Tropical plant collecting & urban gardening in Vancouver, Canada (#YVR). 🪴
Hey plant fiends! Welcome to #Proppist. I'm Nick Bouton, an avid urban container #gardener & tropical #houseplant #collector. I'm here to spread the love for growing #plants, outdoors AND indoors, in soil as well as in alternative media, like #semihydro. 🌱
If you're into #aroids, tropical #houseplants of all shapes and sizes, overgrown #hoyas, #semihydroponics, or cultivating your outdoor veggie, fruit & herb #garden, this is right spot for you.
I'm also a software engineer + UI architect working in big tech, a 2x startup veteran, & an experienced online #community builder. I'm trying to find the intersection of my professional life (code, interaction, UX, & community) and my more passion, plants. 💚
Whether you're an experienced "plant hacker" or a raw rookie, you're welcome here. I'll share my learnings and tell tales of my dumb mistakes. Hopefully you can take inspiration and learn from them, too - enjoy!
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This video should be mandatory to watch for all plant parents. You are my new favorite PlantTuber! 🤩🙌 Thank you for a really good and informative video!
Is there an update video to these? I’m getting ready to deflask 40 tissue cultures and I want to see if your method worked.
Also you know if it needs watering because of the colour
Whats your thoughts on transitioning alocasia regal shield to leca from soil? I have a mature regal shield...shes growing great but dealing with the potting mix is so back and forth...any suggestions
Love the dab tool reference 😂
Hey man. What orchid pots do you use for the 32oz containers?
I use clear pots as it makes it much easier to see the roots
Thanks for the comment! Absolutely… I use clear pots with all my smaller plants. It’s really hard to find very large clear pots to work with semihydro net pots unfortunately so unless you can match up a perfect 64-128oz deli container to a net pot, you’re kinda screwed. I personally don’t mind some of the self-watering pots you can get on Amazon but it takes quite a bit of trial and error to find the better ones. And if you haven’t watched my Semi-Hydro Gear Guide video yet, take a look at my channel page, should be easy to find!
Love the videos. Such a great format to absorb knowledge! Thanks so much for the content!!!
My pleasure! Glad you enjoyed it. Let me know if you have any questions!
There are a lot of plants that I have had on my videos that are dead, so don’t be embarrassed just part of it. I am obsessed with the Queen I have 4 of them, but I am totally stressed because I want to do it right. Some start yellowing and I am like why? Ugh, it is a lot of work, but it is fun at the same time. Makes me feel good if they thrive.
I 100% agree with you on Instagram! It’s so “preppy” and “business” for me. I much prefer KZread, which is where I stay 99% of the time. Thanks for this video!
Just stumbled across your video after all this time. Awesome and informative. I have all my Hoyas in Leca as well as six Monstera seedlings that have grown very fast. All doing great, and I agree, I hate soil in my house! 😊
KZread needs to fix their program that decides what videos to share. I am a new planty creator and I feel like “we” get pushed aside for the mega creators. I am so glad to see newer folks like you subbed and enjoyed this video.
The level of contams is off the charts. Terrible supplier.
I love chocolate mint and am transplanting a big patch of mint today that I have had for a long time. I am putting soil on black mesh because it was almost getting totally overtaken by grass. It has the most wonderful smell ! Pick a handful to steep in water. It is my favorite tea. I also use in recipes after drying or garnish fruit salad with fresh sprigs.
Bravo!!! Thank you for showing the good bad and the ugly. You’re right, people don’t do it enough
I wouldn't buy from them again. Seems like a high contamination rate.
I would open the contaminated ones last.
I buy my pots in TEMU. it's a lot cheaper but the waiting time is around a week to get delivered here in Canada. Just don't buy anything electronics from TEMU.
You're my favorite plant KZreadr! I love how honest you are about the trial and error of being a plant person. It's a seemingly never ending experiment😂😊
Thank you so much, very glad to have you here! I try and be as honest as I can, and I kill plenty of stuff due to experimentation and a whole lot of unintentional neglect (lol). Trying to be a bit more meticulous about my smaller seedlings. The one advantage of killing stuff is you have more room for new stuff, right? 😉
I just got a baby on Ebay. It was $40.
Hey, thanks for watching! Yeah, the prices ave definitely come down on these guys since I posted this. The NSE Wendlis are still a bit more money but you can get them for $75-125 depending what size you're getting. Seedlings are the way to go if you can get your hands on one, so congrats! Let me know how it does and thanks for watching! 😃
Love the wicking method, been trying it on a couple plants now - I wanted to ask how it affects upsizing pots in the future though - doe the roots grow around the wick and you have to kinda peel them off or do you uppot them with the same wick? Love the videos keep up the awesome work 🌱💚
Hey Kyle, thanks for watching! That's an excellent question and one I probably haven't addressed directly in a video anywhere (maybe I did, but indirectly? who knows...) I think I'm gonna note this one down for a future Q&A, but I won't leave you hanging in the meantime. 😉 In terms of up-potting, I have had issues with roots or root branches going THROUGH the wicking here and there, but not really to any major detriment to the roots systems. Often the wicking is loose enough woven that you can pull the roots back out without harming anything. Worst case is having to give the roots a trim, but that's not really all that terrible of an outcome. The other option when upsizing pots is just to take the existing substrate (whatever's sticking to the roots) along with the existing wicking and putting it through the holes of the new inner net pot. If the old wicking's not long enough you can always add some more and not have to worry too much about it. Personally, I just pull it out if it's stuck in the wicking and just re-do it in the new pot. Not usually a big deal! Hope this helps and thanks for watching! Appreciate your support! 🤘
I would like to know how your Leca Poles are doing and if the wick is beneficial to the pole or not. Any updates regarding this would be great 😄 There's not many videos out there telling if leca poles are actually working like moss poles.
Hey Eve! Thanks for the comment and for watching! This is a bit of a tricky question because I had some issues in my tent earlier this year that affected a number of my plants that were on the LECA poles. I'll try and do a video showing some of them off once they've recovered a bit, but I had to cut down a significant amount of them due to a major underwatering event (i.e. I was on vacation and a bunch of stuff dried out, unfortunately.) I can tell you without actually showing you that I've had really good experiences with the smaller poles - medium and small size work great with LECA. They hold the clay balls in there pretty good and don't "leak" too often during watering. Once roots start penetrating the pole, stuff barely moves at all in there. I would say that you either need to keep the wicking moist by watering at least once a week, or if you keep the "poled" plant in a tent or cabinet with pretty high (60%+) humidity, you can probably drop that watering schedule down to bi-weekly. My P. "Glorious" and a bunch of Syngoniums did really awesome on the LECA pole. The two Monsteras.I had tried it with, my Burle Marx "Flame" & my deliciosa albo, both got underwatered pretty severely, so I had to cut them back down quite a bit. They were on the large sized poles so I can't really speak for those right now until they recover and get back up to size again. All in all, I think the method works as long as you run the wicking with some give inside the pole, i.e. let it be loose in the pole so it has a little room to wrap around the LECA as you fill it. Also, make sure to top off the LECA in the pole intermittently as the plant grows. If you forget, the plant will grow INTO the pole, which is no fun - my Glorious did this and it was a HUGE pain in the ass to pull the growth point back out of the inside of the pole without breaking it. Hope this helps! I'll try and include an update on the LECA pole method in a future video, I just need to give it a couple of months for things to recover. Thanks again for the question!
@@theproppist Big thanks for the lengthy answer! 😄 Looking forward for a video update in the future. In the main while I've started a Monstera on a leca pole, hope I made the right choice in giving it a try 😊
Hey I've just transferred a philodendron pink princess into lechuza pon and did just use a regular nursery pot. Is this a problem? I was thinking to just shower it when it's getting dry. Is there any reason not to do that? I have it sitting in a decorative pot I could fill with water and put a wig through the nursery pot but do I have to?
Hey there! No, there is absolutely no reason you can't use a nursery pot for semi-hydro if you have it inside of a container or cache-pot, if that's what you have on hand. It's not ideal, but it will work. Just make sure to clean off any soil before you do the semi-hydro transfer (from both the plant and the nursery pot.) The only reasons I'd say NOT to use a nursery pot would be: 1️⃣ - The plastic might not be the greatest quality as nursery pots are usually pretty cheaply made, so it may go brittle and then you'd have a bit of a tougher time transplanting or repotting later, or keeping a reservoir. 2️⃣ - Nursery pots often have pretty large drainage holes, so your Lechuza pon may spill out into the outer container or cache pot, which can be a bit of a pain in the butt. You can avoid this by either putting a LECA layer (larger particles) at the bottom, or if your pot's holes are too big for that, adding some mesh at the bottom before you lay down your substrate. 3️⃣ - Sometimes nursery pots only have a couple of small holes on the bottom, which can make running wicking into your reservoir kind of difficult. This isn't always the case so feel free to play it by ear. As long as the drainage from the inner pot is decent, you should be fine. You can always either drill or use a soldering iron to add some additional holes if necessary. Hope this helps! Let me know if you have any further Qs!
@@theproppist thank you so much for that detailed response! That helped a lot 👍❤️
Glad I could help! 🤘🏽
that golden bone is 🔥
@MyLocksMyPlants Thank you! It's not quite up there with @kevin.'s (HakunaLaPlanta) but I'm pretty proud of it. Probably time to upsize the pot it's been in for >2 years, though... lol. 😂
@theproppist lol it looks great! gotta do what ya can when you have time lol
I have one but I think I’m gonna let it go. Just keeping up with buying distilled water is expensive and annoying
If it makes you feel any better, I did the same. I had bought one off Facebook a couple of years back when I was first piecing together my grow tent, then once I had it setup I realized I didn't need it at all. I ended up reselling it for the same price I paid for it. Worked out! 🤷♂️
I’ve never used distilled water in my humidifiers and they work fine.
Thanks for the comment! It’s kinda the same deal with humidifiers across the board… it’ll run fine on tap but it’ll eventually gunk up with sediment and mineral build up and conk out on you. I have the same issue with my CPAP machine but since that one goes on my face for hours I need to be a little more careful about it. 😆
@@pbjgurlyea I don’t use distilled in mine either but I have a filter on my hose and in my house for the plants to I’m hoping that keeps it from gunking up as fast. I want to convert into semi hydro, I tried it with a few of my plants they seemed to do ok with the switch. I’m just not as educated on it yet
Agree with regale I sold it with a crappy leaf at least recoup my costs. But I think your prop box for your stomp maybe sterilization first and airflow or at least some kind of enzyme liquid to kill dead matter to reduce root rot like Cannazym
Yeah, the perlite containers had a airflow issues until I started cutting holes into the tops. Those were a couple of my earlier attempts that failed pretty miserably. I just kept them around for demonstration purposes... they're gone now. 😉 I'll definitely check out Cannazym... the world of cannabis cultivation can teach us aroid collectors and semi-hydro/hydroponics buffs so much, they've been doing this stuff for decades. I think folks just need to be more open-minded to knowledge sharing since we're all basically doing similar things. I found it on Amazon so I may buy a bottle just to give it a try. Thanks for the tip!
I will be looking for the golden bone now... Great video! 😊
Hey Mona, thanks for watching! Golden Bones used to be quite a bit more expensive when I got mine back in... 2021? (I think.) I'm pretty sure you can snag one for cheap now, I'm not sure if they're in garden centres but I bet you can get one off Etsy or a local plant swap pretty easily. And if you're ever up in Vancouver, BC, let me know and I'm sure I can dig you up some corms. 😆
I've come across your videos from time to time and never knew I didn't subscribe! Great stuff!
Thanks for watching! Much appreciated! 💚
Diatomaceous earth can be put all over your plants to chop up the thrips
I have a container of diatomaceous earth for outside garden use, but I've never used it indoors! The main reason I don't use it in my tent or cabinet is that I regularly use beneficial insects (with sprayings in between bug cycles). As far as I know, diatomaceous earth would be just as lethal to my beneficials just as much as it would kill the thrips, right? 🤷 Feel free to let me know if my assumption is off-base!
@@theproppist I never thought of that . I did hear we don't have access to the thrips medications in Alberta Canada anymore so diatomaceous earth saved my sister's plants from thrips it can be rinsed away later once the thrips are gone. I've also used it on ants to deter them from the house. They can be outside not inside
@Fixup1000 Hey Ruby! I'm in Vancouver, BC, Canada so I know exactly what you mean! Azamax and Bonide aren't available in Canada and you can't order them cross-border without doing some shady stuff to sneak them in. 😬 I know some plant shops (I won't name names, but hydroponics guys know what's what) carry small supplies here and there if you ask nicely, and sometimes folks can buy it down south and drive it up if you're stealthy enough about it. Either way, we're stuck with stuff that doesn't work as well, like pyrethrin (e.g. Safer's End-All), etc. That sucks, but the beneficial insects are available if you want to try them. I use GrowLiv (growlive.com) out of Ontario for mine, but there are shops you can order from in Alberta and BC, too, I just haven't tried them because the prices and shipping work out cheaper with GrowLiv. Also, the folks at GrowLiv are pretty awesome about helping out with suggestions and answering questions if you have any. I may actually have someone from there on an interview video later this year on this channel, keep an eye out for it. 😉
@@theproppist thanks for the info :) I run aquariums too so fish medications went away with the insecticides. Thanks for reaching out buddy🤩
I've recently caught the plant buying bug - bought too many at once & subsequently fell into the plant content vortex here on KZread & this is video has been the much-needed salve for my nerves & anxiety. Thank you so much!
Hey @heartinthecity! Thank you for watching. I just wanted to tell you that this comment made my day. I took a screenshot and showed my wife. 😃 Love that you found the video helpful and that it took the edge off somewhat! I'm trying to alternate this type of video into my stream of other planty content as I feel like it gives a bit more of a balanced view compared to the "buy buy buy" / FOMO mentality we all end up falling into when collecting. Since I started collecting close to 4 years ago, I've discovered I need to take a break now and then from buying for 2-3 months at a time just to reset and feel inspired by my collection - and honestly, to take better care of the plants I have, including getting rid of some stuff I don't feel too attached to, propagating, and ditching dead stuff. Seems like a natural balance to the collecting lifecycle and it brings quite a bit of respite when you start feeling a little overwhelmed or burnt out. Glad I was able to help and please let me know if there are any other topics you'd like me to cover! 💚
I started collecting around the same time and only killed 2 plants lithops and Hoya princess that came with too much water. I always only keep what I can care for. Around 70 with a full time job. Can’t bother with super difficult plants
Hey Janice! Awesome that you've managed to do so well keeping your stuff alive! I tend to experiment with all sorts of risky plant behaviour so I probably kill way more than the average person. But that's part of the fun of it for me. I probably have 200+ around here including seedlings and props at this point, and I also work F/T with 3 kids, so I absolutely get it! I'm probably going to purge a few this summer to focus more on the ones I really want to grow big/spectacular. Props to you, 70 plants isn't easy!
Haha i started cracking up at the pinguicula part. Im obsessed with my pings. I probay have damn near 40 (i propagate the hell out of them) i think u should try again! Im a helicopter plant mom so they have no chance of drying out. BUT if ur not a crazy person like me, grow it in sphag moss and keep in a lil tray of water. Even when the tray dries up u still have a good 3 or 4 days of the moss staying damp.
40 pings!!... I'm starting to wonder if maybe YOU'RE the one who was selling me those damn things. 😂 I never actually saw her face... mostly COVID door pick-ups before I got wise and stopped buying them! TBH you're probably 100% right on how to keep them alive if you're lazy. The sphagnum thing, maybe with LECA underneath, I hate it for Anthuriums but it would probably work great to keep pings alive. Not that I'll ever know. 🤷♂️ 😆
Hahaha
Yaay an hour and a half video. Lemme pour a drink and make a snack 😁
I screenshotted this for my... ugghh.. scrapbook? Not sure what to call it. I don't think I can admit to having a scrapbook. Jokes aside, I love this though. Thank you. 😉
Yes! Normalize zombie plants😂 And speaking of- I noticed your plant assistants were playing Plants vs Zombies in the background. Well played 👏🏻
Haha if you can believe it, my twins picked the game they were going to play without any influence from me, I swear I didn't suggest anything! 🤯 I have to give 9-year-olds more credit, it seems. 😂
When your Alocasia,s lose their leaves or go dormant…when do you start watering? Do you wait until new growth appears or do you minimally water to keep the roots alive?
Hey Jack - since I keep the majority of my Alocasias in my cabinet or one of my grow tent (or some kind of enclosure with good lighting), I don't find they go into dormancy. When I did have them go dormant indoors previously, in the late fall/winter (before I had a tent/cabinet/etc.), I would chop them down and only water enough the keep the soil from totally drying out completely (i.e. minimally water, as you said) for an extended period of time. It's kind of like any other tuberous/bulbous(?) plant you'd plant outside. In Southeast Asia they tend to ship them bare-root as tubers. You can even dig them up in the winter time and keep them in a paper bag in room temperature over the dormancy period and re-plant them in the spring if you really want. I should mention that It's also similar to what I do with my pepper plants if I want to overwinter them, which is to cut them down to their bare stems (and their first couple of Y junctions), and then keep their container soil watered very infrequently. I use grow bags for my outdoor veggies, so putting the peppers in the garage for a few months isn't that big of a deal. I'm a lazy plant collector, though, so I use my grow lights and temp-controlled environments like cabinets and tents just to keep them from going dormant altogether. You can do this in your home by keeping them in a brighter, warm spot, and they'll be less likely to go dormant, but unless that temp/humidity/light is consistent, they may still do it.
@@theproppist thank you so much…I appreciate it…and enjoy your channel!
Man, that anthurium at the start. I just got my first one, it had 3 broken off leaves. Got it for 50% off (5 euro). Took nearly 2 months to start growing, now it's pushing out 2-3 at the same time. However, first new leaf I was really excited for. For no reason it got a tear... Must've looked at it too hard.
I hear **looking** at Anthuriums is probably the worst thing you can do. They tear, leaves brown off, thrips and spider mites attack out of the blue... and if you look at someone else's, you end up buying more. Horrible...! Now let's go scroll Instagram a little more... 😂 🔫 💥 And thanks for watching. That Anthurium at the start is my papi unknown hybrid x lux from @bagsplants on IG if you want to look him up. I have another one that's just starting to recover from being chopped down to a stump... really curious to see if it ends up growing to be like its big bro!
I’m glad you popped up in my feed! Speaking of leca-do you recycle it? I’ve heard of boiling it to recycle it. Is that a thing? EDIT: yep, kept watching this epic video and got my answer! New subscriber here, buddy! How have I never seen you before? Probably the hydro/semi-hydro situation. I’m in South Dakota, USA. Your newest fan!
I deffo recyle leca. Boiling it works, some people bake it for 30 min etc. It is 100% reusable, so some coins and clean them badboys. It has to be full of dead rotted roots before i say eff it and toss it 😅
Hey Becky! Thanks for stopping by, appreciate the comment AND the sub! Glad you found it helpful. 😃 Like MISS Thomass said above, I always recycle my LECA. It's designed to be recyclable. There are a lot of ways to clean it, you can just use hot water and give it a good scrub (I think I've shown this in previous videos), or you can boil it (just use a cheap pot so you don't care if it gets damaged). The other options are to use cleaning products designed for semi-hydro like General Hydroponics FloraKleen. I think I have a link to it in the video description (if not, I'll add one.) It works well as a thing you do while flushing, but I'm pretty lazy about it. I usually just grab the shower head or a hose, throw stuff in a big dollar-store sieve outside, and hose it down until it looks clean. A little hydrogen peroxide (1oz per gallon of water) in your nutrient mix will also help cleaning things up (including algae.) Let me know if you have any other questions! I'm gonna need to do a Q&A video sometime soon.
Yaay! 🎉 Thank you for the new video 😊 I really like the topic you shared with us.
Thank you Dan! Appreciate you watching (again)! And if you have ideas for future videos, let me know! 😊
Would love to see a video on your grow tent. Enjoy your video thanks
Thank you Pamela! I've got a new tent build in the works so I think I'll probably film setting that up, since it's my 2nd tent I think I know what I'm doing a little better this time. Appreciate the suggestion and thanks for watching!
Thats great I look forward to it. Thank you
Yes that's okay 😊 I was so guilty at first when I kill plants I thought I was not doing a good job. But it's normal especially when you transfer plants into pon or when thrips are fighting with you. Instagram tend to make you fill guilty and buy more plants 😩
I know, right? Killing stuff is fine as long as you can come to grips with throwing some money out the window as a "learning experience". I've done so much of that (lol). But Instagram is the worst! 😆 I still can't avoid the lust from some of the new plants I see on there, but I'm trying to ration myself to only looking once or twice a day. Plant envy is the devil. 😈
Yes, I used to be really active on Instagram but you must make a publication everyday. It was more stressfull than fun. The most popular plants are the most expensive 😢 I have a small appartment that's why I can only have 50 plants if I want more I have to sell one 😁
@Emma_splants Hey Emma! Sorry I missed your reply in my comments feed! I know what you mean about posting to Instagram. I'm terrible about being consistent there (I'm @theproppist on IG) and it feels more like stress than fun. So I try just to post when I run into a new leaf or something interesting going on in my collection that actually inspires me to post, instead of trying to post on a schedule. KZread is my main platform and IG is basically just for fun right now, so I'm not going to waste a ton of effort on it until it actually matters to me. Plus, with their new paid account changes, it's starting to feel kind of "pay-to-win", which is really lame. For now, I'll just post when I feel like it's worthwhile and I'm inspired to do it... less stress is the way to go! Also, if you want to try and save some money on the "popular" plants (like Anthurium hybrids these days), I've joined some Facebook groups that do group orders and save everyone quite a lot of money. They tend to be regional groups so you'll need to find one in your local area (I'm guessing you're in Europe?), but they can save you a ton of money if you're willing to buy seedlings or seeds and do a little extra work to baby them as they grow. Hope that helps. 😊
@theproppist yes I do post only when I have new things to show. 😊 Yes I'm from Europe, from France more exactly do you know any group for Europe ? Thanks 😊
Thanks for your patience with this video, folks! Took a long time in the making. 😉 And if you enjoyed this, you're 💯 going to love these as well: • 📺 BUYER BEWARE! ⚠ Buying RARE PLANTS on social? Watch this first 👉 kzread.info/dash/bejne/g4lmqtdqf8Kphbg.html • 📺 This is the BEST SEMI-HYDRO GEAR 🪴 to repot all those plants into for 2024 👉 kzread.info/dash/bejne/pmdr29Vvha7JptI.html
It's the money that makes it hard. I'm about to lose a $175 seedling...ouch. But it's the price of the education. I just last week overused Neem and under the grow lights fried ALL the new leaves. I tripped over a plant, you name it... But that label jar makes me feel better...ha! And I think I damaged seedlings with the heat mat. The really little seedlings are the hardest for me. I heard cloud forest plants don't do well on a heat mat. Do you know which seedlings should be on a heat mat?
Hey Anna! If it makes you feel any better... I've lost a number of $175 seedlings and I literally just lost one this week that was particularly rough. I'm actually embarrassed to mention the name because it's a rather rare Anthurium I got from a well-known collector in Eastern Canada... sigh. I'm pretty careful about seedlings on a heat mat, tbh, if plants are in anything non-semi-hydro (e.g. sphagnum moss, tree fern, stratum.) I typically only put ones with really good root systems that have at least a 3" container on a heat mat. Anything smaller (e.g. 2" containers) will be inside a prop box or seedling tray and shouldn't make direct contact with the heat mat. It's way too easy for those things to go haywire and burn through your moss/TF in a day or two without you noticing and watering. I've had larger plants in moss go dry within a couple of days if I'm not paying attention. If you want to use a heat mat (and there are plenty of times I do), I'd recommend getting one with a thermostat included (I think I have one or two linked in this video description) so you can breathe a little easier and be less stressed about it.
@@theproppist If it makes you feel better, mine is a (carla x BVEP) x Carlablackiae. After shipping, it was $175ish. I'm dreading "the seller" asking for follow up photos...ugh.
For what it's worth, I would never send a follow-up photo past the initial unboxing if you really have to... if I paid for it, it's my problem. 😉 If you want to try and save a little cash, try getting in on some group orders. I'm pretty sure I saw a (carla x bvep) x carla going for <$100 as a small seedling or germinated seed not long ago on our group order. I don't remember the seller but it was probably from from the US Anthurium Addicts group. I can check if you want, but it sounds really familiar. The group orders are mostly awesome - there's some risk in that you're ordering pretty tiny plant, but they order a bunch and the cost per participant is always better. And better yet, the seller never knows you individually, so no follow-up photos needed. 😆
Oof I hear you, I finally started buying the big price tag plants this year and of course all of the things have started happening this year. Fungus gnats from a sellers moss, thrips from the S.O.s purchase, just some crazy root rot issues...I think I'm being over zealous due to the price tags and I have to remind myself my hoyas thrive on neglect, I don't need to helicopter parent the rest
@JessicaSugarTankLarson On the price, yeah, I'm trying to be a little more cautious there, too. I've been buying more seed batches and group orders that have brought the price down somewhat, but in those cases you're trading less cash for way more maintenance and stress on the initial growing front. Losing tiny seedlings kinda sucks but I'd argue it's still better than losing a large, mature plant. 🤷♂️ Gotta take the wins where you find them. 😉 I'm def not a helicopter parent, probably the opposite, I neglect stuff a little too long and then often underwatering leads to other problems, like bugs. The pests are a problem even for me, I have a spider mite outbreak literally happening right now that I'm trying to subdue. Out of everything, my hoyas are definitely the survivors, they're so succulent that they're nearly impossible to kill and as long as they have some relative humidity they will root pretty much anywhere along their vine, which is nice but a pain in the ass to maintain because they tend to go crazy! I think I have a reel on my IG (@theproppist) showing my Hoya mathilde infiltrating literally every crack in my Milsbo, lol. 😂
Roots look amazing
Thank you! 💚
Very helpful. Thanks for sharing
Glad I could help! Let me know if you have any questions!
I would almost bet big money that if you planted these two determinate tomatoes one season ,,that you would never try indeterminate tomato plants again ,,, red deuce and Carolina gold.
Hey Bobby! I'll have to check those out, I haven't seen the seeds sold locally so maybe it's worth importing them. I've only done Romas for my determinate tomatoes so far, but I'm totally game to trying some other interesting varieties.
@@theproppist Harris seeds
If flavor is your most important criteria,,,plant reverend morrows late keeper tomatoes,,a two hundred year old Florida heirloom,,I live at western North Carolina at 2000 feet elevation, plant them every year ,,this year I ate my last one in mid January and picked the last ones the last of November,,they are very uniform 6 ounces and round as a ball and when ripe appear the color of a peach
Sounds fantastic. I had tomatoes from previous years last into January (picked green at end of season and kept in paper bags) so I know what you mean. I'm no tomato expert so I love hearing this kind of advice. I've put all 3 of the tomatoes you suggested on my list for future grows, appreciate the feedback!
I just switched my plant to semi hydro and I’m terrified 😅 LOL because I also treated her for thrips the day before and gave her a good wash. I’m worried about her being over watered she looked way better today but yesterday she looked like she was bent over
Hey Dulce! No need to be scared of transitioning to semi-hydro but I'll give you a couple of tips based on what you said re: things you'll want to be careful of or watch out for when you're doing it... - When you say "treated her for thrips", does that mean you had a thrips outbreak, or were you just doing a preventative treatment? Because I usually wouldn't recommend transferring to semi-hydro immediately after a major pest treatment on the plant, the plant will be stressed already and may have a hard time transitioning at the same time. If you were just doing a maintenance clean then no worries. - Overwatering in semi-hydro is thankfully pretty obvious (and it's even more visible if you use clear pots or at least a clear inner mesh/orchid pot.) When you're transitioning, just make sure that your new medium is throughly dampened (e.g. rinsed first) and when you put your inner/net pot inside the cover pot, make sure the lowest part of your plant's roots in the LECA/Pon are *just* above the water line. That's usually your safest bet to get started (in my experience), and your plant should transition a little easier. The only exceptions here (re: roots touching water) are if you had your plant's roots sitting in water for an extended period of time before the repot, in which case I think I'd probably submerge at least the bottom third of the roots for a few days to make the transition a little easier. Also, some cousins of Alocasias, like Colocasia or Caladium, are a little more tolerant of having wet roots, or in some cases prefer to be submerged all the time. Monsteras are also usually ok with getting their roots right in there, my Monsteras in LECA seem to end up with half their roots in the nutrient solution pretty damn quick... - Finally, after converting, plants will often look a little limp for a bit. That's fine, a bit of transition shock. It doesn't happen with everything but it's not that rare. I would still be careful since you said you did the thrips treatment the day before, and keep an eye out for any root rot. Some plants coming from soil (you didn't mention what your previous medium was) will often lose a lot of root mass before starting to grow new semi-hydro roots, just clean them out when you get a chance or on the next repot. Anyhow, hope that helps and I hope your plant has a smooth transition over to semi-hydro! Let me know if you have any other questions. 😉
Did you do a follow up on these TC’s
Hi there - thanks for the question. Unfortunately I didn't have the best quality plants come through in the order in this video. I did one order a month or two afterwards and have 2 or 3 plants left from the second one, but that first order was a pretty shitty experience - I won't order from that supplier again. From the first order, I do still have the P. Caramel Marble, but I've kept it in a small container and it's sizing up very slowly. I'm also concerned that it's not even variegated, in which case I think my seller scammed me. I won't be sure until I take it out of its current enclosure and let it breathe a bit. The Monstera Mint died on me almost immediately, as did its replacement (well documented later in the channel and I discuss it in my next video as well), and the P. Red Andersons were all pretty much DOA. I had 2 of the batch that survived. One was attacked by mold well after I had it deflasked (couple of months later) and it had been doing pretty well prior - I think I probably should have done a better job of cleaning the plantlets on the way out of their original substrates. The second and final remaining Red Anderson unfortunately died while I was on vacation - it dried out on a heat mat I forgot I had left on, All in all, what I'd change in this video is the cleaning process. I would have spent much longer (15m+) cleaning the plantlets. Mold/fungal overgrowth seems to be the thing that gets you immediately if you don't clean all of the original media off properly and I don't think I did here. I'll have to do a post-mortem at some point but I'm honestly pretty burnt out by TC importing in general now. 😬 x
Omg, so good! Great information! Thank you so much!😊
Hey Robyn! Thanks for the comment and for watching, glad you enjoyed it! And sorry for the late reply, got buried in my newer comments. 😬
This video has renewed my brain cells 😂😂😂. The way you used wicking and leca in your moss pole. Oh boy so simple. I want to throw out at least seven large soil planters and convert to leca. Wow I was browsing and you popped up. Im so excited. Thank you so much Teacher Proppist