p o n d w e e d

[chrisriddellblog]

The Brexit Debate by Ishtar Ostaria

[pond-dipping-blog]

The Brexit rock is kind of cute and unassuming. It’s just a shame it represents something so... Brexit.

[syngoniums]

My controversial plantblr opinion is that most echeverias and their hybrids are little bitches that uglify, melt, freeze, burn and break way too easily compared to like… almost every other succulent that isn’t a weird fussy mesemb, and I am therefore not inclined to go out of my way to keep them alive. They’re pretty, and I admire people who can keep them looking good for years (as opposed to looking good for 3 months in a mixed succulent planter). I have E. lutea and a little blue guy who has quietly cohabited with haworthias and anacampseros for a couple of years now, and they’re fine. Everything else? Everything else is dead, and I do not mourn them.

[pond-dipping-blog]

The only echeveria I’ve done well with are lilacina, and either elegans or glauca. There’s a couple of others that are doing well (or may be hybrids) but I don’t keep track of them.  I killed about four (I lost track) of the purple ones - perle von nurnberg - before throwing my hands up and shoving almost my entire succulent collection outside for summer. Which keeps them far happier and colourful than babying them on windowsills. So I guess I’m grateful to those fusspots for activating my stubborn side and forcing me to try different things to nurture my collection - including leaving them alone to get on with it on their own terms, in the sunshine and rain. I now have more leaf-propagated lilacina than I know what to do with. 

[fairiencarnate-deactivated20260]

@ plantblr community why do u only post about succulents?? I wanna see ferns and palms and shrubs and flowers and carnivorous babies

[los-plantalones]

EVERYONE should have at least one carnivorous plant there is no excuse for the GROSS lack of chompy bebs on my dash NONE

[pond-dipping-blog]

I tend to worry my foliage babies aren’t photogenic enough. And my carnivorous babies - or “The Fungus Gnat Control Squad” as they’re properly known - are a hodge-podge pot of sundews, tiny venus fly traps, and bladderworts.  I’ll try and share more.

[rubyetc]

further adventures in freelancing 

[thecookiecupboard]

*sigh*

[botanyshitposts]

Do you know any places online or maybe even chain stores that would sell succulents? My local Home Depot and Lowes sell a few varieties (but they also sell those really lame spray painted ones and the cactus with the flowers glued on :c). I am looking for some less common varieties. My Local garden stores are also sparse in selection

okay so like. tips on growing plonts online:

1. know the scientific name of the plant you want. like, do research until you know the exact species you want that will work, then type it in to ebay; a relyable seller will have the scientific name (and cultivar, if applicable) there as an identification thing. dont go for the random ones that are like “*RARE* SUCCULENT!!!!!” bc theyll send you some random flower or smth. 

2. don’t buy seeds, and if you do, order from reliable sellers. this is an easy way to get scammed. if you DO buy seeds, buy from other growers and sellers; the /r/succulents subreddit is a good place to start. usually, breeders and growers will pollinate their babies and then post like “hey does anyone want some lithops seed!!!”; this way, you know that not only is it the species listed, but also that it’s viable seed. if you want to buy from a retailer, look for sites online that specialize in succulent breeding and selling, and look around for reviews on those sites. 

3. buy from specialists. I’ve never actually bought off amazon, but if you search on there for any plant theres like, 3 kind of shady looking options to choose from. when it comes to ordering plants, specialists are the best people to buy from; they know the species, the shipping needs, and in general actually care about making sure the plont is okay. if not a specialist for the plants your looking for, look for well-known online plant retailers. 

4. if you’re a member of the cactus and succulent society of america: i didnt know this existed until 30 seconds ago but holy hek man i love it. anyway, they have a MASSIVE seed bank for members for a dollar a packet for germination. this is for if you’re like, super into it and the acedemic side, or if you want to start a hardcore collection. 

5. ebay. ebay is cool, but also has a lot of scammers. a good seller will list the species name and cultivar (if applicable), details how the plant will be shipped (bare root or potted), where they are and if they ship internationally, and most likely will be a specialized plant shop with a lot of similarly posted succulents and hybrids. 

useful links:

-wiki of common succulent species (from /r/succulents)

-/r/succulents august 2017 buy and trade thread (they have one every month!!)

-list of some good exclusive succulent sellers

[pond-dipping-blog]

Just adding to this; FACEBOOK GROUPS. I’ve seen various succulent groups advertised on Facebook, but they’re not much good to be because I’m UK-based. I’m part of a succulent leaf swap group - cuttings/leaves are easier to post. And if the Cactus and Succulent Society of America is anything like the the UK society (I hear it’s even better because, like, all Cacti are from the Americas!) they’ll have a Facebook group and selling group. 

[growlithops]

More caudiciforms! Found this Sinningia leucotricha in a German nursery and had it sent to my address. I’m so in love with the silvery hairy leaves. It arrived a bit shaken up and limp, but a good watering and lots of sun helped it bounce back in no time.

[pond-dipping-blog]

Oh!! I got one of these a couple of weekends ago. Tiny plant. I was attracted to the fuzzy leaves. I got it home, looked it up, and still find it hilarious that one of its common names is listed as “Queen of the Abyss”. It’s fluffy and pollinated by hummingbirds, I mean come on!

[botanyshitposts]

So i was wondering what you could tell me about air plants? I wanna raise one but i don't know how to go about doing that

air plants- tillandsia - are native to cloud deserts in peru! in the wild, they grow on the branches of cacti and shrubs and just have a good time there. it’s called a “cloud desert” because all the plants are watered by occasional fog that rolls in. 

okay so like. on taking care of them there are a couple schools of thought but both are pretty simple? like remember that all the water these plants get usually is from the humidity in the air that condenses on their leaves:

1. the misting idea. so basically this is like “just mist water on them with a squirt bottle a couple times a week”. 

2. ok this is like. the cutest and most wholesome thing. and i learned it from a person on the succulent subreddit who does this with all of there like 50000 tillandsia varieties that they own and live with casually around their home (they’re a very dedicated hobbyist). they give them a bath once a week. like seriously they have a little sink bathtime for all their air plants every wednesday night. what you do with that is once a week, you fill up a sink or bowl with water and set them all in there to soak for 15 minutes. after 15 minutes, turn them upside down on a towel to dry off a little, and put them back to live their happy lives until next bathtime. i did this with mine, and he grew healthy little colored tips a few days later, so i think he really liked it!!!

either one works but the bathtime one is so good and wholesome

[pond-dipping-blog]

House Plant Journal has a really good care sheet! And more watering tips. I tend to water mine in the morning, so they have the best chance to use that moisture and dry out during the day. I’ve been doing this roughly every other day since Summer began and the difference in growth has been impressive. I’ve even got a pup growing on one of them. Just don’t do what I did yesterday and forget about them bobbing in the sink for hours. Luckily, the water drained away, and I haven’t seen any signs of rot yet. Still, I’m going to be watching them nervously till the end of the week.

[hundred-and-one-bettas]

So I used to highly recommend dirtied tanks because, you know, it’s fairly cheap to get some potting soil, boil it, toss it in the tank and cap it with some sand. But the problem is: you have to replace it every year. And what happens if you don’t replace it every year? This happens. The ones one the left are my tanks when the soil was full of nutrients, the ones on the right are what happened after the nutrients were depleted. I’d recommend you just stick to Flourite or Eco-Complete and don’t bother with dirtied tanks, they’re really nice while they last but unless you really feel like buying new soil and sand every year and boiling all the soil (which is a pain in the butt), it’s not worth it. Trust me.

[anabantoid]

Ha ha, yeah…I’ve gotta take down my dirted tank and replace the soil in it when I move and I’m forced to tear down ALL the tanks, which means for a bit my betta is gunna have to live in like a rubbermaid box with a seeded sponge filter while the ammonia levels even out from the dirt because I had a helluva time with the organic soil I used getting the cycle to finish. Bonus was I didn’t need to put anything in the tank to start a cycle, downside was it still took a while.

[plantanarchy]

Yeah this is also a good demonstration of why you should repot your houseplants every year or so.

Flourite doesn’t have any nutrients in it either though and you also have to replace Ecocomplete. Any substrate with added nutrients is going to be depleted over time, the benefit of Ecocomplete is just that it’s not messy and you don’t need to clean/boil it. You also can grow (some less high maintenance) plants in basically any quality soil if you use root tabs.

[anabantoid]

Yeah, any substrate geared towards plants has to be replaced on a regular basis. It’s an upkeep that a lot of people don’t wanna deal with because who honestly wants to take the three or four hours it can take to tear down, empty, and redo, an entire tank, meanwhile keeping your stock housed in a separate container the whole time? Not to mention if the tank has more than one fish, shrimp, or just a difficult to catch fish (pea puffers B( ).

[philosophicalfishtanks]

Im waaaaaay overdue for a substrate change on the 20 gallon and oh boy am I deading it…

[sans-vertigo-deactivated2018052]

Just add root tabs and fertilise. You need to do this at some point with all substrates and it’s much more efficient and cheaper than fully replacing substrates.

I’ve been re-using the same ADA aquasoil for two years (moving into three) and still get great growth by supplementing with root tabs. What matters to me is that the substrate has high CEC (takes a bit of explaining but do google if you’re really into planted tanks).

[hundred-and-one-bettas]

Do you use the seachem ones or API?

[sans-vertigo-deactivated2018052]

I use Osmocote water garden root tabs (broken up and used in smaller amounts), seachem flourish comprehensive liquid ferts and flora viv grow (nitrogen/nitrate source for heavy plants/few fish).

I’m probably going to switch to something cheaper for comprehensive soon though, I have heavy plant loads that require more fertilising as they grow. The thing about brands is, I’m not picky since each tank is different and how I fertilise is something I have to fine tune on a case-by-case basis.

[pond-dipping-blog]

I’ve just planted some stem plants and crypts - but I’ve cheated. The plants and soil are in a pyrex dish mounted on terracotta pot feet. I’m still waiting to see which are going to do well - it’s a very low tech set-up, and I lost some of the plants early on due to the high UK temperatures when I got them... The dish is raised off the gravel (and half-heartedly hidden by bog wood) to avoid risking a dead zone, but has the bonus of providing the shrimp with another hiding place. :D  Mainly, if I want to strip it down, I can just lift it out and sort it!

[houseplantjournal]

It’s nice to have time to do plant stuff like transplanting rooted cuttings. What’s on your house plant to do list? ~ ~ #houseplants #plantlove #foliage #indoorplants #plantlife #urbanjunglebloggers #plantsmakepeoplehappy #plantstagram #botanical #urbanjunglebloggers #houseplantclub #plantstyling #houseplantjournal #plants #gardening #leaf #propagationstation

[houseplantcentral]

Finally potting up my new Dendrobium cutting! It’s taken so long because I didn’t have a proper pot on hand.

[pond-dipping-blog]

When I woke up this morning I fully intended to just water my orchid from the fish tank water. I ended up: 1. Repotting my lithops (the sandy soil had got very compacted and I didn’t want to have to aerate it every time I watered.) 2. Checked out what was going on with the roots of a little cactus that had gone a bit squishy, to figure out if I’d overwatered it. The soil and roots were bone dry, so I’ve repotted it with more surface area so I can actually SEE how the soil is doing now. I have a love-hate thing with cacti. 3. Pilea cuttings! 4. Planted up tradescantia cuttings I’d been lazy about and left rooting in water longer than I should. 5. Repotted a little succulent and admired how good its roots were!

[whatthefuckwhoevenknows]

Hey so something’s wrong with my succulent and idk what.

When I was living in my dorm it was getting full sun in my windowsill from sunrise to probably 12:30-1 and then indirect sun/bright light till evening. When I moved back home I felt like it wasn’t getting enough light, so the last week or so I’ve been sticking it outside and bringing it back in at night or when it looked like rain. It’s been in the same pot and soil since around January, growing well, getting really tall, and I think I’ve been good about watering it appropriately. I wait until the leaves aren’t firm/feel kinda wilty for a day or two and then I water, which currently is about once a week or so.

A couple days ago I set it outside and have left it there since there’s been no rain in the forecast. I haven’t watered it recently (the roots are wet here because I was washing dirt off to get a better look), the leaves still feel firm and it hasn’t rained. It has been over 90°F every day but in the 70°s at night and a couple weird high 50° nights.

A few days ago I noticed those weird spots on the leaves in the first picture, almost like little bubbles had popped on them, but thought it was a result of too little sun. Today I came out and my succulent had fallen over, and when I looked I saw the base had shriveled up like this and couldn’t support its weight anymore. The shriveled part is hard and dry, not soft like the descriptions of rot I’ve read. It was in the soil up to where the first roots are, so I assume it’s been shriveling for a while and working its way up, though when I brought it outside just two or three days ago there was no sign of anything wrong at the base.

Does anyone know what’s happened here or what’s wrong? Is it something I could’ve prevented? How? Is there any way I can salvage this? I already have a baby I propagated from a leaf and if all I can do is take leaves and grow some more I will, but I’d really like to save this plant itself, it means a lot to me.

Thanks

[pond-dipping-blog]

It looks somewhat etiolated, even if it has been getting a lot of sun? That’s a very long stem! Unless it’s a Graptopetalum of some kind, which have more stem with a rosette at the end, rather than staying compact like the Echeverias. Given that the rosette does look compact, I think it could well be. Hopefully someone with more expertise can help you there! I’m by no means an expert, but if I were you I would chop off most of the stem. Leave the rosette and maybe an inch and a half to two inches of stem. Let it callous over for a couple of days, then pop it in a small pot of gritty, very well draining potting mix. Place it somewhere with indirect light, and don’t water it until it’s started growing new roots. It might absorb and drop a few of its leaves to get over the shock and dedicate to new root growth, but once it’s rooted you can move it back to a sunnier position. I’m actually doing this at the moment with an echeveria with a rotted base stem, and it seems to be recovering well. Most of my succulents live outdoors this time of year, rain and shine. Because the potting mixture is well-draining, and most of them are in porous terracotta pots, they cope with — even appreciate! — a good downpour. And I live in Britain! 

[whatthefuckwhoevenknows]

Thanks for the advice! I ended up cutting most of the stem and am trying to get it to reroot right now. I need to get a better potting mix too, although I think it would still do better indoors mostly - I live in Florida and currently we’re getting hours-long downpours every day. But it’s gotta put roots out before I do anything with it so whatev. Also I wish I knew what type of succulent it was but the place I got it from didn’t label it and I have a hard time identifying.

[pond-dipping-blog]

No problem! Do you know @cactusandrain? They get regular downpours and high humidity so might be able to make good suggestions on the potting mix front. I mix my own with coconut coir and perlite. I’d love to use pumice but it’s been aggravatingly hard to get hold of here. Many of the cacti/succulent growers here swear by a particular supermarket’s own brand of cat litter, once you rinse the fragrance out!

[whatthefuckwhoevenknows]

Hey so something’s wrong with my succulent and idk what.

When I was living in my dorm it was getting full sun in my windowsill from sunrise to probably 12:30-1 and then indirect sun/bright light till evening. When I moved back home I felt like it wasn’t getting enough light, so the last week or so I’ve been sticking it outside and bringing it back in at night or when it looked like rain. It’s been in the same pot and soil since around January, growing well, getting really tall, and I think I’ve been good about watering it appropriately. I wait until the leaves aren’t firm/feel kinda wilty for a day or two and then I water, which currently is about once a week or so.

A couple days ago I set it outside and have left it there since there’s been no rain in the forecast. I haven’t watered it recently (the roots are wet here because I was washing dirt off to get a better look), the leaves still feel firm and it hasn’t rained. It has been over 90°F every day but in the 70°s at night and a couple weird high 50° nights.

A few days ago I noticed those weird spots on the leaves in the first picture, almost like little bubbles had popped on them, but thought it was a result of too little sun. Today I came out and my succulent had fallen over, and when I looked I saw the base had shriveled up like this and couldn’t support its weight anymore. The shriveled part is hard and dry, not soft like the descriptions of rot I’ve read. It was in the soil up to where the first roots are, so I assume it’s been shriveling for a while and working its way up, though when I brought it outside just two or three days ago there was no sign of anything wrong at the base.

Does anyone know what’s happened here or what’s wrong? Is it something I could’ve prevented? How? Is there any way I can salvage this? I already have a baby I propagated from a leaf and if all I can do is take leaves and grow some more I will, but I’d really like to save this plant itself, it means a lot to me.

Thanks

[pond-dipping-blog]

It looks somewhat etiolated, even if it has been getting a lot of sun? That’s a very long stem! Unless it’s a Graptopetalum of some kind, which have more stem with a rosette at the end, rather than staying compact like the Echeverias. Given that the rosette does look compact, I think it could well be. Hopefully someone with more expertise can help you there! I’m by no means an expert, but if I were you I would chop off most of the stem. Leave the rosette and maybe an inch and a half to two inches of stem. Let it callous over for a couple of days, then pop it in a small pot of gritty, very well draining potting mix. Place it somewhere with indirect light, and don’t water it until it’s started growing new roots. It might absorb and drop a few of its leaves to get over the shock and dedicate to new root growth, but once it’s rooted you can move it back to a sunnier position. I’m actually doing this at the moment with an echeveria with a rotted base stem, and it seems to be recovering well. Most of my succulents live outdoors this time of year, rain and shine. Because the potting mixture is well-draining, and most of them are in porous terracotta pots, they cope with — even appreciate! — a good downpour. And I live in Britain! 

[cactusandrain]

String of Pearls cuttings I’m having trouble with rot.. there’s a bald spot in the middle of this pot cos the bit of plant that was there just melted into mush 💔

[pond-dipping-blog]

I’ve had issues with these in the past. They much preferred being outdoors in the sunshine and rain to inside on the windowsill (mine got mealy bugs), but then UK climate is very different to Singapore climate! 

[pond-dipping-blog]

I know it’s not St Cedd’s, but is anyone else hoping for a revisit of Shada and the great Mind Criminal in this series of Doctor Who? That was my immediate thought when I learned the Doctor was hiding out at a University!

[floralls]

[brushstrokesandshutterclicks]

Just lovely!

[thecookiecupboard]

Aesthetic : lying in meadows just like these, with the humming of bees above, and the drowsy, sun-warmed earth beneath.

[pond-dipping-blog]

With the centipedes and the spiders and the slugs!

[iantojonesthebetta]

catchingpassion-xx replied to your post: Hello! I’ve recently set up my 5 gallon to cycle…

Okay, thank you!! I think I’ll get some IAL just because I’ve seen that most betta enjoy them :) Do you have a particular brand/distributor that you recommend? And I’ll just have to test the pH levels of the water that the betta comes in to make sure to acclimate properly. c:

No problem!

I’ve gotten mine from random sellers. It’d depend on where you are? I got it from Bettawan in Canada and AquaEssentials in the UK.

With new bettas, I always take an average of an hour and a half to acclimate for the very first time–even with bettas obtained locally. I’ve done two hours for imports. It never hurts to be extra cautious.

[pond-dipping-blog]

I got my IAL from Amy-lim on Ebay - she and her family in Singapore collect the leaves and prepare them. She also sells Tantora branded products. She came highly recommended by hobbyists on an aquarium forum I used to visit (I can’t remember which one now!) and I got a big bag of Grade C (not the prettiest, but that doesn’t matter when the Amano shrimp nibble holes in them anyway!) leaves that I’m still using. 

[hirohamada]

What keeps my heart awake is colorful silence. Claude Monet

[symphony-in-silver]

Dylan is a man with diagnosed mental health problems and every time he has a crisis people just stare and point at him then let him wander off to his own devices. And they’re mostly trained medical professionals. It’s a great team.

[dervlathedog-deactivated2018083]

Agreed. They take it in turns to say ‘do you think he’s all right?’ whilst doing sod all actually to help

[pond-dipping-blog]

That’s the hardest part. Even if his OCD hasn’t flared up/he’s not in crisis yet, this is a Stressful Life Event that could leave him vulnerable. Okay, so, he’s not the most sociable person and the strongest links in his support network (Zoe and Lofty!) aren’t around at the moment, but he’s surrounded by people who should know better.  I really hope Elle asks him for his account of the photograph soon. I imagine Dylan was so flabbergasted suspecting it was Seb who emailed it to her, that he’d use that moment in the aftermath of a patient death to further his agenda, he couldn’t think clearly. I can see how, being publicly humiliated when confronted by Dylan, Seb dug his heels in. But, as ever, the more entrenched the lie gets the harsher the consequences for it will be. And I expect the truth will out.