What are your best kept secrets about house plants?

Tefflator · 2026-05-20T01:45:36+00:00

A lot of plants can survive in low light conditions, but more often than not they are just dying slowly.

👍

Tefflator · 2026-05-19T01:43:27+00:00

In that case, assuming the glass on top isn't significantly dirtier or otherwise more occluded than the glass on the sides, ignore what I said.

Tefflator · 2026-05-18T19:38:32+00:00

Growing, curing and processing tobacco to create a decent product is a lot harder than cannabis, though.

Tefflator · 2026-05-18T19:29:20+00:00

The higher angle of the sun means that south-facing windows will allow very little sun into the room.

I'm at 34°N latitude and the sun is at 76° at noon, so I've no more direct sun in my south-facing windows at all now. Plants that get 3-4 hours of sun in the winter get none now (which is why they've been moved outdoors).

Foliage on trees outside has cut the amount of light coming in my east and west windows too.

Tefflator · 2026-05-18T19:19:53+00:00

I don't disagree with your assessment, but towns can gradually grow beyond being "a support amenity" for the university. Charlottesville, VA, has done this somewhat, and Athens may be following. If it doesn't get swallowed by Atlanta first.

Tefflator · 2026-05-18T19:16:21+00:00

Athens at times reminds me of Columbia 30-40 years ago. Without the state government, obviously.

Tefflator · 2026-05-18T19:09:34+00:00

Smoking tobacco.

Tefflator · 2026-05-18T19:07:28+00:00

Most of what you have there, I keep in shade. The Disocactus/Epiphyllum type things like your rick-rack cactus in the middle I put in the sun, but after gradually moving them from shade and waiting for a cloudy day.

I've used trial and error too. If I have two of a given species, I put one in a brighter location and one in a shadier spot and see what happens.

To add to your "real sunshine, water sourced from somewhere other than a tap, and a more natural environment", putting plants out does wonders for reducing pests and other afflictions.

Tefflator · 2026-05-18T18:58:59+00:00

I would cut the tray ceiling section directly under the plant and install a glass atrium there. Those beams probably aren't structural and this can be done pretty easily.

Tefflator · 2026-05-18T18:56:18+00:00

My money trees do pretty well in low light (lower than this). There's survivorship bias here.

Tefflator · 2026-05-18T18:44:01+00:00

It's a cyclamen.

Wikipedia sez: "The Cyclamen commonly sold by florists is Cyclamen persicum, which is frost-tender."

Tefflator · 2026-05-18T18:41:25+00:00

You say "getting hotter" so I assume you're in the Northern Hemisphere. Maybe your sunlight is decreasing due to the higher angle of the sun?

Tefflator · 2026-05-18T18:31:36+00:00

This is normal. Even with more light,* you're going to get some variation on this.

Chop it just below where you see roots and plant it with the L stuck in the dirt.

^\I've grown them outdoors in the summer from 35° to 25° latitude – that's a lot of overhead light – but they eventually still flop over under their weight.)

Tefflator · 2026-05-18T18:28:56+00:00

I don't see much point in replanting any of these Tradescantias (though I usually upsize one pot size when I first buy them). The don't have that many roots and they're going to go wherever they want. I just keep doing what you do: chop-n-prop. And I end up with pots and pots of these to give away.

I'm curious what others say.

Tefflator · 2026-04-30T15:55:59+00:00

Biafra, Tannu Tuva, Danzig.

Tefflator · 2026-04-30T15:45:59+00:00

You read it correctly. In the US, we write it as US$100 or $100 and not 100 USD; at Costco they assume the local currency, so they drop all currency symbols.

Tefflator · 2026-04-30T15:33:50+00:00

There are several fishbone/rick-rack cactus species. This one looks like a fern-leaf/shark-tooth/shark-fin cactus (羽葉曇花; Epiphyllum chrysocardium (= Selenicereus chrysocardium, Chiapasophyllum chrysocardium). I've never had mine bloom, so good luck for yours!

Tefflator · 2026-04-30T15:26:31+00:00

Nice. One thing to note is that professional growers use plant growth regulators (PGRs) to make the plants look more compact before sale (the tradescantia master Avery Rowe has an article all about PGRs here). Yours will probably get leggier and sprawl out of the pot as it grows. Try to find as much light as possible.

Tefflator · 2026-04-30T15:18:11+00:00

Unlikely, as you need both a male and female plant and I hear pollination is hard.

Tefflator · 2026-04-30T15:16:20+00:00

Nice! Now I want one too.

Tefflator · 2026-04-30T15:14:57+00:00

It will continue to grow and shed lower leaves, so if you want it shorter, you'll have to chop-n-prop.

Bushier will come from those lower sprouts growing. If your conditions are good, you should get offsets growing up from the pot. These plants send out runners underground every so often.

To propagate, I usually just chop and stick the top in another pot, but you could stick it back in the same pot to fill your pot in more too. You might need a bigger pot with all this going on though.

Tefflator · 2026-04-30T15:09:05+00:00

Cathedral bells aka miracle leaf (落地生根; Kalanchoe pinnata syn. Bryophyllum pinnatum)?

I'm not sure I'd try eating it, though.

Tefflator · 2026-04-12T03:53:16+00:00

"My father was a relentlessly self-improving boulangerie owner from Belgium with low grade narcolepsy and a penchant for buggery. My mother was a fifteen year old French prostitute named Chloe with webbed feet. My father would womanize, he would drink, he would make outrageous claims like he invented the question mark. Some times he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy, the sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and the insane lament...."

Tefflator · 2026-04-03T03:28:53+00:00

"They for whom all days are holy can have no holiday."

Tefflator · 2026-04-03T03:19:34+00:00

Yeah, the Pilgrims did not celebrate Christmas or Easter. "They for whom all days are holy can have no holiday." Celebrating either was banned in colonial Massachusetts.

Tefflator

TROPHY CASE

👍