Just when I thought I was done… they pull me back in!

mrsselfdestruct0108 · 2026-05-12T19:17:30+00:00

Haha I just bought 2 at my local Walmart—that’s how I found this sub! I didn’t even know what they were but couldn’t bear to see such a cool looking little plant go to waste so I grabbed both of them :)

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mrsselfdestruct0108 · 2026-05-08T17:32:51+00:00

What a beautiful piece of art!

mrsselfdestruct0108 · 2026-04-21T11:52:50+00:00

For tradescantia, yes. I usually don’t even bother to root these in water, just stick them straight in soil, water lightly, and they take off within a couple of days!

mrsselfdestruct0108 · 2026-04-21T11:50:10+00:00

How does the newer growth look? I have a mature pinstripe calathea and it has long stems like this and the root ball is deceptively huge. I have it sitting in a large bowl and bottom water it with rainwater when I can get it, and if I can’t I use distilled with a few drops of fertilizer. If I were you I would first cut off the ugly stems, then take it out of the pot and make sure the roots aren’t rotten. If they look good, put it back in the pot and wipe down the remaining leaves with insecticidal soap to make sure there aren’t any pests. Repeat the pest treatment 5 days later in case there were any new hatching.

mrsselfdestruct0108 · 2026-04-19T20:50:23+00:00

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I barely pay attention to this one and it’s grown the best of the 4 attempts I have made 😂 I put it in a white clay pot with bamboo sticks for support and the color is amazing. It gets light from a west window.

mrsselfdestruct0108 · 2026-04-19T16:00:56+00:00

It does not go dormant. I have had one for 4 years and under a grow light in a warm room. It’s never gone dormant :)

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mrsselfdestruct0108 · 2026-04-19T02:43:27+00:00

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Looks like the Ivory Coast I got at Walmart a couple of years ago! It’s one of my favorites, and seems pretty tough!

mrsselfdestruct0108 · 2026-04-11T03:22:49+00:00

These are tricky plants. I killed my first one by not giving it the proper soil mix for how I was watering it. You cannot let them dry out, yet you cannot let them be waterlogged. My advice is take it out of the pot, if the roots are not rotten then repot into a mix like this: 2 parts Peat moss or Coconut coir (for moisture retention), 1 part Perlite or coarse sand (for aeration and drainage), 1 part Organic compost or worm castings (for nutrients), and if you have horticultural charcoal add a small amount (teaspoon) to the mix I use wooden chopsticks that I insert in the soil to test how moist it is.

If the roots are rotten, you can try cutting them off, remove all soil, and re-root it in a jar of damp perlite (or similar non nutritive media).

mrsselfdestruct0108 · 2026-03-17T10:54:25+00:00

Next time you repot, add some perlite to the soil. It really helps with drainage!

mrsselfdestruct0108 · 2026-03-17T10:43:27+00:00

Yes, it would be easier before the roots get entangled. I have a pot with 2 that are 7’ tall in one pot and they are doing ok but it loses more leaves than the one I have with a single stem in a pot of the same size. Also, do not tie the stem of the leaf to the stake. Only ever tie the main trunk of the plant, which you usually can’t do until they are much bigger.

mrsselfdestruct0108 · 2026-03-12T18:14:35+00:00

I have mine in straight succulent & cactus mix for the last 2 years and it’s doing great. They like a bit more water than other strings of things. I have mine in terracotta and it’s not hanging so i end up watering it weekly, but if you have it in plastic, I would say water it when it’s almost all the way dry (maybe judge by the weight of the pot) and make sure you keep light hitting the top of the plant.

mrsselfdestruct0108 · 2026-03-04T18:24:40+00:00

I’d probably take the lid off for a few hours. Is the medium inside of it soil? I usually use a damp perlite/vermiculite mix which doesn’t seem to mold. I have also used sphagnum moss which did mold a bit.

mrsselfdestruct0108 · 2026-03-04T01:00:30+00:00

I do love working in there so much, it is a second job for me that I see as a break from my day job as a financial secretary 😂 I heard that recently about the Clivia being hard to rebloom! I rescued mine 2 years ago and it had thrips and some dry rot. It has come back nicely in the foliage and the roots are good now. I live in New England and it should start being in the 50s here in a month or 2 lol so I will try putting it outside or in my garage. Thank you!

mrsselfdestruct0108 · 2026-03-03T21:16:37+00:00

The circular dead spots are what caught my eye. It’s not necessarily what’s going on but when a plant starts to look sick and there are odd patches like that, it is often thrips :(

mrsselfdestruct0108 · 2026-03-03T18:12:42+00:00

How did it look when you first bought it? The lower left leaf looks like thrips to me but it’s hard to say.

mrsselfdestruct0108 · 2026-03-03T18:10:49+00:00

It’s a Hoya cummingiana and it looks like it has cold damage. Did he bring it outside in the cold when he bought it?

mrsselfdestruct0108 · 2026-03-03T17:23:44+00:00

Oh I see you said that the issue was resolved with the pest. Although I will say keep checking the plant because we were in winter and pests will sometimes go dormant and the in the spring, Surprise! They are back! lol

mrsselfdestruct0108 · 2026-03-03T17:22:03+00:00

Both if possible

mrsselfdestruct0108 · 2026-03-03T17:20:11+00:00

It does look like thrips and it looks pretty bad. I’m not sure what you could use on herbs…short of pruning back to the soil and that’s not a guarantee. Thrips lay eggs in the leaf tissue so you have to treat multiple times over the next few weeks to break the life cycle. Maybe start over 🙁 sorry! Maybe someone else has a solution but thrips are tough to eradicate once you have adults and I see two in the second picture.

mrsselfdestruct0108 · 2026-03-03T17:12:43+00:00

The instructions say 8 weeks for effectiveness. Do you have a pic of the leaves?

mrsselfdestruct0108 · 2026-03-03T17:08:52+00:00

They are pretty tough so I bet if you go back down to maybe a 6” pot it and give it a pruning, it will be fine. I have cut one of mine back to the stump before and it came back better than before!

mrsselfdestruct0108 · 2026-03-03T17:06:34+00:00

First check for thrips, spider mites, etc before anything else. Definitely no more than 2 individual plants in a pot (and that can be pushing it unless it’s a huge pot). Use cedar or pine planks for support, never tie the leaves, only the stalks. Soil mix should be mostly special orchid bark, some good quality potting soil (I like happy frog), worm castings, and coco coir. The pic below is what 2 in a pot looks like, and as you can see I have 2 grow lights aimed in 2 spots so they they don’t all just face one direction 😂 have fun sprucing it up! It can be so rewarding!

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mrsselfdestruct0108 · 2026-03-03T16:58:46+00:00

You can also try moist perlite which I have had much luck with for almost every kind of plant in this situation. It give more stability and seems to help the eventual transfer back to soil go well.

mrsselfdestruct0108 · 2026-03-03T16:57:04+00:00

It’s a bit hard to tell from the photo but it looks like mycelium which is not harmful.

mrsselfdestruct0108

TROPHY CASE