Today I thought it would be beneficial to share info on these annoying little pests. You can see in the photo here some little bugs hanging out on a pepper plant flower. This photo was taken back in October when I was growing peppers from seed indoors. I've sadly thrown this plant out since the aphids kept coming back six times over and I got real sick of trying to get rid of them; but I took some shortcuts which is why that never worked. Learn from my laziness.

If you have aphids that have been living on a plant, you'll probably notice their white exoskeletons first. They shed them just as a gecko would shed it's skin. The bugs themselves are little pear shaped green dots. They like to target new growth especially, so that's where you'll notice them first. They do love to live underneath leaves too so when searching for them, checking under the leaves is always a best bet.

These guys like to eat the plant sap and sometimes leave behind a sweet sticky residue cslled honeydew. This can in turn attract other insects such as ants that like that sweet flavor. They cause a lot of damage like stunted growth and they will quickly make a healthy plant start yellowing and dropping its leaves. Luckily they are one of the easier pests to get rid of. I've found that blasting them off with a strong stream of water works best. I try not to use pesticides or neem or anything like that for these guys because the water is the easiest solution, and due to the fact they love to target human edible plants, it ends up ruining our pepper plants! I don't think it would be much of an issue if you used those methods on foliage plants however.

So, a strong spray of water helps. But what else? Diatomaceous earth is one such solution. This is white flour looking stuff that you can spread on the top soil. I would not recommend if this is a plant reachable by animals or kids though since it is a poisonous option. So what about soapy water? Yes, this helps too. And best of all it doesn't including introducing chemicals to the soil. An important tip too, is to refresh the soil once you treat the plant. This is what ultimately led to my pepper plants getting decimated time and time again; I never repotted them and they kept coming back. That, and being in such close conjunction with other plants around it. So with that said; isolate any plant that has pests on it. They'll just keep coming back!

If you're not opposed to introducing beneficial insects, lacewings and ladybugs love these little jerks. Though always be mindful of introducing non native species to your gardens.

Hopefully you never have to deal with an aphid infestation like I did, but know that if you do, there are much harder pests to get rid of... dont even get me started on spider mites... :')

!

I've generally never had much luck with succulents because they used to get leggy and etiolated previously. Then I stumbled upon this guy - and the good thing about him is, there's no stem! So they grow these little rosettes without too much effort :)

Now that I have them under strong lighting, we are seeing much better growths. Haworthias are great little low growing succulents that get really fleshy leaves and almost to me look a little bit like alien mushrooms or something.

I've had this little one for two years now and have not repotted it yet. (Probably about time as we can see it's leaves are starting to grow past the pot.) As with all succulents, they will require a succulent mix or gritty soil mix. Sometimes I like to add a little extra pumice to my succulent mixtures -- I find that haworthias are a little less picky though, and can go with just bagged mix honestly. Also, likewise, their water needs are very low. With any succulent I live by the "soak and dry" rule - with until the soil is completely dry, then soak that ho.

We see here on mine there is a ton of new growth going on. When I got him at a box store, he was in turmoil. The soil was soaked, there were almost no leaves, and there was a bit of root rot. :( luckily as you can see it has bounced back quite lively. The soil/watering habits really make a difference! Keeping it in a drier location is best. However, its worth noting that this little guy does live in my sunroom where it is always over 60% humidity, so the water habits really come into play here.

So aside from the obvious succulent care, I really like haworthias because they spread so easily. They will easily overrake a pot with their pups. This makes such a full and lively appearance. Imagine a full pot full of moss but they feel like little bouncy balls. However, as they are very slow growers, it may take some time for that to happen.

Mine is only about 3/4" high, so a little guy. But they can reach up to only a couple inches from the soil making them a perfect little compact alien plant. They also propogate very easily from those pups or even leaves, just as any succulent would.

That's all I have for this little guy today. If you find that I have inaccurate information or have more to add, I'm always looking for more knowledge!

!

Do you have a low light area that needs some foliage? Get a zz plant.

Do you often forget to water your plants? Get a zz plant.

Do you want something that will forgive you no matter how many times you insult it? Get a zz plant.

Seriously, these guys just want to exist near you as long as you're happy with its presence. They're like a dogs that just want a friend.

They're one of the easiest plants to keep because of their such easy care. They have low light needs so they can fill out a corner, so as long as it gets a little bit of light, it'll be okay. As you can see I have mine on the corner of my office desk, and where it sits is about 30 feet away from any window. This one lives off fluorescent light and gives me about a dozen shoots per growing season.

Something unique to the Raven ZZ plant is that new foliage pops up a bright lime green, and as those leaves age, it turns out to be such a dark pigment that they are almost black. I'm such a sucker for dark colored plants so this one was a no brainer to get! The raven cultivar is exclusive to Costa farms' "trending tropicals" line so they are sold at box stores almost always.

Zz plants are also a little funky in that their root system is composed of rhimozones. They look like giant bulbous growths under the soil that look slightly like a tumor. Their only real purpose is to store water; so with that said, zz plants do not require a lot of water at all! In fact, I treat mine just like it is a succulent or cactus. I just water it every month or so and have not heard any complaints from it yet. Likewise, since they do not need much water, they will be susceptible to rot if you tend to overwater plants. For that reason I like to add drainage to my soil mix, I have mine in a 1/3 mix ratio of perlite and most standard potting soil mix.

The other cool thing about propagating is that these guys can be propagated from almost any part of the plant. I stuck a few leaves in soil, a couple cut in half and a couple still whole (I had a whole stem get snapped off. Sad day) and they eventually all grew a rhimozone and now all have new leaves popping up! Only thing is.....it took about 8 months to get there. Theyre such slow growers when they're young!

Anyway, I love my zz plant, even though 99% of the time I forget it exists. And they're just fine with that :)

!

African violets come in so many colors -- they were so popular the past century that I would wager to guess that your parents or grandparents probably bad at least one in their home.

They are generally considered easy care, as they are happy in the not so bright windowsills, but as any plant goes it cannot live in darkness. However, they do require their soil to stay slightly damp. It is easy to overwater these guys though so a great alternative is an African violet pot. This is a two-part pot that has water in the bottom portion, with the insert being an unglazed clay to soak up that water from underneath. A good alternative to this is a self watering pot. If you don't happen to have one, watering when the the top soil dries out on the top is best, but it's important to not get water on the leaves as they are slightly velvety/fuzzy and will hold that moisture and rot them. As a result, no misting or extra humidity is needed, they're happy in most housing humidity levels. Due to the slightly damp soil needs they can be susceptible to fungus gnats so it's always best to keep an eye out for those flying bugs.

A standard soil mix of potting soil/perlite mix 1/1 works great for these guys. I've noticed they appreciate that fertilizer added in the soil. It is easy to overwater them so the extra drainage added by mixing in perlite is always recommended in my opinion.

Best of all they are nontoxic, so a curious kitty will not be harmed by them. Best to keep them away from any plant, but not all cats listen nicely :)

They bloom quite often so deadheading regularly is important. Once the blooms start to fade its best to cut them down to encourage extra blooming and growth.

I've had mine for about a year and a half now. And I haven't moved it from my east facing window right above my sink. It's already given me three waves of blooms and their blooms seem to last quite a long time. As a result they do like to be fertilized every couple weeks or so once you see them showing their array of colors.

I am still newer to care for these so I don't have much else to add, so if you have additional facts or find that mine are inaccurate please feel free to add! :)

!

As title questions. I've tried editing the photos before uploading. Only occurs sometimes. Is it a possible phone issue?

Prince of orange is a hybrid philo, unique in a way that new leaves will start out a vibrant orange and as they grow older they transition to a reddish hue, to eventually a dark green. This is a self-heading philodendron, which means it does not vine and will eventually continue to grow from the central stem. Eventually it will take up a couple feet of space, but they do not grow real quickly.

They do require a bit of humidity. In fact, this photo of mine is a good example of how the leaves may unfurl if it is kept in a lower humidity area, which is in fact where this one is stationed! You can see it most prominently on the top dark green leaf where it is slughtly malformed. With lower humidity, the leaves don't unfurl quite as elegant, and tend to look a little crumpled. The newer leaves you see here in orange are coming out very nicely because the humidity has been higher the past couple months here.

They tend not to be as super picky with their soil needs. A good overall tropical blend will keep them happy (1/1/1 mix of perlite or orchid bark, peat moss or coco coir, and standard potting soil.) They will also be happy with a 50/50 mix of peat or potting soil/perlite or orchid bark. Drainage is important. I water mine when the first one or two inches on the top soil is dry.

As with all plants, it does like light, but this one can survive in lower light environments. Direct sunlight will burn thia guy's leaves, but low light environments will not allow it to thrive. I have mine in a west facing window and it seems to be happier there than when it was in a north or south facing window.

Philodendrons also tend to get something called extrafloral nectaries. At first this seems scary when you see them; they look like little lighter round spots on the leaves that make you wonder if it has pests, or is being overwatered, or being fertilized too often. Luckily, it's completely normal and quite common for philos.

Another interesting fact is that philos tend to natutally occur a sticky sap-like substance on their stems or leaves sometimes from nectaries. This is not too unlike an example of honeydew, which is also a sticky substance that mealybug pests leave behind, however if there's no other indication or a pest issue and the plant looks otherwise healthy, then most likely it is nothing to worry about!

That's all I have for the prince of orange, let me know if you have additional knowledge to share or if mine happens to be inaccurate. I'm always wanting to learn more!

!

A better question might be: would it be better suited for a "houseplant" community, since this is more gardening and general nature inspired?