Yay, it's Friday

Well, I have gotten some questions about container gardening so I thought I would pontificate some on that. Yes, as a matter of fact, I do take requests. Once I sang "melancholy Baby" seventeen times by request. Of course, I had been drinking and the guy that kept requesting it was doing it as a joke, but that is beside the point.

Ok, container gardening. Almost any plant can be used in container, but some do better than others. Most of the plants that we think of as "houseplants" are native to the tropical forest understory. The good thing about that is that they are most comfortable in the approximate temperature levels that people use inside their offices and homes. The problem is that the light levels are usually woefully inadequate and let's not even talk about the humidity levels. Well, maybe we better to give you some understanding. Architects like to plan for humidity of 35% to 60%, Sometimes in the winter heating systems dry the levels out to as low as 20%, which is almost unbearable for people (hence the itchy skin, etc). The humidity levels for the rainforest however is 85% to 90%. Quite a bit of difference. On top of this, most plants used indoors need much higher light levels. Most plants used in interiors are at or below the Light Compensation Point. The LCP is just a fancy way of saying that the plant is producing (remember, plants produce their on food, the fertilizers we use, so called plant "foods" only give them the chemical and minerals they need to do this) just as much food as it is using in respiration. There is no new growth, there is no replacement growth and the plant doesn't have any starch reserves to fight off pests or injury. Given these facts, now you don't feel so bad about killing all those house plants over the years, now do you? Actually, with all the stress we put them under, all the mistakes we make, all the downright abuse (my aunt used to have a sanservia that my uncle hated. He would use the pot as an ash tray for his cigars) most house plants are killed from...... Are you ready?????? OVERWATERING. This amazes me (mainly because I am too lazy to water most of the time) Most house plants prefer to be a little dry, not to say you can get away with not watering them at all, and remembering their are species that come from the swamps, but most of our plants we just plain overwater.

Ok, with all the doom and gloom out of the way. What the heck do we have to know to grow wonderful, beautiful, happy houseplants? Not really that much, actually. First is selection. If you are going to a mega-store make sure it is one that uses plant markers with at least some information on them. I like more info than most people care about, at least the real botanical name so I don't have to work so hard on research (that laziness thing, ya know?) I can't really make sense of bright, medium and low light levels myself. The human eye sees levels as glaring that to a plant isn't high enough, so no help there. Most people over compensate when the marker gives a watering guide too, so that really isn't much help either. So what do we do? Experiment! Try your plant in one spot and watch it, if it doesn't like it there, move it someplace else. If you are watering on the dry side and the plants seems to droop too quickly, water a little more, a little!!! Ok, so you see a plant that you can't live without, you'd be surprised at how many times this happens to me, although when my wife says I can't have it, I seem to survive all right, so you see a plant. Pick it up. Look at it. Check it for pests. See if the leaves are turgid and healthy looking. Take the root ball out of the pot, if the plant center doesn't want you doing this, find another plant center (So I sez to 'em, I sez, Hey, I been thrown out of better nurseries than this joint!). Look at the roots, is the plant root bound? (The roots running around in a circle and not much dirt to them.) This isn't an insurmountable problem but it will take a little extra care.

If you're going to repot the plant (those black plastic ones are so decorative aren't they?) pick a pot that is no more than one or two steps bigger than the pot it is in, and make sure the new pot has a drain hole. Put something over the drain to keep potting mix from flowing out, I usually use landscape fabric or window screen, and put enough mix in to set the root ball so the crowrn of the plant is at the dirt level in the new pot. Firm the mix down, place the plant and fill the pot, firming as you go. If you want to use a slow release pelleted fertilizer, scatter it at the root level. Use a good quality soilless potting mix. Please don't use garden soil! I could go into perched water tables and crown rot and a whole lot of scientific reasons but I don't want to. Just trust me, soilless mix.

When you are choosing your plants remember that variegated leaves tend to need more light than green leaves, and flowering plants want even more. Tomorrow I'll go into some of my favorite tropicals and I'll warn you now, I like the weird ones.