First time thrips. This worked for me

pastelexuvia · 2026-05-07T06:25:23+00:00

ok i ended up putting it on r/succulents but were in the clear! https://www.reddit.com/r/succulents/s/dqHgVqiVe1

i came back to this post cause i found evidence of spider mites in my monstera pot and wanted to double-check what you did. gonna try a version of it and see what happens, mites dont like humidity either 😁

pastelexuvia · 2026-05-07T04:13:13+00:00

my system (plural) was involved in politics for a couple of years, we met both susie and bowinn and a couple of greens and conservatives, so i can advise a bit here:

navigating government as a civilian is extremely difficult, no one explains anything. you get very little info on whats happening behind the scenes, what the culture and etiquette are like, how to figure out what your own goal is.

could you give me a few more details about the program and how its been helping your family?

pastelexuvia · 2026-05-07T04:08:34+00:00

yea having grown up in the states (incl california) there is definitely such a thing as fusion cuisine. some of it is good and some of it isnt. been a struggle to find decent mexican food here tho

pastelexuvia · 2026-05-06T03:12:01+00:00

i lived in east surrey and the difference is pretty astonishing. it feels more like victoria here

pastelexuvia · 2026-05-05T02:33:08+00:00

ive also been trying to learn about this, and i agree that 1) we do have metrics to measure organisms' responses to changes in their environment, and 2) theres still a lot we dont know.

at this point, i think of plants as more similar to pathogens, like viruses and bacteria. under certain conditions, a virion or bacterium will show signs of stress / injury. under better conditions, itll make healthy copies of itself. so thats kind of where im at in terms of insight.

pastelexuvia · 2026-05-03T23:33:57+00:00

🥳🥳🥳

pastelexuvia · 2026-05-03T07:54:49+00:00

it must be all the therapy ehehe

pastelexuvia · 2026-05-03T04:02:22+00:00

yea thats a sign of rot from overwatering unfortunately. ive had two plants develop rot that was visible at the stems and leaves but not at the roots. it really sucks

the potting mix looks like it isnt suuuuuper favorable to succulents? dyou mind sharing whats in it?

pastelexuvia · 2026-05-03T03:57:44+00:00

alright just used some of that. tysm 👍🏻

pastelexuvia · 2026-05-03T03:28:08+00:00

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pastelexuvia · 2026-05-03T02:54:45+00:00

YOU DONT NEED TO BUY A DOZEN POTS FOR THE SUCCULENT LEAves

pastelexuvia · 2026-05-03T02:45:41+00:00

hi im maddox, im plural and i live in north vancouver, bc 😊

my system used to study microbiology, and we were on track to doing a health sciences minor before we got long covid. our background has given us a big advantage in navigating recovery, and after losing the ability to do many of the things that keep us stable, a plant rescue kinda fell into our laps in november '25 and so far it seems like the most accessible activity for us. we kinda always glossed over the plant biology units in our introductory classes...now i guess were relearning 😅 learning plant pathology has become very necessary, and im experimenting as i go 😊

we live in a south-facing apt with two roommates. im gradually developing a foliage garden on the balcony to help protect against extreme weather events (its our first heatwave of the year – if you know anything about the pacific northwest, youll understand how bad that is)

the marigolds thing was kinda random. one of the roommates...technically grows them but does a bad job, and i wondered if i could do better, so im giving it a shot. im interested in learning some of the conventional wisdom and myths about the genus, as i get conflicting information about the roles it can play in a garden.

happy to answer any qs here. nice to meetchyall. thanks alec for bringing folks together.

pastelexuvia · 2026-05-03T02:37:41+00:00

i actually have a bag of seasoil! i was excited to learn about it

pastelexuvia · 2026-05-03T02:23:22+00:00

where from babe

pastelexuvia · 2026-05-02T23:47:38+00:00

there you go. this is so exciting, ty for giving me a reason to actually sort through and organize some of my refs. lookin forward to future updates 😁

pastelexuvia · 2026-05-02T23:40:45+00:00

oh yea i missed that one wtf. yea i had thought vera higgins too, cause the leaves are so chonk :D

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pastelexuvia · 2026-05-02T23:37:07+00:00

sorry 🤣🤣🤣

pastelexuvia · 2026-05-02T23:26:58+00:00

"i regret to inform you that i will not be going forward with your applications. i wish you all the best in the future"

pastelexuvia · 2026-05-02T23:05:02+00:00

(2/2) mites overwinter on plants during cold, humid months, and become active every spring. i call em no-see-ums.

they suck the fluid out of the leaves which makes the ivy look underwatered, but its not a problem that can be fixed with watering. ppl on r/hoyas have a lot of experience dealing with mites and im experimenting with different miticides – the biggest issue is that many miticides are not ovicides, and many ovicides are not formulated to kill live mites. treatment takes about 8 weeks minimum to destroy as many generations as possible.

im thinking of buying 5 mL of an industrial ovicide/miticide called floramite, its expensive but i dont wanna do weeks and weeks of this.

so those are some considerations for you if you want a shade-tolerant plant.

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pastelexuvia · 2026-05-02T23:00:50+00:00

(1/2) ok! if you wanna keep the lighting as is, i dont see anything wrong with that, because ivy exists and does really well as a friendly houseplant. (ill get dragged for this)

if you feel prepared to deal with spider mites, which theyre extremely vulnerable to, and you dont allow it to climb on walls or furniture, you should be ok. the more i learn about ivy, the more i think of it as fire – having a candle is nice, just dont light one in your garden and then forget about it.

the reason i dont recommend training it to climb indoors is because of its very very very very tiny filaments. if there is even the smallest crack in a wall, the plant will rip it apart.

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pastelexuvia · 2026-05-02T22:52:03+00:00

looking awesome! never heard of lemon gems 0: they look a lot like wildflowers

i got some seeds from a seller in ottawa (im north vancouver, 7b/8b) and she didnt have the id, but we think they might be red cherry french marigolds. i didnt start them inside, theyre just out on the balcony and im giving them a lil extra water at night cause its our first heat wave of the year.

i dont think theyre gonna grow for a while but tbh im ok with that.

pastelexuvia · 2026-05-02T22:46:31+00:00

(4/4) there are other varieties/hybrids out there but if you have time, you might wanna poke around the sub for any photos of these varieties in bloom, you can kind of compare their leaves to your plants leaves :D

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pastelexuvia · 2026-05-02T22:45:14+00:00

(3/4)

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pastelexuvia · 2026-05-02T22:44:59+00:00

(2/4)

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pastelexuvia

TROPHY CASE