Yikes! Thanks for that lead. A search on that confirms what I‘m seeing, and explains why my Amaranth has been stunted. This is going to be a challenge to control.
By golly, I think you are right! Looking at some photos the leaves do look similar.
But now, is it not getting enough light? Is that why the leaves are so long and twisted? I’ve never had one before and the photos all show a more compact looking plant.
They take a lot longer than 2 weeks to begin rooting, in my experience. But if you leave them in the water they'll root eventually.
As a side note, the babies will not have yellow leaf edges. This type of sansevieria reverts to an all-green variety when propped this way. If you want to keep the yellow edges, you have to prop them by letting them bud off the main root.
@inasaba@simon Spot on reply. I started a single cutting from my daughter's plant. It was at least four weeks before any roots developed. And yes, the resulting plant lost its yellow edge.
I freakin love succulents! One of the few plants my forgetful self can keep alive and thriving! I don't even have a watering schedule for them, I just water when I remember and know it's probably been at least a week? I have a friend that has a house full of plants and loves caring for them who came over last week and marveled at how good my succulents look. Told him the secret is neglect lol.
Week? Man. I have a large Jade and water the thing evey other month. Sometimes it goes even longer than that. It's happily starting it's spring bloom after coming out from under grow lights in my basement to sit in front of a north facing window. All our smaller succulents are on a monthly ish schedule, but that's not anything we rigorously watch/pay attention to. Weekly for a succulent seems too often, but if they're happy they're happy.
I don't usually water them weekly, I just won't water them if I think it's been less than a week. I'd say they probably get watered on average every 2 weeks or so, give or take a week. Sometimes I remember to water them because I'll notice one starting to get pruny and shriveling a bit. To be honest I have no idea how they're all alive, much less thriving. I feel like a terrible plant owner, but apparently succulents are just my speed. Every one of them is all bright and vibrant, despite my forgetfulness and neglect.
It looks like spider mites to me. I have a similar issue and I'm using neem oil to spray all surfaces of the plant every 1-2 weeks until they go away. There are some other treatments you can look up too.
Agree with spider mites, pretty sure I can see webbing between the leaf tips.
Neem will work, so will insecticidal / horticultural soap and it smells less bad. Heck they’re soft-bodied, you could probably spray 50% isopropyl and kill them too. I like the soap because it’s really cheap and safe for pretty much anything without farina / epicuticular wax (I feel like some begonia Rex aren’t a fan either).
This is a good sized infestation so I would recommend starting by rinsing the leaves really well in the shower or with a hose. After debulking the colony, then use insecticide.
Check your other plants too OP! Mites are not particularly particular.
That I'm not sure, never started a succulent in water... If it looks like the tissue is waterlogged probably cut it, but if the callous is intact it might be fine...?
Oh, also if you have access to it, "cactus" soil mix will be the best
As others have said, springtails.
They usually only eat dead stuff, but still can harm the plant sometimes. But mostly, they're disgusting imo.
Best ways to get rid of them:
Don't overwater your soil. Keep it on the dryer side and add some drainage (stones on the bottom, some perlite, etc.) to keep everything aerated
Or, try switching to inorganic substrate, e.g. pon or LECA. That way, you can get rid of pretty much any soil living pest. But by transplanting the plant you can also kill it, especially since it's already stressed.
You might have better luck indoors than outdoors, depending on where you live. Where I live, anything squash-related planted outdoors develops powdery mildew and dies. I have planted many pumpkins and successfully harvested one. Ever. Maybe I should plant some inside.
I don't know about the bottle but I've stuffed pumpkin flowers with cheese , breaded and fried them, and served with a tiny drizzle of honey. Delicious. Look up recipes for squash blossoms or zucchini blossoms, they are basically the same. You remove the stamens so you just have a pouch.
The bottle is a carbon dioxide tank. It is connected to a regulator that can open/close the valve to let CO2 out. During the day it brings the CO2 level under the leaves to around 800 - 1000 parts per million (ppm). Usually the level in the air is closer to 400 - 500 ppm, and fast growing plants can grow faster with some extra CO2 in the air to build into sugars during photosynthesis. At least in theory... For me it is an experiment in CO2 regulation as I have measured and decreased CO2 levels in the past (when growing mushrooms and tempeh) but I had never actively delivered it, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to learn.
It turns out pumpkin flowers are very fragrant, and the odor is very pleasant, but I am not good at describing smells with words, sorry... To me it smells like a mixture of a rhododendron flower and a pumpkin. I recently went to a wedding in which they served ricotta stuffed zuccini flowers (very similar flowers) and the cook clearly knew what she was doing, in that case the zuccini flowers still had some of the fragrance and this made the dish taste very special. In my attempt I filled the flowers with some curry rice and then pan-seared them in butter, and all the fragrance went away in the process. So the flower was just a vessel with the soft texture of a petal and the taste of browned butter. I did not succeed in keeping any flower flavor. It was a quick-and-dirty experiment... I would like to learn more about cooking with flowers while keeping some flavor.
In the case of tempeh keeping the right ambient temperature (~30) and adding a bit of vinegar to the beans is the best way I have experienced to make it grow fast and healthy. The CO2 I only measure to check for stale air. The tempeh fungus breathes in oxygen and exhales CO2, and if you have a lot of tempeh in a small incubator the CO2 can get too high.
In some techniques for mushroom growing, the mycelium is grown inside of a tub. The fungus exhales CO2 into the closed tub and inhibits this high CO2 condition inhibits fruiting. The fruiting stage can be stimulated by using a fan to push out the CO2. In the case of tempeh one can surround the tempeh with fresh air to stimulate the tempeh to produce spores, which can then be ground with white rice to create a powder to inoculate a lot more tempeh.
Man... Fuck the US patent system.
"Our Firefly Petunias are protected under patent, and as such, propagation and breeding are not permitted. These petunias are sold exclusively for personal use."
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ it is what it is, however petunias are very easy to propagate and you can do whatever you want with your plant as long as you aren't selling it.
I already have a second one growing from a cutting I took.
Ok, I'll take back some of my hate. I thought they had put some sort of monsanto-like 'if you try to reproduce it on your own they'll die' gene.
If it's not 'pay $40 if you want another plant' then that's more reasonable.
To be fair, they probably spent years of time, effort and money to design this product. Why should someone else be able to propagate it and profit from their blood sweat and tears?
'Personal use' covers propagation and breeding by an individual, for non-commercial purposes. Nobody's saying -you- can't try to propigate or breed them, but you could be libel if you try to make money off the endeavor.
In this case I would say the patent system is working as intended, in that it gives some protection to LightBio's investment into creating the firefly. While I would LOVE to see an expanded variety available from other -commercial- growers (with MUCH larger operations and funding), I don't want it to be at the expense of LightBio's effort, or the commercial success they've earned for creating it in the first place.
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