I got this from Dew Violets in May and it's finally blooming. 🌸🌸 She's so pretty 😍
Soil: 50% Rosy Houseplant Soil 50% mini pumice rocks and a dash of limestone
Fertilizer: Grow Queen Organic Liquid Fertilizer diluted
In a self watering wick setup under grow lights
My cat was diagnosed with a possible poultry allergy (recurrent ear infections, inflamed skin/ears, itchiness, etc.) and my vet did recommend a prescription food but told me that if my picky cat did not tolerate it (which she didn't) I could put her in a limited ingredient food that was a rare protein. So I started her on kangaroo and she has been on that for about 3 weeks now. She used to eat Stella and Chewy's shredded chicken or duck food. She has no teeth so she only eats wet food but she's only six.
Anyway, her poos have been really really stinky ever since switching to this food. I did do the transition for the first week. Do you think this is something that will go away over time, did you also transition your cat's food and had to deal with this? I'm just wondering if this will go away eventually. She's supposed to be on this for 90 days as a food elimination diet to figure out if poultry is the issue. But a lot of her itchiness and inflammation is already gone away. Her poos didn't used to smell like anything, but now it can clear a room! They are solid and not liquidy either btw.
Thanks in advance 🙏🏻
I have some of my thirstier hoyas in self-watering wick setups already but they are still in a tree fern fiber based substrate with lava rock and coco chips.
I am considering switching to pon to some of mine that have not been repotted yet, I like the idea of it and the simplicity of the mix.
What I don't like though is chemical fertilizers. I used to use SuperThrive Foliage Pro fertilizer for a while but my friend gave me a bottle of Grow Queen Liquid Fertilizer and my plants do 1,000% better on that. I also use a kelp liquid fertilizer once a month.
My soil mix doesn't have added fertilizer so I do use it every watering.
Can pon use Grow Queen or kelp fertilizer? Or would it just have a ton of issues? Let me know, thank you 🙏🏻
I'm gonna keep it labeled as a NoID but my friend (who gave me the cuttings) lost the label a year or so ago and we are just curious what the ID may be. Rooted really fast in fluval and already has new growth, so it's a quick grower. It will be so much easier to tell when it blooms 😫 thanks in advance 🙏🏻
I have this NoID African Violet, in a 2 inch self wick watering pot, 1/2 soil 1/2 pumice and leaves are healthy except these new ones coming out of the middle? They are like brown to a certain point of the leaf and it looks like the mini new growth might be doing the same... I don't water from above, as mentioned it's wick watering. The outside leaves are firm fuzzy and healthy. Maybe the crown is too deep? I have never seen this with my other AVs. Thanks in advance!
I have been using shampoo and conditioner bars for a while now. Sometimes I just use a small amount of my conditioner bar as a leave in. But I have naturally 2C wavy hair and I use my straightener a lot. These are the current products I use, mostly for leave in, detangling, repair, and heat protection. I got 2 of them as gifts so I'm using them up since I have them... I use a gel for when I wear my waves naturally. Do any of you recommend any certain zero waste products that can replace these for me? I don't see much online for styling and whatnot. Buying products is easier for me but I can do DIY if I need to. Thanks in advance 🤗
This showed up on my Hoya flagellata. I can't see any pests even with a microscope... It was hotter today than usual but probably like 84°F in the cabinet. It's still in the nursery soil it came with, I've been letting it settle into it's new home but it's been over 2 weeks. I just haven't seen this kind of white spot with a black ring on a hoya before. Thanks in advance 🤗
You see all the time online "your plants are not thriving because they need more light." All the time it's "more light!."
I have a good south facing window (looks darker in the photo because the light is blinding) but I use my light meter and it still maybe only gets 300 foot candles in the summer (especially because the sun goes so high up) and my east facing gets good morning light for a couple of hours.
I see so many influencers/plant people boast about grow lights and how your plants will not thrive without them. I only have grow lights in my prop box and on my counter (for my African violets, baby or rehab plants.) I just do not like the look of them. I see a lot of setups I don't like- it's too obvious/not set up well/chaotic/etc.
I want to see what you guys like or suggest to make grow lights look more aesthetically pleasing. Do I even have to worry about it since my collection is mostly hoya and epiphytic jungle cacti? Both grow on forest floors. Do I really need 1,000 foot candles 12 hours a day for my plants? I know I'm overthinking it but I just don't want my collection to die because of not enough light and I like to see people's setups anyway! It gives you some great ideas on how to style plants :) Much love and thanks!
I am not 100% sustainable or zero waste but I'm almost there. I do love houseplants, I usually get them as cuttings or through trade or through local nurseries only and reuse supplies given to me or find things at the thrift store I need. I grow propagations in shot glasses I get from the thrift store and can usually find pots on marketplace.
I have a specific question about soil and which option you guys would think is more sustainable.
For context: I don't use perlite or peat moss (most potting soil.) I have bought from Grow Queen and Rosy soil who share sustainability practices but of course are still plastic packaging/shipping/more expensive. And I find both of them still needing amendments.
So which do you think is more sustainable:
Using a soil mix I make myself, consisting of sustainable tree fern fiber, orchid bark and lava rock. (Tree fern fiber is washable/reusable and doesn't go bad/get hydrophobic like peat moss, and lava rock will not break down in my lifetime unlike perlite, so you don't have to take the old soil off when repotting.) Of course, when you buy these ingredients, they come in plastic packaging.
OR my local nursery sells soil and ingredients in bulk that you can use paper bags to buy them. They have an aroid mix, cactus mix, lava rock, coco chips, etc. HOWEVER, the mixes they use have perlite or peat moss in them, meaning they are bad for the planet on how they are collected and processed and they will not last as long and will have to be tossed when repotting in the future.
I put a couple extra photos to explain why peat moss and perlite are bad for the environment and I hope my question makes sense, I would love to know your guys' opinions!
I have a mix of epiphytic cacti. My Zig Zag, Christmas Cactus, and Fern Leaf are thriving. They were all in tree fern fiber (100%) and recently got moved to a chunkier mix of coco coir, coco chips, charcoal and black lava rock.
HOWEVER! I have such issues with rhipsalis, my Epiphyllum anguliger 'Fire' and my hurricane cactus. They started in tree fern fiber (growing roots) like the others, but were turning black at the base and rotting piece by piece. So I switched them to the chunkier mix that I listed above and were still rotting :(
The paradoxa I got rid of, there was no saving her. I propagated the outer leaves from the fire one and the hurricane and they are currently rooting in straight up coco chips, rooting well.
I am wondering what you guys use for your epiphytic cacti. They live in a south facing window but it's been dark and rainy in Colorado. I'm about to use just straight cactus mix soil that my local nursey mixes themselves.
I don't like to use peat moss or perlite. The ingredients I have available are coco coir, coco chips, orchid bark, pumice (1/8" & 1/4"), black lava rock (1/8" & 1/4"), leca and tree fern fiber.
Everyone says rhipsalis and epiphtics love more moisture but that seems to doom mine to death :( Help please! I have a rhipsalis clavata that needs a repot and I need to pot up the hurricane cactus cuttings soon.
This is my Christmas Cactus I grew from a few leaves in November. It's very special to me because it came from my grammy's 100+ year old Christmas cactus. They rooted in tree fern fiber and stayed there for a long time and it was great. She is CONSTANTLY pushing out new growth, but the new growth doesn't seem as thick, sturdy, hardy. It comes in super soft, flimsy, fragile and curls a lot at the ends. They never seem to harden to really thick leaves like the mother plant. Is it because it's growing too fast? The leaves just seem thin, weak and wrinkly but I know it's not rotted since it's growing and growing new leaves. It lives in my south facing window and has a grow light. I can tell you my humidity isn't great here in Colorado but my Thanksgiving cactus doesn't seem to mind :) Just let me know what I can do to make her thrive!
What is your opinion of certain kinds of hoya living in ambient humidity? It seems to be such a big no no in the community but my Linearis grows like a weed, hanging by the south-facing window, I got it as a 2 node cutting prop in November of 2025 and I keep taking cuttings from it and adding it to the soil and it just loves life, it got over a foot long at one point. I live in Colorado- average humidity where I am is between 10%-30% on a good day. Maybe the new leaves just adapted?
Do you think there are any other types of hoya that don't need to live in a cabinet? I like to have mine out and hung up :)