw in my coffee grounds. I also occasionally throw in vegetable and fruit scraps.

When I look online (websites, TED talks, etc.) it seems that people often say that it's "okay" to put in vegetable and fruit pieces, but then they act like it's not going to do much for you in terms of end-of-process compost. The common thing said here is "the only thing worth mixing from your kitchen with your leaves is coffee".

However, fruit and vegetable pieces have a C:N ratio of somewhere between 25:1-35:1 it seems, which is almost perfect with the 30:1 ratio that people say is ideal. So from this information alone, one might guess that fruit/vegetables are actually really good for your compost pile, not just tolerable.

So which is it? Are they good or are they merely okay. And why?


texts: Is laying sod higher than existing lawn best practice?

texts:
The background for this is here. The short of it is that the sod guy laid this down last year, and I have a feeling he skimped on the job. Didn't prep the soil, just came and laid the crap down and left.

I talked with him immediately after I saw it. He informed me it needed time to settle. My lawn is clay with little to no nutrients, I doubt it's going to 'settle', but I don't do this for a living. These pictures were taken yesterday, the sod was put down just before winter, Oct. 2013.

I have a couple of questions:

Is it best practice (or even common) to lay sod higher than the height of the existing lawn?
How can I (if possible) fix this? I'm thinking there's no way to tamp down this sod, so I may have to lay more sod at the same height?


texts:
Eryngium 'Jos Eijking' flower stems grown up with buds, then some , but not all develop a brownish-black mark about half-way up the stem which affects the structure of the stem and it collapses.
Whatever the pest is, it also seems to infect and affect some of the flowers. A similar dark mark appears in the centre of the flower and prevents it properly developing and colouring up.
Any ideas ?
Plant is a favourite but I acknowledge that it appears to be congested where it is.
Somewhat anxious to split it in case I kill or weaken it.
I have cleared the area around it to provide more air and light as most, [not all], eryngiums prefer dryish sunny conditions.
Thank you.


texts: What is this 2ft tall plant with narrow serrated leaves?

texts:
I hope characteristic leaves and flowers are going to be sufficient for identification:

Edit: I just discovered that seed pods and flowers have magnificent lemony fragrance.


texts:
I read that rosemary requires good drainage, so I tried sprouting it from seed in sand. It didn't work at all.

Just looking at this sand, it doesn't look like it has good drainage to me. It gets totally waterlogged even with a small amount of added water and takes forever to dry. Is it the wrong kind of sand? I just dug it up from the local playground.


texts: How can we help our garden frogs in an arid climate?

texts:
I live on an arid island off the African coast, off the grid in a very sparsely vegetated area, far away from any neighbours. The summer has been fairly hot and most vegetation has dried away, waiting for the rainy season.

Somehow though, there are some frogs living in our garden!

(the photo was a lucky shot - they usually keep out of sight, which is just as well, as we have many predatory birds that usually hunt for the many lizards out here.)

We suspect they survive by living in our underground cisterns. However, one of the cisterns has broken, and since then, they seem to have taken up residence in our largest watering can. Which is fine, but we are unsure about how to best help them:

Should we occasionally change the water in the watering can, or do they like it when it becomes pungent?
Should we be doing anything to help them procreate? There are two frogs that we know of. We can't build them a pond, but could erect a smaller structure.
Is there anything else we can do to help ensure they're doing ok? It seems so miraculous that they manage to make it at all in this type of area.


texts: What kind of fruit is shown in the pictures below?


texts: What is this weed with 5 serrated edge whorl and runners?

texts: I'd like to know what is this is and whether there is any problem with encouraging it as a lawn alternative which is what it's naturally done in my neglected London back garden. /Users/AmandaCarter/Library/Containers/com.apple.mail/Data/Library/Mail Downloads/94B5A893-50F0-43FE-9D22-192CD7E74720/IMG_0461.JPG


texts: Is it necessary to replace old soil when repotting a rootbound plant?

texts:
Yesterday, I repotted a rootbound monstera into a larger pot. I had been told that replacing the old soil wasn't a high priority if it meant cutting out too many roots, so I simply added new soil around the old soil along with coconut coir and fertilizer pellets.

But now I am wondering if it's necessary to more aggressively detangle the roots and get rid of the old soil (~1.5 years old). I read on a website that as much as a third of the roots could be cut away from the bottom, and almost all the old soil removed.

Picture of my plant

How much old soil is okay to keep around when repotting?
How aggressively do you cut at the roots of a rootbound plant?
Should I remove the monstera and redo the repotting procedure?

Thank you so much! :)


texts: What are these egg looking things on my rosemary?

texts:
I don't think this should be part of my other question, but if it should be, let me know.

This is the same rosemary plant that I mentioned in my other question, and as I noted, it was improving. After all the ladybugs left, I sprayed it down with neem as stormy suggested. I was fooling around with my new magnifier when I noticed that there were egg-like spheres on the bottom of my rosemary leaves. Should I be concerned? Do I need to do anything more?

Next to ruler for scale:

Front of leaf:


texts: What is this furry white stuff and little white bugs?

texts: The fluffy stuff was all around the branches and leaves near the middle and base of the bush. The little critters were on the underside of leaves. I also included a picture of the flower in case someone needs to identify the plant in order to answer this question.


texts: pumpkins turning white and dying on the vine

texts: My pumpkins are dying.  They get to be about 5 inched around and then they turn white and die.  Why?


texts:
I have a fairly large area, ~1000 square feet, that I would like to plant with ground cover that looks good, is low to the ground, and is zero maintenance. The area gets full sun the first half of the day. The soil is moderately clay.

Because it's such a big area and it's on a slope, I'm concerned that it will be difficult to establish.

What are my best options for establishing ground cover in this situation?


texts: How do I roto-till without leaving a trench?

texts:
I have a 4' (1.2m) three point tractor roto-tiller which I've been using to prepare garden areas this year. I noticed that the tiller always moves soil backwards, and when at the end of the section it leaves a trench, as can be seen in the picture.

The previous owners had a large garden, and I can tell the direction they always tilled in because they've created a ridge where they start and there's a significant dip where they ended. I'm working on reversing that to flatten the area better and avoid the mush in the low level area, but I'd like to avoid doing this myself.

Is there a technique I can use when tilling that will leave soil in the area where I intend to stop tilling?

I've tried lifting the tiller while still spinning, stopping right when I get to the end, and a few other things, but I'm still not leaving sufficient soil at the end.  The closest I've come is slowly raising the tiller over the last several feet of the run. Still not great as it's tricky to perform, and leaves that section poorly tilled, all while not completely eliminating the trench/lack of soil.

Will I simply have to live with it as a consequence of the tiller I have, and move the soil by hand each time I use it?


texts: Please help me Identify this weed and what herbicide I can use to get rid of it in St. Augustine Grass

texts:
I have this weed taking over a spot in my St. Augustine grass. What is it and how should I get rid of it. Warm climate in South Florida.

It seems to have small blueish flowers and the roots are really able to choke competition. Looking to do some post emergent too. Don't want it coming back.

Thanks

Edit:

Here it is in the ground.

Another better view:


texts:
I was wondering if my houseplants would be able to survive in darkness for 2 weeks? They are a variety of species, including an orchid, a dracaena, some cacti, some succulents and a spider plant.
Background: I am moving and all my belongings will be in storage for 2 weeks. The storage area will (possibly) not have windows, so if I leave my plants there as well they might be in darkness for 2 weeks. Would this be too long?
Of course, they would also be without water but that should be fine (from experience) and the temperature should be reasonable(ish) in storage. Hence the lack of light is my main worry.


texts:
2 months ago, it lost 3 leafs and some colors in the span of a week. I bath it and it was alive again.

The base of the leafs is still orange/brown and with a little gap from the base.

But this afternoon, a leaf got black and an other is shrinking

It's an Agave "Cream Spike"
I keep it near the window. It never gets sun light directly.

What is happening to it ?


texts:
In my lawn I have 3-4 different types of mangoo plants (1-3 years old). Few weeks back I diagnosed that leaves are curling and turning brown, I googled it and found that its some fungus and I need to spray anti-fungus. I sprayed some anti-fungus and plants stared to grow new leaves while the old brown one shed.

Now, I found another strange issue on the new leaves. I am not sure whats exactly it is, looks like leaves have wrinkles, also they do not look healthy.

Here are the pictures:


texts:
I was away for two weeks and unfortunately forgot to tell the caretaker to water my licuala grandis while I’m away. When I got back home this is how it looks like

Is there any chance to revive this plant at this stage? I’ve watered it again 3 days ago but there seems to be no sign of improvement


texts: How do I encourage pepper seeds to germinate?

texts:
In the past 2 months, I tried to germinate some pepper seeds, but all of them failed. I used some tiny pots to contain the soil (don't know more about it; just black soil in general) and the planted the seed about 1 cm below the surface. I have placed nothing on the pot as cover and I water them with a watering pot once a day. The room temperature is about 29°C (84°F).

What else should I do in order to encourage the seeds to germinate?


texts: How quickly can I expect my Goldcrest Cypress to grow?

texts:
We bought a Goldcrest Cypress today and I'm wondering how fast it would grow; I just don't get any clear (or even rough) answers from Google.

Some more info:
We are in South Africa, around 26 degrees latitude. The tree is 900mm high at the moment and I've supplanted it from a 300 mm diameter pot to a 500 mm pot. We have a temperate climate, with around 600mm of rain a year mainly between November and March, it gets sun for the majority (>70%) of the daylight and I'll be watering it regularly making sure the soil doesn't dry completely.

The trees are relatively popular in South Africa and I can find a lot of local guidelines as to how to care for it, and I've seen them grow probably between 4 m and 5 m and perhaps taller.

I'm merely asking out of curiosity and am excited to see for myself, but any guidance would be interesting and helpful.


texts: Can I trim this shrub into a spiral shape?

texts:
I have these 2 shrubs (circled in red) that I need to trim.

I'm wondering if I can turn them into/trim it into a spiral shape (like in the 2nd photo).

I'm finding it very difficult to find what kind of shrubs I have and if it's possible to do this.

Existing shrubs:

Spiral shrubs:


texts: What kind of LED Lighting should I get to grow lotus indoor?

texts: I am growing lotus from a seed. What kind of lighting should I get for winter? What is the lifecycle and makeup of lotus? I am trying to figure out if I need a blue or red shade LED? I am a little confused with how to grow them in a colder climate like Washington state.


texts: Does anyone know what nutrient is lacking in these strawberries?

texts:
We bought 2 varieties of strawberries: Everbearing and June bearing.

The pictures below show the ones that were produced by the two ever bearing plants.

As you can see the fruits are not getting big and they look as if they are dry. I mixed steer manure with top soil before planting them in the planter boxes. The June bearing plant is producing (though not a lot) decently sized fruits.

My neighbor looked at these plants and suggested to use fish fertilizer as he thought it could be that the soil is lacking some nutrition.

So can anyone tell me why these strawberries look this?

EDIT: Here's the picture of the strawberry planter box:


texts: How to identify which variety of lemon you have?

texts: Last month I decided to start some lemon seedlings from store bought organic lemons imported from Argentina (which for me is a first, usually lemons are imported from Mexico or grown in USA) fast forward a month later, all of the seeds I tried to germinate sprouted and some are doing really well so I'll definitely be keeping some lemon seedlings. However, I got curious on the variety of lemon that I'm currently growing. I did some research and found out that: "Genova and Eureka are the main lemon varieties grown in Argentina" so I'm assuming the ones I bought are either Genova or Eureka, judging from the picture of a lemon from the same batch I germinated seedlings from, could we tell which variety this is?


texts:
We have a 50+ old plum tree in Auckland New Zealand, that fruits prolifically most years and we've just found major rot in one of the branches (see photo attached). The bark has fallen off and the wood underneath is soft and powdery. There are also signs of similar smaller areas on other branches. Can anybody offer any suggestions as to what this might be and the best way (if any) to treat it?
Thanks
Paul


texts: I am looking to grow a fig tree indoors and was very inspired by these pictures. Assuming that isn't somehow unhealthy for the tree, how would one get a purchased tree that comes like this to obtain the tall and spread out shape from the first picture? How long would it take?


texts: What's the fastest way to dry peat before re-potting an overwatered succulent?

texts:
I just got an Aloe Vera that was planted on peat, which can't drain the water well so it is making it suffer from overwatering (see my previous post with pics of it).

Re-potting it with more filtering/draining soil like river soil and/or anything different than peat or sea sand, is the recommended action. But I've read it is necessary to wait until the soil is dry to re-pot it.

The issue is that it was just watered 2 days ago and it might take at least 2 weeks before the soil dries, so I guess the damage could be lessened if I accelerate the drying process by something like putting the Aloe outside in the window sill for short periods; this would make it receive direct sunlight which would evaporate the water faster, but it might also burn the Aloe.

Do you think putting it outside for around 90 minutes in the morning and 90 minutes in the evening, avoiding the 12 to 4 pm period when the sun UVA UVB is stronger here in Madrid (this week would be an average of 21 Celsius degrees or 69.8 Fahrenheit), is a good idea or a bad one? Do you think it could be a good/better idea to change the length or periods of time? Do any of you have a better idea of how to dry the soil faster without damaging the plant?


texts: OK, so I was gifted with an everbearing raspberry vine. I noticed this on the top of one of my healthy primocanes (I say healthy because I had to prune an unhealthy cane recently). I cannot tell if this is leaves or if it may be putting out some raspberries, or something else. You may have to look closely. Look where my fingers are; some "nodules" are above them and they appear to be in a cluster. They are very tiny right now. Any advice is appreciated. Thank you]1


texts: Strategies to protect infrequently watered tomato plants

texts:
I have a field out of town, where I can grow vegetables, however it is too far away for me to water daily, I can do every 3 days max.

What are some good strategies to protect tomatoes from the direct sun and evaporation?

Would a plastic, semi transparent plastic cover help? Or should I rather only cover them from one side, so they can still get direct sun light the rest of the day?

What about mixing some vermiculite into the earth to hold moisture for longer? Or maybe a plastic cover around the plant, to keep the earth moist? Maybe one of these cone things?

My plants are located here: https://www.google.com/maps?q=orth+an+der+donau&gs_lcp=CgZwc3ktYWIQAzICCAAyAggAMgIIADICCCYyBggAEBYQHjIGCAAQFhAeMgYIABAWEB4yBggAEBYQHjIGCAAQFhAeMgYIABAWEB46BAghEBVQ3lxY3lxg7l9oAHAAeACAAYcBiAHAA5IBAzAuNJgBAKABAaoBB2d3cy13aXo&uact=5&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj4mrPdvoTpAhUPsKQKHU5MDQkQ_AUoAXoECHQQAw

Right now its fairly dry, raining about once a week, RH mostly at about 30%-40%. There are times when it rains more frequently than that. Right now its on avg. about 20°C, but it will get to about 30 during the summer. I can water the plants every 3 days.


texts: Help identifying this Australian bush with pink / yellow flowers

texts:
I've seen this bush everywhere, and the smell of the leaves brings back REALLY strong memories for me, but I don't know what it's called. It sometimes has flowers, but not very many (usually 4-5 on a decent sized bush).

Here's some shots from the bush just outside my office at work:

Does anyone know what this plant is called?


texts: (When) can potted cactus and aloe vera be put outside?

texts:
Hello Gardening stackexchange!

We bought a few cacti and aloe vera last year, which live in pots. We took them inside the house at the start of the past autumn, when the temperatures were starting to get below about 7°C. The question is: when is it safe to put the cacti and aloe vera outside again? It is a rather cold spring here in Switzerland, with night temperatures still reaching 0-3°C, but daytime temperatures up to 15°C. Is there a clear advice that we can follow?


texts: Why isn't our Victoria Plum tree producing healthy fruit?

texts:
We have a 4 year old Victoria Plum tree. We prune it, and water it well. We were excited this year when it had the best show of blossoms so far. After blooming, a large number of tiny green plums began to form. Sadly, one by one they dropped off, leaving us with six small red deformed plums, and one normal green plum.

How can we help this tree produce a full crop of healthy fruit?


texts: How can I stop bushes growing through a mesh fence?

texts:
My neighbour has lots of thorny bushes and ivy that grow against (and more importantly through) the fence on our shared boundary. They aren't the gardening type and have no inclination to remove the plants but I'm getting fed up of trimming them back. The fence is made of very sturdy wooden posts and beams with a wire mesh across them.

I would like to know what I could put up against the fence that would stop bushes growing through the mesh. An added bonus would be something that would stop them growing under the fence too.

I'm not asking for a specific product recommendation, but if you do recommend a product, don't forget to disclose any affiliations.

I would like to know a technique or type of product I could use. Someone suggested putting some bamboo fencing up against it but I think the bushes would still get through the gaps. I was wondering if there is a type of plastic sheeting or something that could be used?

Edit
Here is a photo of the fence, I've added lines to show where the post/beams are.
The gap between the posts/beams is approx 50x80 cm. The posts are approx 15x10 cm


texts: What are some good organic repellents to keep squirrels away from fruit on trees?

texts:
I am aware that there are a lot of articles on how to keep squirrels away from trees. Some of the suggestions include Owl statues, guns, organic repellent, and moth balls.

I don't want to shoot them dead, and I couldn't find the Owls, so I was planning on going with an organic repellent.

Have any of these in particular worked for anyone?

Peppermint Oil/Juice - I have a peppermint plant at my house, and can create this juice or oil out of it and spread them on the tree and the fruit.
Cayenne Pepper/Chili Powder - I was planning to sprinkle some chili powder on the tree and on the fruit.
Black Pepper.
Azadirachta Indica (Neem leaves) Repellent.

Can people who have tried these comment on what worked out best for them?


texts: Calculate fruit yield year-on-year, given yield at maturity and time to first fruiting?

texts:
I'm putting together a plan for a fruit wine business, and need to calculate expected yields for fruit trees each year from the date of planting. I have found various resources that provide 'time to first fruiting' and 'yield at maturity', but rarely can I find information stating the yield at first fruiting or time to maturity. Without these pieces of information, it is impossible to estimate expected yield from year to year.

For my business plan, I need to calculate the yield of various plants from the year of planting until year 5. These will be for specific cultivars, and to give some context, I am interested in Blackberry, Damson, Elderberry (and Elderflower), Nettle and Rhubarb.

I am aware of how hopelessly imprecise any such calculations would be; locality and climate clearly have a huge impact. Nevertheless, this is a bureaucratic exercise I need to go through; I have to provide estimated figures for a business plan. Given the information available from most sources (time to fruiting and yield at maturity), how do I go about calculating an expected yield for years 1 to 5?


texts: When to prune house plants that live outside in the warm season?

texts: We have several shrubby plants that are ancient, potted, and in need of pruning. My inclination is to prune them before I bring them inside for the cold season. Most the the plants come from more temperate climates and bloom while inside. But part of me always wonders if I should prune in early summer when I bring them outside. Any general recommendations?


texts: What happens with rosemary if I don't let it hibernate over the winter?

texts: I have a 1 year old rosemary. I read in several (non scientific) articles that I have to put it to 10°C in winter, so it can hibernate (I guess). (Outside it would freeze I think, we sometimes get -15°C during the winter.) Now my problem is that I don't have a room with 10°C. So what will happen with the rosemary if I put it into my room in which the temperature is about 20°C?


texts: Plant Identification: Tall shrub-like plant with fuchsia flowers

texts: I'd love help identifying this plant that I spotted in Amman, Jordan. It is about 3 feet tall, and nearly as wide. It seemed to be quite hardy, as it was growing in a break in the sidewalk. It has fuchsia colored flowers, about 1/2" across, with long stamens. The leaves are about 2 - 2 1/2" long. The two photos below are the only ones I have, but hopefully show enough of the flowers and leaves for an identification.


texts:
I live in North Georgia (USA), and I have a few questions about the zoysia in my front yard (we moved into the house a little over a year ago so I'm still wrapping my head around what kind of lawn care we need).

I've noticed some patches of bright green weeds to go along with dead-looking brown patches in the yard. I wanted to see if there's anything we can do for the weeds given our kind of grass, and also if the brown patches will become green later in the spring. Or is this pretty normal?

See below photos for context:


texts: higher temperature or more lighting - whats more important?

texts:
I'm trying to choose between 2 places to grow young bell peppers which will be transplanted in a few weeks.

The first one is outside with plenty of natural light. Temperatures during the day are between 16-20°C.

The second one is below a roof window which gets a lot of direct sunlight and plenty of ambient light too. But still less then the outside. Temperature is above 22-23°C at all time.

To sum it up, roof window plants get 20% less light than the outside ones, but experience 5°C higher temperatures.

Where should I grow plants?


texts: Does anyone have experience with a lemon tree as an indoor bonsai?

texts: I grew a "tree" out of a lemon seed. As I'm not living in a climate for lemon trees I'm trying to make an indoor bonsai out of it. I'm not sure if it is good bonsai material. Will it build enough bark? Can I get the leaves small enough for a bonsai? Any experiences?


texts: Ficus bonsai has leaves that turn copper, why?

texts:
I have a bonsai ficus ("ficus elastica bonsai" I think). For the last 2 weeks, some of the leaves are getting a little black/red (copper color). I took a picture. It seems, but I'm not sure, that this is due to direct sun exposure: for several years, this bonsai grew inside my house. Within 2 weeks, but only I would say 4 times, I placed it outside on the terrace in the sun. NB: it could be due to the fact I have pruned some of its branches to give it a shape (some sap had flowed), as you can see in the picture, 2 weeks ago.
Why do its leaves change from green to a copper color? Does this mean that a dangerous biological process is taking place for the bonsai? Is it possible to heal it?


texts: What is this unidentified garden plant? Weed or shrub?

texts:
Its growing near many roses and hydrangeas in front of a house we just bought. But no flowers or berries as long as I have observed last couple month's. Location-wise it seems to be intentionally planted, and obviously well established (4 feet tall, substantial lower stems). Look not dissimilar to neighbors laurel bush but much more weed-like. The red stems have me concerned about pokeweed. Small dog and young kids.

We are in south sound region of Washington, and its early summer, and a dry one if that matters.


texts:
There appear to be different types of mower cutters.  One which I've seen advertised is a "slasher mower" (this is an attachment for a tractor).

How does a slasher mower work?

(My Google-Fu is weak - I can't find anything specific on how they cut, and what differentiates them - other then that they are good for long grass, but do not cut fine - from the typical mower I'm familiar with - ie a spinning horizontal blade or 2 or 3)


texts: What's wrong with my indoor Areca palm with leaf blight?

texts:
I just received a small areca palm (about three feet high) in the mail that has some leaves showing signs of stress. Could someone help me identify the culprit? I'm wondering whether I could address the problem myself (inexperienced with Areca palms) or whether it's too diseased to salvage? If this plant is beyond repair, should I contact the nursery and try to get a healthier one?

I'm also wondering whether this palm might infect my other houseplants with scale or fungus? I have a nice pothos, aloe plant, peace lily, rosemary, cilantro, and mint in the same room.

All advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you!


texts:
Friends of mine have a grove of 5 fairly closely spaced Pseudotsuga menziesii (Douglas fir) in their front yards which are about 15 years old.  They are thinking about girdling the smallest to produce a wildlife snag but are worried about root rot affecting the other trees.

Is this a valid concern? My feeling is no, but it's strictly based on the assumption that health trees can fight off the rot.


texts: I have a nice garden which I have made using vermicompost. Plus I have used cow dung manure. I get a lot of flying cockroaches in that. How to get rid of this.


texts: Can I use vermicomposting leachate to moisturize my worm bin?

texts:
I have a two container vermicomposting system with the bottom container having a tap to drain the leachate. I think I am maintaining my worm bin correctly as material feels damp but I cannot wring any water out of it. I spray some water on it very rarely if the top portion feels very dry.  My worms do look happy - at least they are consuming the expected amount of food.

I do get a small amount of leachate (maybe quarter of an inch in depth) in the bottom bin. Sometimes I also see a few worms in the bottom bin, but I do know that they keep moving upwards when they need to.  I am wondering if I can just pour the leachate back into the worm bin?  I think the water should have bacteria and other stuff that might help decomposition a little more.


texts:
I have dirt from an old burn pile that I need disposed of. I want to refill the area with fresh soil so I can plant grass seed.  The dirt I want removed has wood chips, nails, and rocks.

Does anyone have recommendations?  I don't think the transfer station will take it, but I'm looking for some kind of public service that's cheap or free.  I don't know many farm owners, and don't want to ask about dumping on their land.

Thanks


texts: What steps can I use to encourage pollination?

texts:
I have some plants that have many flowers but not very many vegetables being produced; sometimes it seems as if I'm growing the plants for the pretty flowers and not for the vegetables that may eventually appear. The flowers look healthy, though sometimes it appears that they open up in the morning, look beautiful until about 2:00, then slowly die by the end of the evening.

I suspect lack of pollination is an issue. What types of things can I do to encourage pollination to occur? Is it possible that there are simply not enough bees/other pollinators in the area?

EDIT: In this particular case I'm referring to cucumber and zucchini plants, but I'd like to see if I can get information that will be helpful when I plant other types of flowering plants, like chilies, strawberries, or tomatoes.


texts: Does anyone know the name of this young plant shrub?

texts:
The plant has opposite toothed single leaves and opposite stems growing in Northern Virginia.  The color of new growth stems is a deep burgundy with white speckles.  I'm guessing it is a shrub in the honeysuckle family.  It is a volunteer whose seed was likely deposited by a bird.  There are no other plants like it in the yard.  It had one woody stem last summer which I cut to the ground in late winter of this year.  All the growth in the pictures has occurred this growing season. It is a young plant that I have not seen flower and fruit. The pictures were taken today, June 12, 2017.  In the second picture it is the single season shrub in the middle.  Please disregard the plants that surround it.  I planted the surrounding plants and know their names.

Here is the picture of the leaves and stems of my Gray Dogwood (Cornus racemosa):

Here is a picture of leaves and stems on one of my Flowering Dogwood trees (Cornus Florida).  It is the state tree of Virginia and native to the eastern United States. It's a very popular landscape tree in Northern Virginia.

Thanks!
Eddie


texts: How should I use corrugated cardboard for mulch?

texts:
I tend to have a lot of corrugated cardboard boxes laying around, due to getting various things shipped to my house.  I have heard of using cardboard for a mulching material, but I'm not sure exactly how to do it (maybe I'm overthinking things).   Ignoring the option of shredding and composting it:

Should I shred it and treat it like I would straw mulch?
Should I rip it into sheets and just lay it down flat on the ground between rows?
Should it be covered with anything, or can it just sit out?
Is there some other method that I haven't thought of?


texts: I recently got this plant from a nursery and when I got home, I realized it has these little dots all over it, is this some type of pest?


texts: This lily is odd because of its hosta-like evergreen leaves. It is tolerant of shallow planting, weekly mowing, poor soils, and dense shade. The flower is like an Easter lily. What is the variety name?


texts: What should I do with my daffodil bulbs after having removed them?

texts:
I've recently dug up a patch of the garden and taken out a whole bunch of daffodil bulbs. I want to keep these bulbs, so what should I do with them now that I have dug them up?

Would I be better planting them now or storing them and planting them at a more suitable time? If I should store them, what's the best way to store the bulbs?


texts: Identify small, white, "ant-like" bug found in chips near tree

texts:
Can you help me identify and "diagnose" these small, white, ant-like bugs?

There are red wood mulch chips around the base of a tree in my front yard. I pushed some around with my shoe, and was a bit surprised to see a bunch of little bugs like this.

Some kind of ant? Some kind of termites? Should I be worried, or leave them be?

Their fate is in your hands.


texts:
I've watched a lot of youtube videos about gardening. I was paying particular attention to the plant and seed varieties. I noticed that a lot of seeds aren't sold in Europe. I don't know why that is, but I doubt there is any legal cause.

For example, I've heard wonderful things about tomato Boxcar Willie. When googled, I only found 1 europe based seller.

Is there a marketplace I am not aware of? How do you get seeds you heard of on the intrenet?


texts: Are these seedlings Mazari palm or Agave neomexicana?

texts:
A couple of weeks ago I have planted seeds for both Nannorrhops ritchiana (Mazari palm) and Agave neomexicana. Unfortunately, I forgot to put proper labels on back then.

I am now seeing two sprouts (currently 2 and 3 cm high, respectively) of one kind but not the other. So which one of the two plants are these going to grow into: Mazari palm or Agave neomexicana?


texts: Recent tomato plant foliage growth suddenly covered with black dots

texts:
I went to water my tomato plants this morning and noticed that much of the most recent leaf growth was covered in black dots. As can be seen in the following photos.

Note that the drops of water on the plant foliage is from morning dew, not from overhead watering.

The black dots were not there last evening and they are not dirt from splashing water. I sprayed a watery mixture of Dyna-Gro neem oil and Dr. Bronner's unscented pure-castille liquid soap two evenings ago. There has been no precipitation, other than morning dew, since I sprayed. I've been spraying every seven days since before these tomato plants were transplanted.

I have read that a spider mite infestation can appear as hundreds of little black dots, but there are no signs of webbing and these black dots appeared in the course of eight to ten hours. I have occasionally spotted and removed winged aphids and ants carrying aphids from these tomato plants. But I've never noticed more than three visible aphids in one day. I have used food grade diatomaceous earth in the past, to try and curb the ants, but I do not want to harm any beneficial insects.

What could this be and does anyone know of a recommended treatment?


texts: Will a branch on a small tree always be at that same height?

texts:
We have a lot of trees on the farm (Apple, maple, pear, walnut, oak...) and I've been reading about pruning lately. One of the things I stumbled upon is that when a tree is say five feet tall and has a branch at 18 inches above the ground there will always be a branch at 18 inches (even if the tree grows to 50 feet). Is this true? I assume this would also apply to Y's in trees where the trunk separates into two different sections. If you want a good looking tree ideally you don't want a big branch 18 inches off the ground, so you'd prune it.

So, basically, is it true that when a branch grows in it will always remain at the height it started out at?


texts: What is this plant? 3/5 leaves per stem, thick trunk

texts:
Does anyone know what this is? I spontaneously grabbed it off the shelf at a flea market and now I don't know how to care for it!

Some stems have 5 leaves, and some have 3. The trunk is unique to what I've seen before.


texts: How can I tell which lettuce seeds are viable?

texts: How do we differentiate which lettuce seeds are good and capable of germination, from the rest?. I planted lettuce seeds, and only 'Radical' came up, after the rest could not germinate.


texts: What's the name of this plant? And why the leaves become yellow?

texts: What's the name of this plant grown in my yard? And why the leaves become yellow?


texts:
I have 4 pine trees (not sure the type but they look like Christmas trees) in my back yard.  They were planted at the end of May by the people that we bought the house from.  One of them has turned completely brown (but still has needles on the tree but they are slowly falling off), and the others are beginning to turn brown near the edges.

I live in Maryland (USA) and it is the start of winter but not below freezing if it matters.

What should I do to save these trees?  Is the one that is all brown already dead?  Will it come back?  Maybe I am not watering them enough?  How much water should they get?


texts: What are these weeds & how can I prevent them?

texts:
In one of my past posts, I asked how to seed my 20 x 25 ft backyard.
I had great results by following your recommendations.
I also left 1 1/2 ft as a bare ground border, keeping it weeded by pulling anything that popped up. I want to use that for my organic gardening. This past summer I tilled in the grass clippings and vegetable peels from my kitchen.

I'm hoping that the ground will have time to decompose this over the winter, however, toward the end of spring I saw a number of big plants! The first one on the left now has purple berries on it. The one in the middle is a 4 foot giant that popped up out of the blue. It looks like a dandelion on steroids! The last one on the right looks like big crab weeds. Are they just that?

Any idea what these are? Can I eat them? Are they some kind of poison ivy? Can I just pull them and they'll be gone?

Click on pictures for full size view.


texts: What plant is this? It's definitely not a cactus

texts: I recently bought a small plant from a greenhouse.  The label on the plant said it was an "Old Man of the Andes", but a quick google search shows that is a cactus, and this is clearly not a cactus.  Any help in identifying this would be appreciated, because I definitely don't want to kill it by accident!


texts:
I've recently picked up indoor gardening as a hobby after a few successes growing some houseplants.

I have a mango seedling that sprouted about 3 weeks ago. I just noticed that a couple of the top leaves are a bit weak looking and 1 is curling a bit. Just want to know if this is a sign of overwatering, fertilizer burn, or pests, and what I can do to fix it. My pot also doesn't have a drainage hole so I'm wondering if that could be a problem as well.

Updating the images with the soil used

Update*
It's been a couple weeks and the trees looking much better. I'm actually contemplating doing some pruning/tipping to encourage branching. It's about 10-12 inches now. I got a little lamp with a cfl bulb been using as a grow light. I'm in the process of building a set of shelves, and then I'll install some more lights, I bought an LED strip. The intent of my tropical trees is too turn them into bonsai, but we will see, perhaps I'll grow them fool size then give them away. Just wanted to share a pic of it too show the improvement.


texts:
I'm trying to treat my azaleas for lace bugs without harming my honeybees. I'm especially concerned since it's not just wild bees. I've started a hive.

I've been looking into it and my local AG Extension website shows three chemicals I'm interested in. One is 'Acephate' which is a foliar spray that is systemic. I think the effects my last 1-3 weeks. The other two are 'Imidacloprid' and 'Dinotefuran'. The last two are either granular or a drench, but they're also systemic and are supposed to treat for an entire season.

I'd love to use one of the latter two, but I'm worried for my bees. A couple of my azaleas try to grow every year and end up damaged and poor looking. I'm almost positive it's lace bugs after doing some research this year. A lot of last years leaves are yellow and spotty and have dark spots like insects or insect poop on the underside.

I know the systemic poisons can be harmful to bees, because it can travel up and enter the pollen and nectar. However, I was hoping someone could tell me if it's harmful to them if applied after flowering has stopped. If they aren't flowering, then they won't have nectar and they bees won't ingest the poison.

I know, however, that azaleas start growing the following years flowers when the ones from this year drop. So, will they systemic poison applied after flowers drop this year, pollute the nectar for next years flowers?

Thanks for any help or info on this. I'd like to see my azaleas do well this year without harming my bees. I'm open to other suggestions on treating for them, but I'd like something that's fairly effective. I don't want to have to go out and coat every square inch of leaf surface with neem oil every too days. It would be ineffective, time consuming, and I'd probably miss a lot of the undersides of the leaves, leading to a reinfestation. Thanks for the help.


texts: How does the T budding grafting method provide contact between the cambium layers?

texts:
In a T budding technique of grafting fruit trees, how does the cambium layer of the bud come into contact with the cambium layer of the rootstock?

How does this great method have such a high success rate if there is no direct contact between the cambium layers?

The upside down T method is usually more recommended.

Here is a great video that demonstrates this method.

This is the photo that I made that shows where I think there is contact between the cambium layers, let me know if I am correct or not:


texts: Biodegradable material that keeps the termites away

texts:
Recently I came across Groasis Growboxx, a biodegradable coccoon that ensures maximum survival rate, and less water being used for their nurturing.

This was tested in Urulikanchan, Pune, India. The model was working fine, but the only problem that was concerning was the termites. The biodegradable substance was eaten up by the termites. Is there any other alternative which keeps the termites away and yet is biodegradable?


texts: What is this plant with long narrow leaflets?

texts: I bought a plant a few weeks ago and I don't know its name. I'm not quite sure how to take care of it. Can you help me out?


texts:
I've just ordered 1kg of heirloom seed potatoes but I only intend to plant 500g or so.

Going forward, I intend to harvest true seed from their fruits, but I'd like to keep a backup in case blight strikes in year 0.

How long can I viably store the seed potatoes and what would be the best conditions?


texts: What vegetables can be grown effectively in a small, urban garden?

texts: I currently live in a condo with a limited sized balcony.  Which vegetables work out best for a small garden?


texts: Washing roots to make sure it has no hidden insects?

texts:
My red pepper plant isn't doing too great, so I decided to check the soil and it had dark red worms. I took it out of the pot, and removed all the soil from the roots with a water hose (or so I thought).

When I took it to the dishwasher for a final rinse, I noticed it had a white bug. That's when I realized that even though I thought all the insects were gone, there's still a possibility that it has some insects deep within the roots.

My question: how can I wash the roots to make sure it has no insects or vermin hidden in the roots?

Here's the plant after I washed it. I haven't replanted it because I don't know if there's anything else hidden in the roots.


texts: Condition for coffee plant to produce indoors

texts:
I have an Arabica coffee plant growing indoors, in my office kitchen area. It has good light (no direct sun) and it's watered regularly. The pot is about 40 liters, filled with potting mix and enriched twice a year with slow-release fertilizer.

The plant is about 7 years old, green leaves all year and looks healthy enough - but it has yet to set fruit. It blossomed briefly last winter and that was it. I tried putting it outside but the sun and wind did not agree with the plant.

Is there anything I could do to encourage it to set fruit this year?


texts: What is this plant with an unpleasant smell and hairy leaves?

texts:
I have received some seeds as a present, it should be some kind of flowers, but now (after four months) it looks like that:

It smells really not good and has thorny leafs and stalk.


texts: I've recently acquired a nice-sized Black eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) plant. But unfortunately I've only got one, when I would like to have several. How would I go about multiplying this plant?


texts: Manage weeds around parkway strip with maple trees

texts:
Current State:
I have a parkway strip of about 500 sq ft in MA. The picture included is 30 percent of it. Rest of it is also similar to picture.
I have about 5 maple trees (2 year olds) in there. Picture includes 2 maple trees.
It can be seen that the strip is covered with crabgrass and other undesirable weeds. Some of the weeds/grass are also emerging out of the mulch surrounding the maple trees.
I am looking for the one of the following expected states. I would like to know your suggestions on what steps would each state entail and if it’s even realistic. Also at the same time, what does it take to keep maintaining the state. I will also include my thoughts on how I think I will get to it. Please correct me if there’s a better or easier way.
Expected State 1:
I am looking to replace all the weeds with grass. I would also remove the weeds/grass growing out from the mulch.
I plan to do the above step using either of the methods:
Method 1:
Find a herbicide that won’t affect my maples and kills all the crabgrass. I don’t mind removing the non-crabgrass weeds by hand.
Once the weeds are removed I ll apply a pre-emergent that will limit crabgrass.
I will then seed grass and water.
Questions following method 1:
1.  Can you give me a magic herbicide (preferably over the counter at homedepot/ace) that would kill crabgrass but have no impact on my maple trees?
2.  Can you give me a pre-emergent that will limit crabgrass but not grass?
Method 2:
If there’s no safe herbicide available, I will use a tiller to go over the weeds.
Then I ll apply the pre-emergent and seed.
Questions following method 2:
1.  Will a tiller ideally kill the weeds?
Expected State 2:
Replace all weeds/grass with mulch.
I will use one of the above suggested methods to remove grass and weeds.
Questions following that method:
1.  Is it easy maintenance with just mulch?
2.  Which is considered better looking? “Grass strip with trees in mulch” or “Strip full of mulch with trees in them”?


texts:
If been told that this is an Amaryllis but I'm very doubtful.

Thanks to the clue given by @GardenGems I have finally narrowed it down to bromeliads

It has a baby that looks slightly different

UPDATE:

I had a look at the roots and I'm confused..... they look like orchid roots!
The growing medium is 40% wood chips!

The roots are flexible like thick string with a coat around them almost like a pre filter!
Inside of the 1 cm coat/tunnel is ample space for the 3 milliliter thick roots to move around

The coat is like dry mushrooms, almost spongy and measures less then a milliliter thick but completely surrounds the inner root all the way to the tip.

Also I noticed what looks like a fungal infestation with in the filter of the root coat but it might be a symbiotic relationship as the roots with in the  coat still look healthy.

The plant is battered and overwatered and cold let's see if I can help it reverse its miss fortune any advice is most welome.

thanks to @polypipe-wrangler i took a look at the pot and its on the pot


texts: Should I remove brown, cap-shaped Birch Polypore mushrooms from my tree?

texts:
I learned from this question that my birch tree is infested with Birch Polypore  mushrooms. For two reasons, I'm wondering if I should remove them.

First, even though they grow because the tree is diseased, they also cause further decay. Would removal slow down the rate at which the tree dies?

Second, do the mushroom bodies release spores or any other substance capable of causing damage to nearby birches which currently seem healthy?


texts:
I have what appears to be, two types of crabgrass growing.  One with thicker, longer, higher blades. Another with skinnier, shorter blades.

I have seen the "real crabgrass video", but still not able to determine if this is truly crabgrass or not.


texts: Best approach to clean a pond that has been unloved for a long time

texts:
We've just purchased a house which has been neglected for a little while and are renovating it. There is a pond in the back yard which looks like it has not had any attention for multiple years. There is no filter or pump on the pond and it stinks.

I'm wondering what the best approach is to cleaning it.

Current thoughts are to do one of the following:

Buy a pump and filter and just run that against the pond to clean it out. My concern is that it is so dirty that it'll wreck the pump and/or filter.
Completely empty the pond by using a bucket, remove any sludge in the bottom and then refill it. Finally install a filter and pump to keep it clean.
combination of the two, syphon some of the water out with a bucket and refill with fresh water and then run the pump and filter, hopefully reducing the effort the pump and filter will need to go through.

The pond has frogs in it - well, not sure if they are in the pond but I've seen them around the garden (I'm in the UK and it's coming into winter here). No fish at the moment but once it is all cleaned up I plan on putting fish in.

Photo of the pond:

Photo of my dog after he jumped in the pond so you can see how dirty it is as well as how stupid my dog is:


texts: Only the lowest branches of my Pine tree is turning brown and their needles are falling off: why it happened and how to avoid it

texts:
More than a month ago, I bought some kind of Pine tree. At the time, the all the branches and needle leaves were fine:

The seller told me to water it twice a week. I did so. I keep the tree inside, next to the kitchen. The tree is not exposed to direct sunlight, it gets light indirectly.
But now, only the lowest branches are turning brown and their needle leaves are falling off.

What kind of Pine tree is my tree? How can I keep it healthy? I studied this post, but just thought I'd ask anyway, maybe pictures would help with diagnosis. Thanks!


texts: How many spears can I expect from an average asparagus plant ready for harvest?

texts:
Pictures of young asparagus plants seem to indicate multiple spears will come from a single plant.  But pictures of mature plants are harder to interpret.

I want to know so that I can determine how many asparagus plants I should plant.


texts: Best method of using lady bugs to prevent aphids

texts: My kale and broccoli's are getting infested with aphids and they seem to be multiplying.  I have tried to hose them off and that works temporarily but they are back in a few days.  Research suggests using lady bugs is very effective.  If someone has used it successfully, can they share some information such as how many lady bugs would I need, how effective was that, how do I keep them in my open backyard vs them flying off or better yet how do I multiply my lady bug population so they I have a good number year after year (or do I need to bring in lady bugs every year)


texts: Peace Lily. Inside of stem protrudes (see pic). Do I need to do something about it?

texts: As you can see in the pic of this Peace Lily, the internal part of the stem encircled in red protrudes outside its cover. Is that normal? Should I try to push it in or do something about it?


texts: How long does it take for a Nepenthes vine to grow?

texts: I am trying to grow (and hopefully breed) a nepenthes pitcher plant. In all the videos online I've seen people take cuttings from the nepenthes vines instead of the main stem. I was just curious how long it would take for one of these vines to grow on my own plant and if there was any way to speed up/ encourage the process.


texts: This sprouted without us planting it. What is it? Leaves do not taste very much.


texts: Will pooping in a flowerpot before planting ivy help it grow?

texts:
I have heard poop can actually be really good fertilizer. Truth be told, in my county, the solid waste division takes figure remains and uses it as fertilizer that is sold for planting.

With this in mind, what would happen if I took some soil, put it in a flowerpot and then pooped on it, and then covered that with more soil? Would this be a good fertilizer and help a plant grow? I'm not joking at all.


texts: What vegetables could be planted in a limited balcony space in a subtropical environment?

texts:
I am looking to develop and maintain a small vegetable plot on my unit's balcony, the space available is approximately 2m x 1m (6ft x 3ft).

Conditions:

Subtropical coastal mining-port town in Australia, my unit has a balcony with full sunlight from about midday to the evening.  The temperature ranges from low 20's Celsius (high 70's Fahrenheit) in winter up to mid 30's Celsius (mid 90's Fahrenheit) and extremes into the high 30's Celsius (100's Fahrenheit) are not unusual.

Rainfall is not particularly high, especially in winter as the wet season is in summer.  Storms are very rare here.

Maintenance

I work four jobs, so the garden will need to be as low maintenance as possible. I am able to water daily, early morning and evening.

Which vegetables could be planted on my balcony in these conditions?

After reading the questions and answers:

What herbs/vegetables/greens can be grown in a balcony garden with limited sunlight?,
What vegetables can be grown effectively in a small, urban garden? and
Balcony composting - suggestions for trapped rainwater,

I realise that my situation, while related, is different enough to warrant a separate question.


texts: What is this grey-leaved plant, low shrub good for dry conditions?

texts: Grey-leaved plant about 1m high and can survive tough conditions. It is a common plant in Australian gardens.


texts: My aloe vera's leaves are dying. Can anyone tell me what is wrong with it?


texts: How to remember planting depth and spacing in the vegetable garden?

texts:
This may seem like a non-problem to some, but I very often find myself with a handful of seeds and I totally forget what the seed spacing, row spacing and seed depth is supposed to be for any particular variety. I usually keep my seeds in a separate container and throw away the packet after planting one or two rows, then they get mixed up with others of the same type (hopefully).

Example:

I go out and I plant two rows and beets, two rows of turnips, two rows of radishes and two rows of carrots.  I know from repetition that beets and turnips should be 3 inches apart and half an inch down, carrots sort of just rest on top of the soil and scattered in a line and radishes are like 2 inches apart and 1/4 inch apart.

Unfortunately, that's not always what it says on the seed packet, so I'm forced to re-calibrate.

What is an effective method for recollecting all the info on all the varieties of plants you're going to plant on any given day?


texts: What would cause pale patches and little brown spots on my Lemon Balm leaves?

texts:
There are pale patches and little brown spots on the leaves of my lemon balm plant.

Here are two pictures.

Source

Source

Source

I recently transferred it from a six inch to a twelve inch pot. In the six inch one, I was watering it every morning until it dripped. Since it needs way more water for that to happen in this pot, I no longer water it every day; I just stick my finger in the soil knuckle deep, and if it doesn't feel as moist as it should, I'll add water. Was doing two cups every time, just started doing four this morning because I figure it needs to soak all the way through the soil, and even that doesn't cause dripping. Edit: I'm seeing moist patches forming on the outside of the bottom of the pot (it's Terra Cotta), so the water is definitely getting down in there.

It gets a decent amount of sun, mostly in the middle of the day and early afternoon, but it's difficult to determine the exact amount due to a bunch of oak trees in my yard.

I planted the thing roughly two and a half months ago, but totally forgot to keep track of the exact date. Lesson learned. The pale bits were appearing with much less frequency in the smaller pot.

Edit 2: Forgot to mention that I've been battling it out with these little orange worms for a little while now, they appear on my plant every now and then and seem to be very happy whenever it increases in size. Those are probably my problem. Can't seem to find what they are or how to get rid of them, though.

Edit 3: As of today I've also seen little flea like bugs and little black and white flies, all of which I'm pretty sure are contributing to the damage, which seems to be getting worse. Currently looking around for food-safe insecticides/repellants.

Edit 4: There's a little orange insect eating an even smaller black fly looking thing on one of the leaves, which makes me think that the black flies could be the issue and killing the orange things has been a mistake? The fly looks like it might be a soil gnat...


texts: Should I repot a newly purchased rubber plant

texts:
You can see the roots are above the soil.
Should I repot this newly purchased rubber plant, or should I wait a few weeks it should acclimate to my home first.


texts: Is light direction or proximity more important when considering indoor natural light for plants?

texts:
I'm trying to provide my houseplants with as much natural light as possible inside my 2nd floor apartment.

I have 2 large bay windows that face north, and can put my plants directly by the window/on the sill. Here they're very close to the window but almost never get direct sunlight, due to facing north.

I could instead put plants in rooms with a large east or west facing window, where they'd have access to more direct light depending on the time of day, but in each case the plants would need to be significantly farther away from the window itself (6-9ft).

Does anyone know which would offer more/better light to my plants? I'm sure there are other factors to consider (my latitude, size of window, perhaps even paint color/reflective surfaces in room) but I'm curious if there's a more general principle/formula at play, with proximity to window trumping light direction or the other way around.

Would an exposure/light meter help me figure this out?


texts: Why are the leaves on my pink Aglaonema fading and turning yellow?

texts: My Aglaonema is fading rapidly. The leaves are pale in appearance and are turning yellow. Can you tell me what is happening?


texts: How should I take care of a lemon plant in a container?

texts: I have a lemon plant in my balcony in a container. I don't know how it grew there, but I am sure that it is a lemon plant. I haven't noticed its growth until now. I actually know nothing about lemon plants, but I want that plant to grow and bear fruit. What care must I take? It's about 20 cm (almost 8 inches) tall now. I live in India. The plant gets plenty of sunshine. Its in a pot almost 15cm in radius and 1 foot in height. Is it enough? Also please tell the amount of water it will need. Its a citrus lemon.Any suggestions?


texts: What is this plant with variegated trifoliate leaves?

texts:
This is the first year this plant has shown itself in my yard. I've searched but cannot find any information. I suspect it's a weed or poison species of some sort. It has only three green leaves and then three small burgundy colored leaves folded inward which gives the appearance of a flower.

Does anyone have an idea what it is?


texts: Should my compost bin be on or off the ground?

texts:
I recently made a compost bin. I simply drilled a bunch of holes on all sides of a plastic bin and was ready to go. I have been using it for a while now with it sitting flat on the ground. Should I be doing anything differently such as elevating it off the ground? Does this affect the amount of air the material gets? Does this affect the heat of the compost?

For anyone interested, I used this guide for building my own bin.


texts: What is this small plant with large dark green leaves, and how do I care for it?

texts:
A friend just gave me one of her houseplants during her move to another apartment. She doesn't know what the name of this plant is and she didn't give me any instructions on how to care for it. The way she cared for it was just watering when it seemed dry.

I love plants and really want to care for it so my question is, what kind of plant is this and what's the best way to care for it? How big will it grow and will I need to change the pot at some-time or another?


texts: What's this pink flower in my lawn? Is it poisonous? I am in the UK


texts: How can I remediate a lawn that has been attacked by moss?

texts:
I am in a rental unit that had an elderly couple as tenants for many years.  The outside has been utterly neglected.  We have already discovered that the property managers are worse than useless for taking action on these sorts of issues.

Last year I made some attempt to remediate the lawn with a fertilizer/grass seed combination to little improvement.

This year we've been out already and managed to rake up a lot of fresh, thriving moss and want to tackle the problem early in the year.

Our soil is a red, clay and the yard has multiple slopes, primarily east and south.  The grass is pretty ratty, but I will not consider laying sod as I am willing to exert effort but not substantial monetary outlay to correct this as best I can.

Can someone suggest a plan of attack?


texts: What's making holes in the trunk/stem of my succulent?

texts:
Something is making holes in the stem/trunk of my succulent, and is now making holes in an offshoot. When I stick my fingers in the dark hole, it feels gritty.

I don't see any insects in the hole or on the plant. I don't want to lose the succulent, which has leaves like paddles. I've had it a long time. I take it in during the winter and put it outside in the spring in the sun. I live in Atlanta, GA. I haven't noticed any problems with the succulent beside it.

Do you know what the holes might be and how I can treat the plant? It is otherwise very healthy. Also, do you know the name of this succulent? Can't find it online.


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I have recently bought a potted rose plant and now its leaves have turned variegated. It was a nice bottle green (uniform) when I bought it first.
Thank you in advance for your help!


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texts: Help on identifying a sharp leaved white-(another variety of it is red-)flowered perennial

texts:
In my garden I have a perennial (at least in a second year) in two varieties (one white-flowered, one red) of the scrub pictured below. I collected seed from it last year and I got seedlings from it this year (seedlings are not pictured).

The leaves are sharp and wound around the stem. The flowers are coming out of the stem as well. It flowers in July and August.

The red variety (not pictured) is a little bit weaker than the white one - it is smaller and flowers less and later.

The scrub I have consists of several stems which have been cut down last autumn and now they are back like if nothing has happened.

The white variety is about 1.20m high; the red one 0.80-1m.

Thanks for giving me a hint on its ID.

click to enlarge the images