texts: How do I fill in dead patches in my lawn?

texts:
When my sod was about a month old, we (accidentally) didn't water it for about it a month, causing it to go dormant. Over several months, most of the grass came back, but now it has several large bald spots similar to this picture.

I've tried removing some of the dead grass in those dead spots with a rake like this, but with all the green netting under the old sod, it makes it nearly impossible.

What's the best way I can remove this dead grass having the sod netting underneath so I can put down a lot of fescue and fix these bald spots?


texts:
enter image description hereI’ve read a few previous Kentia Palm questions but unfortunately I’m still confused as to what is happening with my plant.
I bought it about 3months ago from Harris Farm (if that’s any use). I haven’t re-potted it but I’ve been watering it, with worm tea from our work farm, when the the top inch of soil is dry, which has worked out about weekly-ish. I also mist it about weekly-ish too.
Instead of using fertiliser I’ve put a bit of soil from the worm farm around the base - I’ve done this twice as long as I’ve had it.
It’s in the living room and gets a fair amount of indirect light.
I’m pretty sure I’m doing everything by the book, but yet some of the baby leaves at the bottom have completely dried up and turned brown, and now some of the bigger leaves are turning brown.
Please help my dear plant


texts:
I know that in real life worms will eat both fresh and dry leaves at night or when it rains.

I am not putting earthworms in the soil yet but I will soon.

I am trying earthworms and  mix of old and new soil to improve the growth of my maples both in speed and duration.

The new soil has more nutrients than the old soil. Leaves and fruit and vegetable scraps will improve this more. But worms can turn leaves and food scraps into compost in their digestive systems.

So I think that maybe adding fruit and veggie scraps periodically to the soil will help both the worms and the trees. I am not all that worried about earthworms eating roots because it isn't a main part of their diet.

The ravine has maples, elms, and oaks. I am thinking that fresh leaves would be best but that means either one of these 3 things:

1) Pick leaves off trees(which I wouldn't do)

2) Wait for falling branches and then pick the leaves off(This I think would be best)

or

3) Wait for leaves to fall(that is until summer, fall, and the beginning of winter)

I am expecting to see maple seeds soon since the maple trees are getting their leaves and I always see seeds soon after I see leaves when it comes to maples.

So I was thinking of putting earthworms into the soil after I move the pot to on top of the hot tub(this area gets the most sunlight overall and the most rain so I don't have to water them as much during the first year and only really during dry parts of summer from then on. They also will produce the most nutrients for bark production and winter survival here) and plant a maple seed and give it a deep watering.

Then I figured that maybe once a week or once a month I will give food to the worms. Since they are true hermaphrodites I don't have to worry about telling male and female worms apart because regardless, I am going to get baby worms to aerate the soil even more and produce new soil faster.

Anyway, should I give them fresh leaves from this year off of fallen branches or dry leaves from last year's fall as a staple food(since I might not always have fruit and veggie scraps for worms)?

And how many worms do you think I should start with? I am thinking maybe 2-10 but I don't know for sure.

My pot is in the shape of a truncated cone and is about 1 foot wide at the base and 1.5-2 ft wide at the top in case you need those dimensions. It is also about 1.5-2 ft tall.


texts: Why is my Dwarf Jade plant dropping more than dozens of leaves?

texts:
My Dwarf Jade plant has been dropping dozens of leaves (both good and bad leaves) every day for the past few days. It receives bright indirect light. What is the case? Is it overwatering or underwatering or some disease?

Click for full size image:


texts: Can I plant succulents and cactus in the same pot?

texts: I have 3 plants, Gasteria, Haworthia and one cactus, the Euphorbia enopla. I have the appropriate soil with drainage but I was told the cactus would not do well with the others. How would I go about putting them in the same pot? Could I put the cactus in a small pot and plant the other two in a big pot?


texts: What is this white stuff on my magnolia leaves and can it be cured?

texts:
I'm a total amateur and not sure what is wrong with our magnolia plant. Here is a picture of white stuff that is on both sides of many of the leaves:

Any ideas on what this is and how/if we can cure it?

EDIT - Additional pictures

The plant overall is about 6.5 feet tall:

Stem closeup:

Closeup of leaf:


texts: I've got a disease in my wheat... is there anything I can do organically?

texts:
I'm growing an obscure strain of "tripled perennial wheat" originally purchased from Caleb Warnock's Seed Renaissance. I've been learning about growing grains, and had made the ignorant mistake of mulching this patch with straw.

I suspect that has caused the disease that they are now showing. It has started to be the rainy season here (Western Washington state in September). Is there anything I can do to help these successfully set seed? I am trying to grow out my seed, and don't want to lose a year's progress.

Edit: I found a few nifty wheat disease identification pages:
https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/plantsci/smgrains/pp1552.pdf
http://www.utcrops.com/wheat/Presentations/Newman%20Wheat%20Diseases.pdf

After reviewing those, it looks like maybe this is some kind of blotch. And I found another page that suggests that Stagonospora nodorum blotch is transmitted by... wait for it... wheat stubble. : (

Edit 2: I think I'll try removing as much of the diseased leaves as I have patience for, and then applying a baking soda spray to try to prevent the remaining healthy tissues from being impacted. The disease is pretty advanced, but I just want to get some seeds if I can...

https://www.naturalgardeneraustin.com/baking-soda-fungicide.html


texts: The plant is as seen below, in the photographs, and is similar to cyclamen / sow bread in all respects, but I am absolutely certain that the flower belongs to neither, and the only other plant that comes to mind is a buckflower. Am I right?


texts: Drainage question; tall, cylindrical pot vs stouter one

texts:
I recently repotted a Euphorbia Milii that hasn't been doing too well. I posted a question on the forum, and it seemed like the pot was too large. Specifically, I got this answer from a helpful forum user:

"The pot should only be large enough to leave an inch (at most) of clear soil around and below the rootball. The reason for this is because, with a lot of empty soil around a rootball, over or underwatering is easy to do - in order to keep the rootball moist, all the soil has to be wet, but then your plant's roots are sitting in wet soil. Equally, its possible that the surrounding soil is wet, but the rootball isn't." (link to the question:Euphorbia milii (crown of thorns))

I feel that the terracotta pots I have lying around which would be of a suitable size for my plant will have drainage issues, since they have only one hole. This worries me, since the plant I have to repot is sensitive to having damp roots. I put the Euphorbia in one of these anyway, with a crock to let water pass through the hole, but I worry about the drainage, since there is after all only one hole. I have yet to find any terracotta pots with more than one hole, by the way (side question: why is that??). I left it in there like that for two weeks with no improvement.

I did find two plastic pots, one tall and one stout, but not as wide as the tall one. Basically I cut out the bottom of the small pot, filled the large one loosely with soil, placed the plant in the smaller pot, and put the small pot inside the large one. the hope is that by watering the small pot, the roots will get wet, and all the excess water will drain to the bottom of the pot, since there is plenty of room for it to go. I have an illustration here:

All the soil in the pot is cactus soil.
So, is this a good/bad idea? Is the drainage going to happen like I think it will? Did I just murder my Euphorbia?

Thanks!


texts: Can I make my Schlumbergera truncata (Thanksgiving cactus) produce seeds?

texts: I would like to grow fruit on my thanksgiving cactus (also holiday cactus) so that I can save seeds, but I can never get them to start growing. How do I get my cactus to grow fruit?


texts: It seems that many manufacturers are moving from CFM/MPH claims to using newtons of force for comparisons.   Does anyone know how they're measuring it - what tool/meter,  from the motor or tube,  etc.?


texts: I'm an amateur gardener and I've tried growing sweet peas, yard long beans, cucumbers with no results. The plants grow but never bear fruit. The only thing that grows in my soil is tomatoes. Can anyone explain why only tomatoes grow in my garden?


texts: Help to ID tree and determine if it may be diseased

texts: would like to identify this tree and determine whether it is diseased or not. Thanks for any feedback.


texts: How to apply Colchine for doubling the ploidy of plants

texts: Same as title, I am wondering how to do this for making seedless plants


texts: Can I get a conifer to grow from a ball of roots?

texts:
Is it possible to get a new conifer from a ball of roots that I planted after manhandling the removal process to get some roots out?

Example: side of part A:


texts: Identify a shrub with pink new leaves and green older leaves

texts:
I just moved into a new house (in Washington state in the US Pacific North West) and we have this large shrub in the front yard:

The old growth seems to have green leaves whereas the new growth is more pink-ish. It is probably about 7-8 feet tall and I assume it hasn't been pruned in a very, very long time. It has very thin, very sharp thorns.

Any help in identifying what this is, and how/when should I prune them?


texts: When I recently replaced an herb (by a different kind of  herb) in a pot that didn't grow sufficiently anymore, I found that quite a large portion of the soil was held tightly by the many small roots of the herb. Is it beneficial for the growth of the new herb to throw all of that out and replace the volume by new soil, or should the roots along with the soil they hold be kept in the pot, possibly teared apart?


texts: I have a question about the name of those plants and I would also like to know how to care for them.


texts:
I planted 4 tomato plants later in the season (mid June?).  I have a 12" raised bed with good soil in it and they get about 10 hours of direct sunlight every day.  I water them every other day with about half a gallon of water on each plant through a drip system.  Usually by the end of the second day they are starting to droop a little and the soil is pretty dried out.  All of the plants have multiple green tomatoes on them but it seems like they have stopped developing for the last few weeks.  Minor changes in size and almost no change in color.  About a week ago I tried fertilizing with some 4-6-3 fertilizer after talking to my local nursery but haven't seen any drastic changes.

Based on what I have said above - am I doing anything wrong or is this a normal part of the process? Should I use more of my Fertilizer?

Fertilizer details:

I used the "Fertilizer Tea" method from the bag so I took a cup of fertilizer and mixed it with a gallon of water and split that between two plants.  Below are some pictures of the fertilizer I used and the instructions that came on the bag:


texts: Can you tell the age of a palm tree by its leaf scars?

texts: On a recent "field trip" I noticed the prominent rings that palm trees have where leaves were attached.  Can you tell how old it is from these?


texts: Why would Comice pear tree stop flowering?

texts: I bought two bare root pear trees six years ago, a Comice and a Bartlett.  I bought the Bartlett primarily to serve as a pollinator for the Comice.  I grew them in containers for the first year (I knew I would be moving), then put them in the ground a year later.  Both trees began flowering at the beginning of the third year.  However, the Bartlett flowered right as the Comice flowers were falling, so I got no cross pollination.  I thought perhaps the flowering cycles were permanently out of synch, so a few years ago I grafted several scions from the Bartlett onto the Comice, in the hope that the parent Comice would control the flowering of the Bartlett scions.  Instead, the Comice stopped flowering altogether.  This is the third year of virtually no flowers on it.  Even the Bartlett scions, now well established, produced very few flowers (but a couple of them did set fruit.)  Both trees are planted in a lawn, and I never fertilize the lawn or the trees, so I don't think the issue is excessive nitrogen.  Both trees get the same amount of sunlight:  ample in the morning, then starting to get a little late afternoon shade.  The last two years, the Bartlett has set a spectacular amount of fruit, so I think the basic conditions for pears are good here (Sacramento).


texts: Is there an herbicide that will kill broad-leafs and not hurt moss?

texts: My small pond is 20 years old and has flagstone around it. Over the years I have encouraged a native moss to grow around the stones. When I pull broad leaf weeds , they pull up the moss. Can I poison the weeds and not hurt the moss? Some of the weeds are ; houttuynia, violets, money-wort, all very invasive , and a few others like taro and aspidistra that are not much problem to pull.


texts: Can composting worms be used to remove live weed seeds?

texts:
In vermiculture, if you put organic matter with live weed seeds into your worm farm, do the worms eat the weed seeds? It seems like they would, as seeds tend to be nutritious, and worms are animals, but I don't know.
I don't actually have a worm farm, and I have no plans to get one, but the thought came to me, and I'm curious if this is a viable way to eliminate weed seeds, and how viable it is.
I have used locally sourced worm castings quite a bit, and I rarely see any weeds sprout in it. I don't know if any were supplied to the worms, however.


texts: What's different about biblical fig trees?

texts: I received a fruit tree order, and noticed that one was a "biblical fig", what is different about this one compared to the Chicago fig since both are hardy?


texts: How can I dispose of cement pavers in Delaware County, Pennsylvania?

texts: I have roughly 110 (8 by 16) cement pavers that I need to dispose of in Delaware County, PA. How can they be disposed of?


texts: What is this 3cm green caterpillar from northern California?

texts: We have a number of these caterpillars in the yard.  They are about 3 cm long.  This is on the peninsula south of San Francisco, CA, USA.  I initially thought of geometer moths but it seems to have the full complement of prolegs.


texts: I have this around my yard between larger concrete stepping stones and in more open locations. It is a rough rock with hints of different colors. My guess is some sort of gravel - I'm hoping for something more specific to purchase more.


texts:
From what I've read there seem to be two ways to plant onions - either put part of an onion in the ground, or leave one in the ground for two years and then plant the seed from the resulting flower. But I've also read that there is some system where something is planted once, harvested, and then replanted. What would be the point of that?

Since all of this looks counter intuitive to me, I was wondering if I understood correctly, and if so, what is the point of harvesting and then replanting?

(I was also wondering what would be the benefit (for the vegetable) of a vegetable growing a flower only in its second year. But that might warrant a separate question.)


texts: What is this spiky red fruit bearing shrub and can I eat it?

texts:
This shrub's fruit reminds me of a hawthorn, but I do not see long sharp thorns like I would expect, only short spikes - so what is this and more importantly can I eat it like a hawthorn fruit? The plants seem to live without much water aside from a fairly rainy climate. This is in the Seattle area - hardiness zone 7.

This picture gives a good view of the leaves and a flower - this seems late in their season since most shrubs bear ripening fruit and no flowers at this point.

Some of the plants bear pink flowers like the one above, and some white flowers like this one. This picture gives a good view inside the flower.

Ouch! These spikes don't cover all of the branches.

These little nubs look to me like they might be growth potentials but I don't know enough about shrubs to say for sure.

As you can see, the fruits tend to be solitary, the plant is typically about four feet high.

Here's a good view of a fruit and the reverse side of a leaf.

The fruit is fleshy and contains many seeds. It is soft but not very juicy.


texts: What is this white substance growing on a kumquat tree?

texts:
I've had a kumquat tree on two different balconies for about three years. It's put out a few kumquats over the years, and lately started to again. Recently I noticed this white substance growing on some leaves, something I've never seen before. What is it? Is it dangerous - the tree has been looking fine for months, better than ever, even. If dangerous, what can I do about it?

Click any photo for full size

You can see it on the bottom right of the picture, below the flower.

Here's a close up:


texts: What is the useful life of a kale plant?

texts: I have a few kales growing in my raised bed and it keeps producing leaves and I keep consuming them.  Do I keep doing this or is there a point where you would remove the plant and put a new seedling?  Does kale lose nutrition value of the leaves after a certain point in time?  I don't think so but was wondering since leaves are not growing as large as they used to and some of them have a different texture so was wondering


texts: Haworthia translucens is flowering (I Guess)

texts:
First i dont know the name of this succulent.So i just google "succulent translucent leaves" so i think it is Haworthia translucens. I bought this plant few month ago with two other haworthias, They were in smaller pot and later i moved them to slightly bigger pot and i water them once a month and now this Haworthia translucens  i think is flowering

So couple of questions

What will be the effect of this flower on mother plant.
Does this soon to be flower will hold some seeds? that i can use
later


texts: Is this avocado plant suffering from hard-water build-up?

texts: recently I noticed that 2 of my avocado plants were developing brown and dry tips at the leaves. I am wondering if this is due to hard water buildup since I use tap water for my plants. I heard that this could be fixed by squeezing some lime into the pot every month but I do not know if this is true. I water the plant every 6-8 days and it gets plenty of sun since it sits on my table which has a SE facing window right behind it.


texts: How do I dig peat to avoid getting grass to come with it?

texts: What do I need to do so that I can dig up some peat without having the grassroots to sprout when the plant is in the ground, because I live on the edge of a peat bog area, and was planning to dig my own peat for planting?


texts: How to properly plant Dracaena after it developed roots in water?

texts:
I've made a cut of my overgrown dracaena
This is what the "parent" plant looks like:

Then I put it into bottle and it developed some good-looking roots, here it is

The roots look a bit fragile to me, so planting it like this is "risky".

I read somewhere that it would be great to put it into sand surrounded by plant-mix.

What is the proper way I wonder?


texts: Why do my pumpkins develop rotting black dots after harvesting?

texts:
I have bought a number of pumpkins from a gardener. I'm storing them in the basement at about 12°C (54°F).

A couple of days ago, most of them started showing small, rotting black dots that grow rapidly.

Early stage:

Advanced stage:

Out of interest  - where do these come from? Were the pumpkins stored at too cold a temperature by the previous owner? (We've had really cold nights the past few weeks.) Or was 12°C too much after all? I was told that was the temperature to store them at, but I didn't check.
Is there anything I can do except cut out the rot, cut the good parts down to pieces, and store them in the fridge until it's time to eat them? (I guess the answer to this one is "no".)


texts: What is the name of this low border plant with small deep red flowers?


texts: What houseplant is this and what conditions does it like?

texts: Hello, I've had this houseplant for a few months but it doesn't seem to be very happy. Can anyone please identify it so I can make sure it's in the right conditions? Thanks


texts: Will Arborvitae regrow to their usual shape after being partially eaten by deer?

texts:
I planted a bunch of Arborvitae in my yard and last winter the deer ate the bottom portion of 2 or 3 of them.  I did some Googling to see if they'd grow back, and while most sources say that they will if there's any green left, none of them said whether they'd grow back to a normal shape or how long it would take.

Has anyone had success with Arborvitaes that have been chewed on growing back normal?

EDIT: Added some pictures.  Also, I'm planning on fencing in the yard, so I'm not so much worried about further damage as I am the trees not growing right.  I'd rather take them out now if I have to so they'll look at least half way close to the others in the row.


texts: This beautiful Aloe is dying! Please help?

texts: Have this magnificent Aloe plant that is huge and a friend doesn't know what to do. It's so wilted and there is dry dead leaves everywhere. I'd seems to big for the pot.. bulging out the top. What can I do. It hasn't been getting sunlight


texts: Plant with a single upward-pointing orange flower at the tip of the stem?

texts: Grew in TX right before fall got cold. I'm hoping they grow again in spring but a squirrel has been messing in my pots.


texts: What is this insect with rough brown shell on potatoes?

texts:
This insect with a rough brownish shell showed up on potatoes at a friend's house in Vermont. I've looked around in books and online and can't find anything that's an exact match. Current control strategy is knocking them into a can of soapy water. (My friend hasn't said anything about them making a stink when removing them.)

Update via email:

  Yes, I've had a couple fly away.  Though they're very slow to get moving
  (i.e. very easy to get into the soapy water first).  They're really stuck
  to the leaves, so I have to really scrape them off the leaf.  You can't see
  in the pic, but they leave big round holes (size of pencil eraser at their
  biggest).


texts: Can someone please tell me the name of this flower? I know that it's a little hard to see the flower in this photo my apologies :(


texts: Some of my bush beans are light green, is this a problem?

texts:
In the picture you can see five Romano bush bean plants in my raised bed.  These are all exactly the same variety; in fact, they came out of the same six-pack of seedlings from the nursery.  Yet, four of them have bright green leaves, one has dark green leaves, and one has some of both.

What's going on here?

All of the plants appear healthy.  All of them are currently starting to fruit.  They get the same sun, give or take a little during the "dappling" part of the morning.  None of the leaves are turning yellow.

Possibilities I can think of:

Chlorosis, and I need to add iron to the soil
Needs fertilizer, particularly nitrogen
Overwatering (they're on the same soaker hose, but it could be delivering more/less water to specific spots)
Underwatering (same)
Pests attacking the roots
something else
It's not a problem, ignore it, bean plants are like that.

So, thoughts?


texts: What is the disease in my chilli plant where the leaves of only one plant is becoming yellow?

texts: I have several chilli plants in my yard but out of these 10 plants only one plant is exhibiting this problem. These plants are almost 4 months old. Unable to find a match for the photos from any source. If it is due to any factor such as water or nutrient or infection, then it would affect all the plants. Could this be something which may later spread to the other plants? Yellowing leaves with banding


texts: How can I further prevent my Fiddle Leaf Fig plant from growing slanted?

texts: As my plant grows, it slants forward. It is getting taller and I'm assuming that this is why, but is their a way to prevent this? Or a way to get it straight by using some type of item?


texts: What is this plant with narrow serrated leaves and 5-petaled pink flowers on a water's edge in North Carolina?

texts:
This plant is growing at the water's edge in my friend's yard. She lives along a canal in North Carolina. It has narrow serrated leaves and pink flowers with five petals.

At first she thought it was a hibiscus but the leaves and buds are wrong.


texts: What's wrong with my dwarf cherry tree's leaves?

texts: I'm starting to see holes and some black spots on some leaves.  Anyone know what this is and how I can treat this?


texts:
I started tomato, pepper and melon plants indoors a couple of weeks ago (start February). The plants will eventually go out in a greenhouse, but probably not until May. Will 2 x 30W (2100-2400 lumens) LED (6500K) be enough light for my plants until then? There will be a little real daylight as well, but rather limited at this time of year.

Note! I know this will not be enough for getting fruits. I'm only concerned about growth, and wether the lights can sustain plant growth.


texts: Suspecting pear fireblight but not sure.Any help appreciated

texts: We have several fruit trees in our garden but having fruiting problem only with a pear tree.It is maybe 8 years old, every year has fantastic blossom but after the flowers turn into tiny fruits they suddenly wilt.I suspected it was due to fireblight but when looking on pictures proposed by several gardening sites describing fireblight I noticed leaves on the branch tips also wilt which is not happenning in our case.Because of the issue we get  just symbolic number of pear fruits every year simply saying not more than 5-6 fruits....


texts:
Every year in early March it seems I have a ton of henbit, (lamium amplexicaule), in my yard (Southern US, zone 7, bermuda grass).  Not just around the edges, it's all over the yard.  By May/June it dies off, but it amazes me that the yards next to mine don't have the same "infestation" of the weed.  I end up being the first house around me having to mow to cut it down and make the lawn look presentable.

The local various lawn services say they can get rid of it and make my lawn beautiful, but I'm still not willing to pay $55/application for something that I can probably do myself for $25.

Is there a proven method that I can use to get rid of henbit fast and not see them ever again?


texts: What plant is this and how can I relocate it?

texts:
Today while I was removing dandelion from my lawn I came across this plant

It seems that it naturally grew there by some miracle and I would like to relocate it and multiply it. What is the name of the plant and how can I use it and multiply it?


texts: I found this strange plant growing around my garden, like a weed, but never seen it before. Any idea?


texts: What grass types will survive in areas of standing water that last for up to a week?

texts: I own a mobile home in a very nice development. My yard is sinking and over the past 3 years the grass has died in that area.  The development owners say it's my responsibility to add topsoil to the low areas.  I can't afford to do that at this time.  Is there any grass that I can grow in areas that have standing water for up to a week at times? I appreciate any tips or suggestions anyone can offer.


texts: Flower with small, intensely blue blooms

texts: What is this flower, with small (diameter approx. 1 cm), intensely blue blooms and as encountered on a hot mid-summer day in Central Europe?


texts:
In my area it is very hard to buy a worm that is a good fit for vermicomposting.

There is a vacant lot in my area and I am thinking if gathering worms there might be a good idea?

Questions:

Is it sufficient if I gather worms there?
Will the worms that I gathered survive?
Is it ideal to gather worms instead of buying?

I'm from the Philippines.


texts: I'm trying to kill off a large area (30'X30'X4') of living grass that has been established for hundreds of years. What would be the best way to kill off this grass? I do have a 30'X30' grain plastic tarp that I'm putting logs and pallets around/on the tarp and was wondering if I can do anything else to compress the area quicker to kill the grass in the area so I can hopefully do about a 700' long area during the winter winter in order to have wood chip trucks fill the area with free wood chips to try to establish a large garden next year with. I do know that this area will sink down a lot as it shakes a little when dropping about a 100 lbs log on the ground in area.


texts: How do I set up a vertical garden in my backyard?

texts:
If you've seen the youtube video Will Allen's Growing Power organization, then you probably wish you had something like this in your backyard, whereby you could make the most use of vertical space.

My goal would be to make a garden in a greenhouse using plywood planters, about 3-4 stories.  I would grow anything that could grow in 6-8 inches of soil that would tolerate cold winters and humid summers.

I'm not concerned about the following things:

Aquaponics, but if it's necessary, then it's necessary.
Vermicomposting
Collection of compostable material from restaurants


texts: Comparison of efficiency of different light colors / spectrums

texts:
I am building an led light for my indoor hydroponic / aeroponic / foggaponic hybrid herb garden. I am currently using a 100W warm white LED module. It works fine but I am also building another RGB light and that got me thinking that since plants do not use green light I am wasting 33% of the light / electricity.

I would like to get a comparison between different light spectra and the efficiency that I can gain / loose by using different lights. Since white (normal or warm) LED modules are significantly cheaper than special grow lights with multiple spectra I would calculate whether it is worth paying an x amount more for non white modules or not.

Here are the lights I am considering ( assume they all have 100W output for simplicity ):

White - 6000~6500K color temperature
Warm white - 6000~7000K color temperature
Red + blue only

Finally I could use an RGB LED and customize the color to anything I wanted even changing during the day / season. Would this option be of any benefit compared to reg+blue only? I would generally want to keep my plants in vegetative stage so changing spectrum to force flowering is not really useful for me, this leaves only plant efficiency when it comes to different light spectra.


texts:
A few weeks ago I  bought a sunflower plant, the ones sold in big hardware stores with one flower that come in a 6" pot. So I moved it to a bigger 12" round pot the day after buying it.

As of today, the flowers have died and the leaves are greenish-brown. Im no expert, but they're not doing well. A small one started to grow , but it's all brown.

I water them every day, but it doesnt seem to help. I live in the Caribbean and they're in my rooftop with very little shade. In terms of temperature, we get 85 to 90-degree heat everyday, so it's horribly hot.

So what can I do? Could it be that it's too hot even for the sunflower?

Thanks.


texts:
I recently adopted this Crassula Tetragona plant from a friend. It's dropping leaves like crazy. This plant is in a south facing window in San Diego, CA.

I haven't repotted it so I'm not sure about the soil mix it's in. There are both brown dried up leaves and green leaves falling.

Could this be due to overwatering? Lack of sunlight?


texts: Which end is up when planting a mango seed?

texts:
I have a seed that has already germinated. I've had it in water for a day and it has already grown some in the water.  One end has a slight purple color to it, the other one is long and white.

Which end should be pointing up when I bury it in the potting soil in a container?


texts:
Hello fellow plant lovers!

I've adopted this beautiful 35+ year old cactus from a friend moving across the country, however I'm concerned with the yellowing you see here in the pictures. The yellowing is not all over the plant, there is some green on some sides, but there is more yellow than green. The cactus is still firm to touch and not mushy.

When I picked up the cactus it was leaning on the pot pictured. My friend and I repotted it for transport. The roots were very dry, though they seemed healthy. We removed roots to encourage root growth, I can post another picture of its roots when I repot it later this week, as this pot is far too large for the root system.

My friend mentioned the yellowing started whenever he moved it from a less sunny spot. He also mentioned he did not water the cactus often.

I'm fairly experienced with succulents, however not so much with mature cacti. I believe it is a watering problem - the combination of the cactus being in too large of a pot, as well as possibly not receiving enough water, and even enough sun. At the moment, the cactus is in a west facing window where it will receive 5-6 of direct sun, and plenty of bright light in the morning. There's also an option to move the cactus outside during the summer when it's nice and warm here in Canada.

I'm hoping someone more experienced can give me some insight on what the problem may be, what the chances of survival are, as well as give me some recommendations on how I may salvage this beautiful cactus. Also, if you happen to know the name of this cactus that would be very helpful as well!

Thanks in advance :)

Bex


texts:
I planted spaghetti squash from seed a few weeks ago. It did well in a starter pot, and I moved it to a larger one. It kept getting bigger, up to a fifth leaf and the start of a vine, but now it seems to be doing poorly.

When the cotyledons wilted and died, I assumed that was normal. Then the first leaf did the same. Now the second leaf up is turning yellow / brown and dry at the edges and wilting slightly. The top three leaves are doing fine, but they don't seem to be growing much anymore. It's been nearly a week since I saw any growth.

Is any of this normal or is the plant maybe damaged somehow? I can get a picture if necessary. The plant is still indoors in sunlight, and I planned to move it outside when it got a little bigger (I'm in Arizona so it's still warm).


texts: A friend of mine is trying to identify this flower.  She describes it as three double petals almost folded and two white stamens. Black centre with a touch of yellow. Multiple flowers off one large stem with thin long leaves.


texts: Help! My Song of India (Dracaena reflexa) plant is dying!

texts:
Few weeks ago (probably 2-3), I was re-potting some of my plants. One of the patients was Song of India. The other two plants had severe root bounding. After re-potting them successfully, I started working on the Song of India. I tried the slow and tedious approach. It would take some time to explain how the plant got into that serious situation, but it will extend the question if needed (I will post it if anyone is curious). I had to re-pot as the previous pot was ugly, and I got this as an Indoor plant.

In a nutshell, the roots broke off or came off, I don't know. But the plant has absolutely no roots(at the time of re-potting). Like, 9/10 roots came/broke off, including the main root. Now the plant is dying, obviously. It has lost almost all of its leaves.

The right stem lost most of its leaves. I am thinking of cutting the right stem completely to make new buds appear if this plant survives. But I'm not sure if this is a correct decision.

Or should I cut off both the stems? But then there will be no leaf for photosynthesis. Or should I clip the leaf? If yes, how much? and on all leaves?

What should I do? It's Winter here. Not too cold, but it will get too cold in coming months. Living in New Delhi.


texts: Not sure what is happening to tomato plant

texts: Not sure what is happening to my tomato plant. Plants have been in a really sunny spot. We had been in a drought, but we’re consistently watering. Then the last few days it started raining pretty heavy all day.


texts: Can I safely remove glued gravel on top of my bonsai plant's soil?

texts: My friend has a bonsai plant that they won at a door prize and it is in a container where it came in and all the little pebbles are glued together. Is there a way to unglue the pebbles? Or if I were to take it out and break away the little pebbles, would the plant be fine or go into shock? I want to know because one day it is going to need the roots taken care of.


texts: Dying bonsai? All the leaves have fallen

texts:
Summarize the problem

Got this bonsai as a gift a year ago
it has been kept outdoors, watered twice a week
now I see no more leaves, wondering if it is dying / dead
I would like to bring it back to its original vibrancy

Provide details and any research

all the leaves have fallen off
I see some white spots on the leaves (don't know if this is a symptom of something)
I see tiny worm like things moving in the soil (too tiny to recognise)
the tree was outdoors, but not in direct sun

When appropriate, describe what you’ve tried

I have moved it to an outdoor spot that receives direct morning sun to see if it helps


texts:
A friend gave me some seeds from a chilli which have now produced some fruit.
I would like to know what type it is. He thinks it might be "bhut jolokia" or "carolina reaper" but is not sure. After seeing photos on line for those two it seems closer to the "bhut jolokia" but still enough differences in the leaves (tear drop shape instead of heart shape) and fruit (short almost round instead of long) to not be sure.


texts:
What is this? it's killing my lawn fast. What can I do about it?

Background information: We applied Scotts Turfbuilder with Summerguard Fertilizer recently, don't know if that's related. The lawn is located upstate NY at Albany. We don't have a sprinkler system, but it has frequent rain recently.

----UPDATE----
I show the image to local stores, no one can give a certain answer.
At this moment, I personally guessing the culprit is grub.


texts: Identify plant and problem, maybe a Sansevieria?

texts:
A friend gave me this plant but didn't know what it was. I thought it could be some kind of Sansevieria, but I'm not sure.
But the problem is the leaves are getting yellow, and I don't know why. The yellow starts from the top, usually. I already took out the ones that were totally yellow, from top to bottom.
Someone told me that could be fungus but I don't know how to proceed...
I'm currently watering once every two weeks and it's not under direct sunlight.
Does anyone have a clue?


texts: Ginkgo Biloba Bonsai leaves turning brown from middle

texts:
I recently bought a young gingko biloba (maidenhair) bonsai from a nursery that looked healthy two weeks ago. I brought it home and have since watered it twice. I put it outside in the day and it gets 1 hour of full sun but is in the shade for the rest of the day.

Since I bought it, the lower leaves have started browning in a weird way that starts from the middle. So far it has effected one leaf very badly and some other leaves are displaying brown spots.

I'm guessing the problem is that I'm overwatering it, but I wanted to make sure I'm not overlooking a larger issue.

I've included a picture of the badly affected leaf and the whole ginkgo!

Any advice would be appreciated!


texts:
I just bought some of these flowers and I need information so I can decide where to plant it.
What is the name of this plant?
Is it a perennial?
How big does it get?
Can it survive cold winters ( down to -25°C)?
How long does it flower?
What are the ideal conditions for it?


texts:
I've had a chili bush I grew from seed for about a year now, and it's finally growing into something resembling an actual bush (rather than just a seedling) and it was going great until the last few weeks.

The new leaves are starting to kind of crinkle, and the most recent new shoots look as though they're dying entirely.

In spite of this it's bravely trying to grow a pepper on it!

But yeah - couldn't see any pests (other than the stupid things that ate the leaves further down the plant a month or so ago which are no longer affecting it) so am I looking at bacteria, fungus, virus, or deficiency here? Or something else?!

Location: Brisbane, Australia. It's late Summer here. Soil is clay, although clay breaker has been used occasionally on it, and the grass nearby has been fertilised recently.

Here's some pics in case it helps:

EDIT: Accepting diagnosis answers is tougher than I envisaged!

So, since originally posting this, I refertilized (herb/veggie fertilizer) which seemed to only very slightly help. Then, we had a cyclone, which dumped 150+mm of rain onto the soil, which also helped a bit, then I cleared the grass in a 50cm diameter circle away from the base, added weed control sheeting, topped with a little new soil, and fertilized with some stuff that had higher calcium concentrations in it than most fertilizer. Result is:

Doesn't look completely better, but seems a lot less unhappy. So it's really hard to tell which of the three things it was that made the most difference, and I won't really know unless the plant starts to get worse again. As it is, it seems like the new shoots are much less curled (but not completely flat) so... yeah. Here's a pic of the whole bush showing the base etc:

EDIT: Latest pics after drenching in eco oil and pyrethrum a week or so ago.

As of last week, this is what the worst affected parts of the plant were starting to look like:

I finally tried absolutely drenching the plant in eco oil and pyrethrum (both sides of all the leaves, all trunk/stem surfaces... to the point it was dripping liberally off onto the ground underneath it.) A week or so later, it started to look like it was throwing out new leaves and these weren't affected, so I trimmed off the older damaged foliage etc, and this is now the result:

It... certainly is very suggestive that it might have been a pest that was not easily seen... will wait to make sure it's still on the right track, but all things going well I'd say this will finally get a resolution in a few weeks or so... capsid guy is looking good so far :)

EDIT: update after a year of trying to nail this persistent sucker.

So my latest update to this is that none of the above appears to have made a lasting difference. After a lot of reading up and experimenting over the year I'm almost certain now that this is a virus, and I suspect it is spread by midges or similar. Spraying with white oil and pyrethrum not just on the chili bush but also on surrounding grass, plants, vegetation, and weed reservoirs appears to dramatically slow the spread of the disease from reaching new plants, but you need to keep applying the spray every two to four weeks or it wears off and the bugs come back, and then a few weeks later so does the curl.

If you give it fertilizer and make it generally happy with water and light and warmth etc it seems to be able to outgrow small infections reasonably well, but once it starts to get too infected you have to basically kill it and burn the bush to prevent spreads. The bush in the images above is now sadly cut off to the ground and burnt, though the stump has started to sprout some leaves so we'll see if the below-ground portion is okay or not.

The Bhut Jolokia and Butch T chili plants I also grow are also possibly to be affected by the virus, but not as strongly.


texts: Are cherries from the market irradiated?

texts:
I bought some sweet cherries in season last summer and decided to see if I could germinate some for planting.  I "de-nutted" maybe 20+ of them and placed them in damp paper towels in the refrigerator for several months. They were all healthy looking seed kernels (out of the stone). I decided to plant some in the house in early January for an early start. Several of them were putting out roots.

I planted the four largest ones first - one died, three grew up, but one of those was "albino" - so I pulled it out. A couple of weeks later I planted six more that had roots, and these came up much more slowly. Four of them are slow growing and green. One more of these was "albino" (also??), and the other is still there, but not poking out of the soil yet - maybe dead. All of the remaining seeds were not sprouting roots at all, so I threw them away.

So, I got roughly a sorry 50% germination rate and only 25% survival rate. I then wondered if they might have been irradiated causing genetic defects, and if the surviving plants might also have other genetic changes that are not yet evident.  I can't find any info. online about cherry irradiation in the US. Does anyone know if cherries are routinely (commonly) irradiated for market?


texts: Why is adult mango tree thinning, and leaves browning and dying?

texts:
Starting around 6 months ago the tree began I feel to be less full, now the leaves are browning and dying entirely.

Top of the tree appears to be doing better, lower part of the tree is more shaded if that could have anything to do with it.

The tree has not been fertilized in at least 2 years.

Thank you for any help!


texts: Do seeds require light indoors to germinate?

texts: In general, do most seeds require/do better with bright light when germinating indoors?  I am trying to germinate a variety of seeds indoors (basil, chives, spinach, pepper) and am curious if no lighting (just warmth) is sufficient or if it would be better to use artificial/indirect sunlight?


texts:
I am building a fire pit out of Square driveway type stones. I am trying to figure out at what degree I need to cut them to make them fit together in a circle tight.

The squares are 9.75" Sq.

How do I figure out at what degree they need cutting, or is there a standard degree say 45?


texts: How much bamboo do I need to fill space?

texts:
Where I live, bamboo is relatively expensive... From £20-50 for a medium-large pot.

I'm wondering how fast this would spread because I have an area I'd like to screen along a boundary but I'm worried this could be pricey. How far apart should I plant my pots and how quickly will it fill in the gaps?


texts:
On the below picture you can see some of the leaves of my clematis Hagley Hybrid having light grey lines of unusual pattern. I am afraid that if don't do anything, this might spread to other leaves. The plant looks healthy and has a lot of blooms. Can you please help me to identify the root cause and suggest a potential treatment?

Thanks


texts: Should I weedkill soil before sewing a new lawn?

texts:
I prepared soil for a new lawn (actually grass covered carpark using soil filled plastic grids) in the winter, about 250m2 in England.

As I prepare to seed it, I notice a little grass and some weeds are already growing. Should I spray weedkiller before laying the seed and if so how long do I need to leave in between?


texts: Any scientific expanation on Thuja Occidentalis turning brown (dry)?

texts:
Thuja Occidentalis trees often turn partially brown, dry and they never tend to recover on their own. My problem is definitely with entire branches (as opposed to individual leaves).
I water the trees with drip irrigation twice per day and additionally I water them from top top to bottom manually about bi-weekly, as my gardener told me that these trees should be 'in a constantly humid environment', e.g. watering as frequently as possible. I'm definitely not telling that the gardener was right (!), but I'd like to know whether there was any scientific experiment on these trees, examining what is the ideal environment for them.
Gardeners tend to oversimplify things, such as 'You have to spray neurodegenerative chemicals on the tree' and 'There is nothing you can do about it'.
I don't want to give up nor do I want to start carpet-bombing my garden with chemicals. Is there any scientific evidence:

What is causing the browning (drying) of various parts of the trees at random locations?
Whether removing (cutting) the dead leaves bring any benefits to the remaining parts of the tree?
Whether there is any non-checmical way to fight this?

Anyone tried various methods on Thujas?
Pictures attached.


texts: Peperomia obtusifolia, brown spots on all leaves

texts:
I would need your need to better understand what's wrong with my Peperomia plant.

To give a bit of background: I bought the plant 2 months and everything was going smoothly. Three weeks ago i went on holiday for 1 week and I have used some sort of 'irrigation system' that was supposed to give water in a controlled way -- of course it didn't work and all my plants were over-watered.
Secondly, after coming back I saw some small black insects in the plant and I thought that they could be aphids, sucking sap from the leaves. I already sprayed a solution of water and soap and I haven't seen any more insects (at least alive and moving).

Today, the plant has brown spots all over and two/three leaves have fallen. I have checked the roots and they seem fine and not rotten.

Any idea on what I can do?


texts: Why are my hydrangea flowers dying, but the leaves look OK?

texts: I bought some Hydrangeas in pots in full flower. They were then left un-watered. They are now suffering from dead flowers but the leaves look OK. It is now August in North Yorkshire. Any ideas what I should do?


texts: Probably 8 ish years ago my husband planted an herb garden but over the years it has become overgrown. This spring though, a plant that smells exactly like mint and after tasting a small amount of one of the leaves, it tastes like mint too. The thing is though, it doesn't look like mint. The way the plant grows is similar but the leaves are furry is and more rounded, and the plant has a square stem. We've tried researching it but none of the varieties of mint fit the description. Does anyone know what this could be??


texts: How much room does an apple seedling need as it grows?

texts:
Like father like daughter, my little girl has grown an affinity for watching seedlings grow from apple seeds. This is a picture of the one she's watching now:

The diameter of the open end of that pot is about 4.5 inches.
I'd like to ask and learn about the soil/pot/space needs of an apple seedling as it grows. When I've grown apple seedlings in the past, I've usually given them away  when they've reached a size that I felt was too big for me to care for anymore. My daughter, age that she is, is reluctant to let go of her plant, though.
How long might this seedling last and be healthy in its current pot?
If we were to repot the seedling for its next "phase", what would be a good next size?
Is it inevitable that the seedling will eventually need to be in the ground, i.e. unpotted space? Or can an apple tree actually inhabit a pot long-term? I ask because I've seen pictures and heard anecdotally about people keeping potted avocado and orange trees.
If the apple seedling could in fact occupy a pot long-term, what would be a good "ultimate" or final pot size where it might live out the rest of its days?


texts:
So, it's mid october, the plug-pulling lawn Aerator that I ordered in early august got here today. In the past two weeks, as is pretty normal in my neck of the woods, the weather has looked like this, and is quickly getting colder.

I'm thinking about still aerating my lawn, but don't want to expose roots to winter temperatures. Should I hold off until the spring, or can you aerate pretty much all year long?


texts: Cactus with brown and white spots. What is the problem?

texts: My cactus has had this brown spot on its side for a couple weeks now and I don’t know how to fix it. I think it happened when I was away for a month and forgot to have someone care for it. The house was colder than normal (55 degrees F) and outside was very cold. How should I fix this? I water the plant once a week and it sits by my window to get as much sunlight as possible.


texts: I need help figuring what kind of tree/plant this is so i know how to care for it!

texts:
I think it is a tree of some sort and I was thinking maybe a money tree but the leaves seem to look different.

They seem rounder and they feel sort of waxy.


texts:
I picked up these plants from various people when I moved here (Chengdu, China). I was wondering if anyone knows what plants these are (5 unidentified plants in total). I've linked it to my blog post since I can't seem to upload them. Scroll all the way down.

Plant 1:

Plant 2:

Thanks!


texts: 40 year old Maple tree is sprouting new branches. Should they be cut off or allowed to grow ? How can I send you a photo?


texts: Identify clusters of small red and green berries with tripartite leaves

texts: What is this plant with a bunch of small red berries and shiny spear-shaped leaves with twin leaflets at the bases?


texts: What plants won't do well in 12 inch raised bed

texts:
I built a 12 inch raised garden bed with weed tarp at the bottom. (See also Raised garden in flood zone) I put the weed tarp in to prevent grass and other weeds from coming up from the ground. This has the negative effect of preventing roots from the plants I plant from going deeper than about 11 inches. Here is a photo:

What types of fruits, vegetables, and sunflowers will not do well in this setting due to their roots needing to go deeper?


texts: Kalanchoe Flowers dying, what's the cause?

texts:
I have 5 Kalanchoes in my balcony and they are faced to the east, and they get around 5 hours (7 am to 12 pm) of sunlight. But recently the flowers' color started to fade out and then after a while they got completely dried out and fell off.

I live in a dry city and the temperature varies between 25 to 15 degrees C. It's also so windy around here most of the time.

Could it be the soil, watering, etc.? Or it's just their natural behavior?


texts: How to get rid of really thick ivy carpeting some ground?

texts:
I'm trying to reclaim an area which has been left wild for a few decades from the looks of it. Maybe 100 square meters, flat andtotallycovered in ivy (regular English kind).
In places, the ivy is up to a foot thick of layers and layers of roots all crisscrossing. I think maybe each year leaves fall and a new layer of ivy grows on top. It's like walking on a sponge.

How can I best clear this? I tried quite a large fire but it seems very resistant. I guess the same to weed killer.

I think the nature of well separated layers means each fire can only get one later each time, it's naturally self insulated?

If I could kill the ivy so it would start rotting I could wait a year to use the land... Maybe I could use a rotorvator or similar to chop it all up after killing it with powerful weedkiller then just leave? Though I still have a pile of ivy pulled off a wall 2 years ago that shows little sign of decomposing


texts: Good-enough practice for transplanting raspberry at not-ideal season

texts:
I'm planning to transplant some raspberry canes during summer heat. I know normally raspberries should be transplanted in early spring or late fall when the plants are dormant, but I'm moving so it has to happen now. The plants have been yielding ripe fruit for a couple weeks, so they're on the late end of their production season.

What regimen can I follow for transplanting that will give the transplanted canes a decent shot of surviving the stress of a Summer move?


texts: What is this plant? It just started showing up in my yard. There are now 5 between me and my neighbors houses. I have a neuro atypical nephew that stays with me and loves to eat leaves so I need to make sure its safe.


texts: How far from a wooden fence should Bougainvillea be planted?

texts: For bougainvillea to cover a wood fence how far from the fence should it be planted?


texts: French beans (Green beans): Dwarf v. Climbing

texts:
French beans (or "green beans") are widely sold in both dwarf (bush) and climbing (pole) varieties. If anything, my experience is that the climbing varieties are harder to find in seed outlets.

Apart from the obvious the difference - dwarf plants take up less space and you don't need to support them - are there are any other differences?

For example, flavour, heavy cropping, choice of varieties, length of cropping, environmental tolerances?

I'm assuming the dwarf varieties have been manufactured more recently (but I have no idea whether that's true). So is it possible that the gain in convenience has been at the expense of something else?


texts: What is causing curling leaves on my potted Rosy Glow barberry bushes?

texts:
I have a few Rosy Glow Barberries that I bought when they were little. I live in a very hot and humid area, so I put them under 60% shade cloth.

Well, they turned green, so that told me that they needed more sunlight, but the leaves are also curling under.  Is that also from lack of sunlight or is that something else?  I put them out in full sun now, and the color is changing (for the good I hope), but I have not seen an improvement in the curling.


texts: What are the ideal germination conditions for herbs and leafy greens?

texts:
I'm new to home gardening. I just bought Sustainable Seed Company's Herb Collection (Basil, Chives, Cilantro, Dill, Lavender, Oregano, Parsley, Rosemary, Sage, Thyme) and Mountain Valley Seed Company's Leafy Green Collection (Kale, Lettuce, Arugula, Chard, Spinach). The herb planting guide that comes with the seeds recommends the paper towel method to test the germination of the seeds. It also says,

  "[Seeds] are widely variable. For example, lettuce need a temperature
  between 65-80°F and a good quantity of light to germinate, while
  peppers or other warm season crops need temperatures between 75-85°F
  or higher to germinate, and squash, melons, and cucumbers like the
  paper towel to be a little drier. Do a little research on the crop and
  the ideal germination conditions before starting."

As I understand, the germination conditions they're referring to are: moisture, temperature, lighting, and airflow. Am I missing any? Does pH or other properties of the water impact germination?

Is there a table or other resource, where I can look up all these "ideal germination conditions"? The seed packets themselves give some - but not all - of this information. I'm a scientist by training, and I'd like to minimize the time it takes to germinate these seeds.


texts:
Last year I pruned my lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) very aggressively, so that the bushes resulted quite small, with very short branches. I pruned it in about October (I leave at about 45° North). This year my lavender produced a lot of short (no more then 10-15 cm long) spikes, for three times during summer (in May, July and September) and its flowers were very small. I think (but I'm not sure!) that this behavior depends on the way I pruned it. I would prefer it to flourish only once during summer, with fewer, more robust spikes and bigger flowers.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!


texts:
Does somebody comes up with an idea why my spices got those lighter spots on their leaves:

IMO it comes from airpolution, but can't proof it.


texts: I have mislabelled a herb (thought it was chives), can anyone recognize what this is?

texts: Reddit thinks it might be a tomato. I thought it was chives, obviously it's not, but I still think I picked it from the herb shelf, not from a vegetable shelf.


texts: My cucumbers are pale green and yellow bitter to taste, my first few were perfect green and tasty but now i cant eat them they are so bitter, please help im thinking perhaps my soil needs nutrition, ive been using nettle juice occassionally so far....


texts: leaves of Areca Palm is drying after moving to a different flower pot

texts:
I had bought areca palm from a flower shop and kept it in the hall, it was flourishing all the while from past two months. Since, it was doing well, I thought of moving this plant into a bigger flower pot and also segregate them into different pots.

Kept the main stem intact and took other stems and planted into different flower pots, its been 3 days since then however the plants seem to show some distress and leaves are showing sign of dry leaves which wasn't the case earlier.

Important to note that, the types of soil in bought plant was of different quality than what I have used now. Earlier type was more of dry type and was full of wooden powder and coconut scrub type material whereas now I am using soil which is compost type.

Kindly advise on how to rejuvenate these plants and get them back to their flourishing state.


texts: White stripy things on trunk are killing my plant

texts:
Something is killing my plant. The leaves are loosing their colour. On the branches, there is a white, stripy discharge that's slowly taking over the entire plant. Can someone identify this and tell me what I can do to heal my plant?

Some photo's (for scale: the branch is about a finger thick):


texts: Please help identify this plant - we are worried!

texts:
We recently moved into a new house, and noticed that this plant has grown up quite quickly.

Please could you help us identify what this is as we are quite worried it is something serious such as Japanese Knotweed or similar!

Any ideas what it is, or how we should deal with it to keep it under control, or how to best remove it? As you can tell, we are novice gardeners so any advice much appreciated!

For info we live in Winchester, UK.

Thank you so much for helping in advance...


texts:
I recently purchased these leylandii trees from an online garden center to form a hedge at the back of our garden.
I am concerned they are quite wispy at the moment. I recently saw a neighbors young leylandii and they were mush bushier than these.
Do you think these will thicken up OK? Any thoughts and advice would be much appreciated. I’ve tried to upload a photo but it doesn’t seem to work. They are about 4 foot at the moment.


texts: How should I transplant cotoneaster offshoots?

texts: We have offshoots from a former cotoneaster bush that are growing very well. Whenever we try transplanting an offshoot, they don't seem to thrive. What can we do to help them thrive?


texts: please help !I can't figure it out ... Is this from overwatering or underwatering ?


texts: Foamy liquid on plant's stems with green larvae or bug inside - pest or no problem

texts:
Every year in May/June I'm observing on different plants, such as strawberries, lavender (pictured below) and different weeds, a foamy liquid containing a green insect or a larvae.

At first I thought that this is the work of slugs, but now, that I was able to find a "bigger" exemplar and I saw it was moving.

I'm really sorry for the quality, I only had my cellphone at hand at that time:

What is it and is it a pest or canI just leave them alone? On affected plants I never noticed any damage or negative side-effect, but that doesn't mean there aren't.


texts: Deformity in the form of many, miniature leaves

texts:
I have a nulles clementine that isn't doing too great after a winter indoors, for a variety of different reasons that don't surprise me in the least. I am, however, at a loss to explain the new growth I'm seeing on it, which is coming up in the form of many (really) small leaves where there should only be one new one.

Here are some pictures:

Does anyone know what sort of deficiency or disease would cause growth like this?

Thank you.


texts:
I moved into my house a couple of years ago - part of the backyard is sloped (roughly 75' x 10' / 23m x 3m) and the developers planted what I believe to be Blue Pacific juniper along the hill to prevent erosion.

I'm interested in completely getting rid of the juniper and having a landscape architect rework the backyard perhaps creating a few tiers on the hill rather than having a consistent slope.

In the interest of doing some of the work myself, I'm curious about the best way to go about removing the juniper: is there a proper way to kill it? Should I plan to completely up root it by hand?

Any and all suggestions appreciated!


texts: Ficus benjamina variegated has all white leaves on a branch

texts:
One of my ficus developped an almost fully white branch with leaves.

I found about "starlight ficus" which are similar but have more green on their leaves and bark.

Is it common?
What keywords can I search to read more about this?


texts: Need help identifying these plants, please!

texts: Please help me to identify these pretty plants!


texts: How do I prevent my soil from compacting?

texts:
I have several raised beds for vegetables and I don't walk on them but they still compact over time from watering.

What can I add to the soil to keep it from compacting?


texts: I have the following indoor plant but it looks it is not happy. Some of the leaves turned brown and the flower is dry. Is this a perennial plant? Do you think I can revive it? I water it once a week.


texts: How much light is enough for indoor plants?

texts:
I have a cute bonsai sitting by my desk, it's a juniper.

I have a window and it gets around an hour a day of direct sunlight. For the rest of the day it has a mix of indirect and florescent light.

Is that enough light?

I don't want it to die, but I don't want to have it away from my desk for too long. If I put it outside for 3 hours of morning light will that be enough?

I live in USDA zone 11 in the southern hemisphere, so it's summer here, now.


texts: I have 4 , 5 year old Almond trees in my yard. This is normally the first year they should produce. I didn't have much luck, plenty of blooms only 2-3 nuts on each tree. One tree had a softball size peach looking fruit. I wasn't real happy because I ordered Almonds not peaches. I took a couple bites out of the fruit and sure enough it was a peach. Same color same texture. I split the peach open and there was a perfect sized, perfect shaped almond. Bitter but that's expected. Not hard like a peach seed and no way resembled a peach seed.... What's up ?


texts: Carolina Reaper leaves colour doesn't look correct

texts:
I have a couple of Carolina Reapers I'm growing hydroponically but the big one's leaves look I think the wrong colour.. Is this the correct colour? If not what do I need to do to rectify it? I've included the smaller one for reference as it looks the correct colour... Note the big one has chillies on it:
!


texts: What features should I look for in a fertilizer spreader?

texts:
I have been asked to purchase a fertilizer spreader for someone as a holiday gift.  I'm completely lost as to what features are worth extra money and what features are not.  The recipient has an approximately 10,000 square foot lawn and about half of that is currently completely under leaf cover and very shaded.  The other half is grass.  The terrain is flat in parts but steeply sloped in others.  It is quite bumpy.  I believe the spreader may be used for spreading seed as well as fertilizer.

I see spreaders with pneumatic tires get raves, but is that overkill for residential use?  Would simple plastic plug tires handle bumps and slopes just fine?

What are the pros and cons of a broadcast versus a classic drop spreader?

Is there benefit to the bigger hopper sizes that will hold enough fertilizer to cover the lawn without refilling, or does it make sense to go with a cheaper model that requires a refill part-way?

Are there any features I should consider that aren't on this list?


texts:
Green fast growing both short and tall growth. Did not have it previous years but taking
over an area that had ground cover.

Is this a fast growing weed or a ground cover or some sort of climbing ivy?

New York update Ductchess county NY
Thanks so much
Nancy


texts: What are these insects called and how do I get rid of them?

texts:
I have a lemon tree cutting put in a paper cup wrapped in a plastic bag to contain the moisture. Everything looks good but when I lifted the cup, I saw these creepy insects.

The climate in my area is hot. It is summer here in the Philippines.

What are they called and what is the best way of eliminating them?


texts: Can I convert a root cellar into a small greenhouse?

texts:
We barely use our root cellar at the moment and are in the midst of constructing garden beds and planters for vegetables, fruits, and herbs.

We don’t really have a great space indoor for growing plants, but we were thinking we might be able to convert unused root cellar space into a greenhouse since it naturally controls temperature and moisture, adding UV lights. The space would mainly be used to develop seedlings for planting after last frost or maintain a limited garden (like a few herbs, maybe a couple tomato plants).

We live in Ontario, Canada. Outside temperatures vary between -40C (dead of winter) and 45C (hottest summer). Not quite sure what the root cellar climate is like as we don’t yet have a thermometer or moisture meter.

Would there be a way to convert the root cellar space into a greenhouse? If so, how?

Can it still be used as a root cellar after conversion?


texts: What's the name of this five petaled flowering shrub?

texts: I saw it next to a parking lot recently, and took this picture. The plant isn't very tall.


texts: Is this a kind of Fenestraria? On the store label it says Lithops, but I've bought mis-labeled plants before.


texts: I've found about 40 kilograms of beige powder labelled "Green Salt" - what is it?

texts:
I've found this in my neighbourhood, near a trash trolley:

The handwriting can be unambiguously translated from Hebrew as "Green Salt".

My best bet is that it is some kind of fertiliser because that would be cheap enough to throw away once you're done with and I found it outside a newly renovated garden.

Here's what it looks like inside:

And here's a closer look:

It has a definitely organic smell. I'm not sure what of, though.

Google suggests this is either Uranium tetrafluoride or Magnus' green salt.

What do you think it may be?

Why was it used for and why was it thrown away?

Would it be useful to me in any way?

Is it toxic?

Is it flammable?

Is it a fertiliser?

Is it sell-able?


texts: Possible pest identification on Weeping Blue Atlas cedar

texts:
Location is Portland, Oregon, USA.

We have a blue atlas cedar that's at least 20 years old.  It was recently pruned (by an arborist) and now the needles are turning brown.

To check for insect pests we shook the branches over a sheet of white paper, and collected a few of the bug below.  The body is between 1mm and 2mm long (this is a highly cropped macro shot).

Google reverse image search turns up only "Springtail", and all the matching images show a bug with the same general shape, but larger and having long tails.

Question: What is this bug, and could it be causing the problem with the cedar?


texts: Is early November too late in the season to overseed, repair a cool-season lawn?

texts:
I'm wondering if it would be too late in the season to overseed, repair a cool-season lawn in preparation for the coming Spring.

I live in Atlantic Canada.

I've been fighting with our lawn since we purchased our place. The majority of it is weeds, I have no experience with this and am really at a loss of where to start without just starting from scratch.

Edit: Adding photos.


texts: Can all stems be pinched on a plant or only the main stem?

texts:
I want my plant to be bushy but I have a few stems that are going out really far horizontally and they tend to get broken from the rain. Are these stems that come off the main stem safe to pinch? Will it cause growth where I pinch it or does that work only on the main stem?
Thanks!


texts: Do you uproot plants in a no dig garden with mulch

texts:
When using the no dig gardening method with mulched vegetable beds, what do you do in fall with the old plants?

I know that in no dig you do not want to disturb the soil. Also when mulching it's best to leave the mulch at the surface.

But now it's autumn and I have to take out some annual vegetable plants. Some of them are quite big and have developed large root systems. When I pull them out a lot of soil comes away with the roots and some mulch gets mixed inside the newly created hole.

Should I keep uprooting or should I just cut the stalks where they meet the ground?

That seems less disturbing to the garden bed, but with some big plants it's leaving a lot of big hard roots in the ground. Since the ground is frozen in winter where I live I don't know if they will have time to rot down.


texts:
I have 3 potted citrus trees (or maybe more precisely saplings: two are 16 inches high, the youngest is maybe 6 inches high), that are growing on my window ledge.

I am a little concerned, however, by the fact that they are growing very lopsided, due to the one-sided exposure to the sun: all their leaves are turning the same way.

What is the "correct" way to deal with this? Should I rotate them a little bit each day? Should I move them from window to window to ensure they have a "full day" exposure to the sun?

(I am trying the latter right now, and have put them outside for the afternoon. However, as a side question, I am a bit concerned about the wind, especially for the youngest of the three, which has very big leaves for its size. The wind is not very strong at all, but is there a chance that it may cause harm to the sapling?)


texts: Are my Bell Pepper seeds showing signs of germination?

texts:
I’m new to growing bell pepper plant. Surfed through the web and found the paper towel and ziplock method and I thought of adopting that. It has been at least 3-4 days now and I want to know if the seeds or rotting or showing a sign that it is going to germinate soon.
By the way, the temperature here is 25-26 degree Celsius.
Also give me some tips on growing the plant further.
Thanks


texts: Young peach limb bent under load and splintered, can I mend it with a graft?

texts:
Pictures first, some discussion follows.

Context shot..

Close up of the splintered limb..

The limb is probably about a half-inch in diameter. You can see that I attempted to prop it up, which was about a week ago. But it apparently bowed enough to snap. I only discovered it this morning. I suspect it happened last night but it's possible it happened as many as two days ago. One of my concerns is time, I don't know how much I have to spare.

This limb has a lot of fruit on it. I'm guessing I two and a half options. 1) Leave it as-is, possibly saving the fruit but losing the limb. 2a) Remove the fruit immediately and attempt to graft and support the limb, saving it. 2b) Same as 2a, only I fail to save the branch..

This tree has only been in the ground two years and this was the first year any fruit approached maturity. This is the thickest, most woody limb on the tree, and also the most productive. So I really hate to lose it. Also, losing it will destroy the shape of the tree.

I'm not simply going to prune it away without trying something. Would a bridge graft like this gentleman demonstrates give it a fighting chance? A major difference between my situation and his video, though, is in my case, assuming I remove all the fruit first, I expect the limb will still be unable to support its own weight. I'm hopeful I can sturdy it up with a couple or three in-line braces made from about 12-18 inch cuts from a strong wire coat hanger. As the bridge graft would leave at least some of the original bark/woody tissue connected, I'm assuming this is my best hope, but I'm concerned about the splintered wood fibers—should I cut those away so there is a smooth "mating surface"?

Alternatively, would it be better to cut the branch cleanly, and attempt a wedge graft? I expect not but maybe someone will argue that it's better.

When I go about the grafting, is there some kind of "adhesive paste" I can apply to the inner portion of the graft to help encourage adhesion, healing, and nutrient flow? If so, since time is of the essence, something I can make at home with common household stuff (honey?) would be ideal.

Finally am I over-thinking this...like, is it possible to let the fruits ripen as-is, then after harvesting it (about two weeks), clean up the wound and graft it back together?

What is my best play, here?


texts: Revert lettuce to vegetative phase by cutting it down

texts:
I have read several article stating that it is possible to revert a bolted leafy lettuce to vegetative growth by cutting it down to 1 centimeter.

Is that right?


texts: Any ideas on what is wrong with this tree?

texts: I have a tree in my back yard that the bark seems to be coming off of. There are leaves growing, but seem thinner than past springs. Last year, I added a tree ring with landscaping blocks and mulch... did I kill it?


texts: I cant seem to do anything with this. I tried to add a pic. It was sideways. Then it says I had to have words here. Well that removed my pic  then the heading was too long. I just repotted and in did check dryness. IT was dry as far down as my finger could feel. Is there pot too big. It did start b leaning before I repotted it


texts: How to prune a 6ft avocado tree that has possibly never been pruned?

texts:
I received this as a gift and I don't think it's ever been pruned. I just learned today that for avocado trees to grow lateral branches, it needed to be pruned at 8 inches. Is it too late for this tree to grow lateral branches? If not, how much should I prune back to get lateral branches?

Also, this tree is outside in full sun and it can get really windy out here.

Thank you!


texts:
A recent post on this forum mentioned Litchi Tomatoes - which from what I can read are frost tolerant but have wicked thorns - I was under the mistaken impression that tomatoes could not be grown in cold weather !

Can anyone suggest a variety of tomato which has small/no thorns, good eating and is frost tolerant (and is not a Monsanto product) ?


texts: Trees or shrubs with decent shade that can grow in pots?

texts:
Is it possible to grow/maintain in pots trees or shrubs that can offer decent shade for someone to sit under them when there's lots of sun?

I have an open good-sized concrete rooftop in a building and I'd like to have a tree that offers decent shade. The pot can be any size, but it has to be a pot. Or any other ideas besides pots are welcome.

Thanks.


texts:
This little weed has taken over my yard. Roundup doesnt seem to work. Any help would be very appreciated.
Thanks
Paul


texts: I purchased this shrub at a PA native plant sale, but I lost the information tag for it and the receipt. What is it?


texts: How warm should soil be for propagation of hardwood black currant cuttings?

texts:
I have hardwood cutting from a couple of black currant bushes collected this winter. Many have been planted in small pots as I'm getting them started indoors on a warming mat. The warming mat is hooked up to a thermostat so I can control how warm the mat gets based on a soil thermometer inserted 1" into one of the seedling pot's soil.

I wonder, what temperature is optimal for these cuttings? As a general rule of thumb I'm thinking 70 degrees F? What I've read on blank currant propagation so far has not mentioned temperature for starting them.


texts: Hope someone can identify this plant for me----Thank you


texts: Why do the leaves of my (very young) Eureka lemon tree look folded?

texts:
(Edited to add more detail and an update at the end)

I have a small Eureka lemon tree that is few months old, and is currently showing signs of weakness that are worrying me. In more detail, some time ago it was withering: following this question, I moved it to another pot with drainholes and changed the soil, after which it started making new leaves (while the 3 it had before, probably dead, kept on withering).

But now, for a couple days its new leaves have started pointing downwards, and folding (picture below). This looks quite abnormal to me (isn't it?), and I have started worrying: what is wrong, and what can I do?

Rk: the big leaf behind is one of the 3 from before it got better, and probably dead. The other ones however are new, and for instance the small one at the top is folded...

(Too much water? Not enough? Too cold? The pot is inside, next to a window pointed East.)

Edit: after a few days trying to give it more sun (moving it to a South-facing window whenever possible in the afternoon), it does not have improved, far from it:

(the picture was taken this morning, just after I watered it)

Also, in case this was not clear: the transplant was 3 weeks/one month ago, not a couple days. Now, not only the leaves, but also the stem is getting brown and dry. I am really at a loss, and am afraid it is dying quite fast.


texts:
I have a pepper plant which is probably Chocolate 7-Pot.

One day, the single pepper it produced this year turned from green to brown. Does this mean it's ripe already, or does it go through several stages of ripeness?

Edit: I have finally harvested the pepper. Its color changed from pure brown to brown-red and it burns like the dickens! Maybe the red and brown pigments appear at different times with the brown color appearing a bit sooner than red.


texts: What are some quick growing, flowering, climbing/vine plants that  can be grown from a container garden (USDA zone 6)? What is a good time to start?

texts:
My main gardening space is a paved area in front of my house surrounded by a white picket fence. I planted a few vegetable and herb seeds in containers there this summer, and from seeing the failing-yet-still-pretty pumpkin vines creeping along the fence, I think next year I'd like to try planting some climbing flowers.

My front garden area is in a sunny location, facing southwest, in a zone 6 region. I was thinking about trying to grow some clematis in a container but I don't know if it would be cool enough at the roots, since there's a lot of heat from the pavement in the summer. I'm also not sure when I'd want to start planting it.

Also I think my goals may be unreasonable- ideally I'd like to have some nice flowers by the end of next season, as I may be moving in a year and a half. Is this realistic?

Basically I would love some info on

What I could plant in this situation
When to start on it (can I start now?)
Would it be possible to get some flowers within a year?
Any advice on doing this or alternatives if my goals are unrealistic!


texts:
1st time growing from seeds indoor under grow lights. I started these tomatoes seeds 7 days ago. I read about leggy plants so I had them 3-4 inches from lights. Are they suspose to look like this? I have been searching for pics of different stages of growing tomatoes but have not found any resources. Thank you in advance for your responses!

I think they must have sprouted faster then the package stated. They were in a container with a dome. I was shocked when check on them day 3 and they had sprouted as package stated 6-7 days. So I guess I have had my first experience with leggy plants! So do I trash them and start over completely?


texts: Good seeds to give as a gift to someone who is going to travel around the country

texts:
What seeds would you give as a gift to someone who is going to sell his/her belongings, and start a travel adventure around the country for a year?

The idea is that he/she could plant the seeds in different places, leaving something behind. I'm looking for any kinds of fruit/vegetable that would germinate in a variety of conditions (this will be in Australia).

I'm sorry if the question is naive or poorly phrased, I now next to nothing about gardening and flowers... this is just an idea I'm exploring.

Thank you!

Edit: I'm not asking about personal preferences or esthetics, but for facts about which seeds would have a better chance of germinating in a wide variety of conditions, as one would expect in the typical Australia weather.


texts:
We potted scarlet runner beans plants last week in several large pots. This week the soil settled a couple inches.

With tomatoes I know I could just top off the pots with more soil, and they will root from the stem. But not sure how bean plants behave.

Is it advisable to top these off with additional soil, or should I pull the plants up and repot?


texts: Are there online stores that specialize in selling plants in pots that bear fruit?

texts:
I live in the Caribbean, and I have 400 square feet of outdoor space where I can put all types of pots (it's concrete). So lately I've been interested in growing some potted plants that bear fruit or vegetables.

Unfortunately, I haven't found local businesses that sell these types of plants. I also haven't found local businesses that can guide me in the right direction.

So my last resort is going online, but I have no idea where to start.

I also wanted to add that I don't want to do any more trial-and-error. A few weeks ago I grew a small avocado seed, thinking it would grow something. Thanks to a member here, I learned that it would grow into a nice plant, but it wouldn't grow fruit. I'm going to take care of it so it grows healthy, but it's now what I was looking for.

Essentially, I want to contact an online store and tell them my situation so that they can suggest what I can plant. I'm starting with this now, so I'm not picky.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.


texts: Is this a typical growth habit for a cactus?

texts: I was re-potting my 9+ year old cactus to a bigger pot yesterday and noticed a sizable portion of its stem is submerged. Is this a typical growth habit? What are the chances that this stem might rot and cause issues down the line? Also, if anyone knows the species that would be helpful.


texts: The Tree of Knowledge according to Enoch

texts:
In the Biblical tradition the Forbidden Fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in Eden is commonly thought to be apple, grape, pomegranate, fig, carob, etrog or citron, pear, or mushrooms.

According to the pseudepigraphic Book of Enoch,

  "It was like a species of the Tamarind tree, bearing fruit which resembled grapes extremely fine; and its fragrance extended to a considerable distance. I exclaimed, How beautiful is this tree, and how delightful is its appearance!" (1 Enoch 31:4).

What tree best suits this description? The Carob tree (Ceratonia siliqua, known as St John's bread, locust bean, locust-tree, carob bush) seems an OK candidate except that it's male flowers (rather then it's fruit) resemble grapes exceedingly fine, not it's big chunky seedpods.

Any candidates?


texts: How to get rid of bermuda grass without using chemicals

texts:
I live in Northern California. I have found that Bermuda grass is extremely invasive and am ready to give up the lawn.  We want to move to a native plant garden instead.  I have been reading about Bermuda grass and the fact that the roots go down many inches.  And that even just a small piece can regenerate and start invading again.

In looking on line many people suggest round up and multiple applications of it.  I would prefer not to use round up as there are several people in the area raising bees in the area and there is some evidence that round up may impact insects in a negative way.

I visited a Master Gardener, trained by University of California at Berkeley. She suggested robbing the Bermuda grass of light for several months.  She said to put down layers of newspaper (10 or so sheets thick) or use cardboard.  Then top with several inches of compost and then repeat.  She thought this approach would kill the Bermuda grass.  She said to cut through the cardboard or newspaper when I go to plant in the spring.

Has anyone actually used this method successfully?  In this area there are underground termites.  Will the cardboard or newspaper attract them to my yard and house?  Is this the best way to kill the Bermuda grass under these circumstances?


texts: Can anyone identify this plant/weed in Northern Indiana

texts: This one here is about 4-5 feet tall they are about 1/8" to 1/4" from top to bottom in  Northern Indiana


texts: I have just read about bindweed - essentially a variety of morning glory that is considered a weed because of how fast it grows and how it "chokes" other plants.  This may be exactly what I need to quickly cover the walls of my terrace (it will be grown in containers and won't be near any other plants).  I can't find any place to get the seeds (perhaps understandably).  Is there anywhere I can get them, and is there any reason I shouldn't plant them for my needs?


texts: Should I put more soil / compost to cover bottom of cherry blossom tree?

texts:
I just planted this Yoshino cherry tree late last year.
But I have been wondering if I didn't bury it deep enough. Should I pile up more compost around the trunk where the red line is?


texts: Why does my recently transplanted avocado still have droopy, discolored leaves?

texts:
This avacado tree is about a week old, and now she's looking a little worse than she did here. :(

Thoughts?


texts: What seeds should I get approval for importing food crops to a third world country?

texts:
What seed crops should I look into putting in my pack outside of a change of cloths for my trip? I was blessed with money, but some places where I'll be going are hard to get Mana Pack too, so I figure I might as well bring some high production crops on my trip, and was blessed with a good income, but I'm a big believer in "teach a man to fish he eats for a lifetime".

I'm going to Guatemala on a mission trip this summer.


texts: What can I plant in full shade that will provide color?

texts: What can I plant with an English Ivy ground cover under a large shade tree? I was hoping to add some color. The area is full shade.


texts: Does the glyphosate in our urine make it improper for use as a fertilizer?

texts:
It is known that urine has many positive effects on plants due to its chemical composition (Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium).

However, it is now also known that even organic food consumers end up with detectable amounts of glyphosate in their urine (with an order of magnitude of a few nanograms per millilitre).

To which extent does it make urine now unsuitable in a vegetable garden?


texts: What is this small shrub with lots of tiny lilac/dark-burgundy flowers?

texts:
It looks this dark green-grayish without-flowers-slightly-boring-looking shrub blooms with magnificant flowers in mid-March. I don't know how long the blooming lasts, but even if it is only for a week, it makes this shrub worth having. But what is it?

The zone is 8a.


texts: House plant identification with smooth leaves

texts: I saw this plant at my brother's place, can anyone identify this house plant? It has a bit smooth feeling leaves, with a point downwards.


texts: Can I use cat litter in potting mix? Has anyone tried it?

texts:
I've read in some bonsai forums that it's possible to use cat litter in alternative to the traditional bonsai soil, which is really expensive.
I want to try it in the potting mix I'm making for my interior plants. Does it really work? Has anyone tried this?
I was thinking maybe something in the following ratio:
Cat litter              50%
Perlite                 30%
Some organic (compost)  20%

I'm adding the perlite because cat litter is kind of heavy. Also, I'll be fertilizing it as needed.
The reason I'm willing to try it, it's because I tend to over water my plants, and I'm looking for a soil that will absorb some water, but will drain the excess, which seems to be the case for cat litter, otherwise bonsai growers wouldn't be using.

I know there are at least two types of cat litter.
There is a "clumping" type, which is made mostly of bentonite, and it clumps in the present of water, which is a great feature for the cat owner, but would be terrible for plants.
I'm talking about the regular absorbent kind of cat litter. The one I found is made mostly of sepiolite.


texts: This has large leaves that wilt and brown after blooming in early spring. It resembles a hosta but not as attractive. The flowers are pink on a tall stem. The flowers resemble a phlox.


texts: My husband brought home a branch of this tree but we can’t figure out what it is!!


texts: Amount of sunlight and water for citrus tree

texts: I got this the other day from the local plant shop. I have tried to inform myself how to take good care about it. I read that it is best to keep it outdoors if I can but right now I can't do that. I understand that it needs as much sunlight as possible and quite a lot of water, but can I just check in the soil of the plant that if it is not moist then I should pour water to it? Is it reasonable to give it more water as often as every other day, that is 3 times a week or would that be too much? If it loses and falls off a leaf, is that an indication that I gave it too much water?


texts: Little Pests with White cotton around them

texts:
I see little pests with white cottons around them on my plant.

How can I get rid of them?


texts: What is this large, woody plant with compound leaves, found in zone 6a?

texts: In the early summer of 2014, I was on vacation in Pine Grove (PA), and saw this large plant by the side of the road. It is huge. For scale, the pokeweed in the pic is about 7' tall. This weed is woody. The current growth seems to have sprouted from a stem about 4' tall (last year's growth). It had grown over 16' taller this year, with huge compound leaves and an umbel at the apex. Unfortunately these are the only photos I can find. What is this plant?


texts: How do I get ready for a stump grinding, and how long afterwards should I wait to replant?

texts: The city has cut down my dead ash tree and are coming to remove the stump (I believe by grinding). They have advised me to "remove landscaping features" so they aren't destroyed in the process. How far out from the tree do I need to clear? How soon will I be able to replant there?


texts: I have vegetables growing in raised beds.  In response to another question I posted, someone recommended adding mulch.  Can I use home made compost as mulch or would I need something purchased from a store?


texts: small cherry tree has gum leaking, probably wound

texts:
I have a small cherry tree that has some glue leaking, think it might have a wound that I didn't notice before, probably from when it snowed in spring last year.
There are also some yellow leaves on a branch.

photo of the wound/glue:

photo of the whole tree:

is there something that I could do to help it, or the tree will heal by itself ?


texts: What is this aromatic plant with narrow leaves and tiny white flowers that grows about 8' (2.5 m) high?

texts: Found in New York State, zone 7 where it has invaded my herb garden and outgrew it. I was wondering if it would be a useful herb.


texts: How to prevent ants from digging near my plants?

texts:
I have an ant infestation in my garden. Whenever I water my containerized plants or in-ground plants, most of the time, ants emerge to the surface. I think they do that because they don't want to drown. First of all, do ants cause problems when they dig near your plants. If so, how do I get rid of them? I've sprayed Raid on my containers, but they keep coming back.

Here's an example of the ants emerging from my blackberry plant. This time in particular, each of them was carrying something white. Most of the time, they're not carrying anything.


texts: Anthurium discoloring leaves and browning stem

texts:
I have my anthurium repotted and after a while I see that the leaves have developed yellowish spots and the stem is becoming brown at the surface.
I water it using the saucer under the plant. Also have it near the window for indirect sunlight. The temp is also around 25-26 C in the room. I also have a humidifier that I use for them daily or every other day for around half an hour.
The soil is mix of perlite and normal soil. At the bottom and on top I have put some leca balls.
Is there any solution?


texts: I just had a strange idea of no actual significance, but I was just staring at a block of tofu and wondered if you could plant things in it. Has anyone tried this? How does/would tofu fair as a growing medium. How would plants grow differently in hard, medium, and soft tofu?


texts: I received this bonsai tree as a gift, but as an absolute beginner I have been unable to identify its species using online guides. I hope one of you can help me out here, so I can care for it appropriately.


texts: Growing tomato's and other plants inside

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I've always started the garden season late and I want to change that! I figured I could start seedlings now  growing them as indoor plants until April even though it's a little early to start inside.

I don't have nearly enough window space with natural sunlight for the plants that are growing to receive enough sunlight on top of there not being a full day's worth of sunlight. I don't have money for a green house and I'm not sure where to start with indoor lighting? Could I make a mini green house with plastic totes?

I'm growing tomatoes, some sunflowers, and broccoli. They look like they need more sunlight.L Also this is not where they are normally placed. I have cats that can get to them when they are not by the window.


texts: What is this tall, bright orange, variety of Zinnia?

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Bought a couple 6 packs of these Zinnias and don't recall the variety. I checked back at the garden store where I got them the next year and they didn't recall the variety and didn't have anything that looked like them that season.

They matched our fall sugar maple perfectly and I'd like to get them again.

My best guess is Inca Orange Cactus type. They were 2-3+ foot tall.


texts: How can I limit the height (depth) of our English (Common) Ivy?

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We have ivy growing in the front yard, and I like it. It requires no attention other than trimming to keep it off the house, tree, sidewalk. My wife doesn't like that it keeps getting higher. Instead of just laying on the ground it's over a foot and a half high most places, and two feet deep in some. I think if I just cut it down I'll take off leaves and leave nothing but vines, then the sun will get through and I'll have a million weeds. I want a nice, low covering of ivy, 6-12 inches, like it was years ago.

Is there any way to accomplish this?

Do I cut it back as much as possible and then pull the weeds until it recovers the ground? Seems like that would look awful.

Thanks in advance.