this post was submitted on 09 Jun 2023
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Nature and Gardening
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170 plants?! and here I am feeling super overwhelmed with 7 of them, hah!
on a slightly joking but also sort of serious note: do you have spreadsheets to keep track of them all? is there a lot of variance in watering schedules, or do you have some auto watering..?
Honestly, I leave them alone most of the time. Check out the Planta app -- it's a watering schedule app that you input the conditions your plant is in, and it adjusts accordingly. Be careful not to take it word for word though, machines can only be so accurate and it's better to trust your own instinct on watering...for example it'll tell me my alocasia zebrina needs to be watered all the damn time but every time I go to check it the soil is still soaked, so I give it a while to dry out first. I use the app more as a reminder to check if the plant needs it, rather than to water without question.
Aside from that though, that's really it. I spend maybe 10 minutes a week watering. The upkeep is the only "difficult" part - trimming dead foliage, plants need repotting, getting appropriate sized pots for their root system, keeping the soil mixes to the plants needs, etc. Once you learn the specifics of the major species groups you can easily discern from there what a plant would do better in for soil. For example, alocasias need chunky well drained soil so I'm always sure to mix orchid bark in there with peat moss/coco coir. My carnivorous plants get a mix of no added fertilizer peat moss/perlite/sand/sphagnum because they're more particular. Likewise, my lavender plectanthrus is happy with anything so I put it in just standard potting soil mix.
I guess then there's pests you have to worry about. But.. That's a different subject lol.
Edit; I should also add I do have adhd so when I got into the hobby I didn't expect to go balls to the wall lol. I had one houseplant before and it was dying. Suddenly something flicked like a switch and I had 50, then 100, then 150.... yeah... but it turned out to be a nice hobby I think, because it really does help with stress and make you feel happy to care for and watch something grow.
Amazing, thank you for the detailed reply! I’ll definitely check out Planta - right now I just have scheduled reminders on my phone but they’re not really helping so far. Thankfully I think most of my plants are ok with a leetle neglect, and I’m… letting my Rufibarba go because we’re just not a good fit. 😅
Hahah, I've killed two rufibarbas. My first one was due to a draft in the windows and the other one came with mites, and it was so bad I didn't want to f with it. I'm on my third and it's been a good relationship for about a year now :) they like humidity and their soil to stay very slightly damp-ish. I've noticed they don't do well in an area on their own....grouping plants helps here with the humidity, and calatheas are little drama queens so if you get another one, good luck!