The Growing Spirit

Sharing the growth of my indoor jungle. Blogging my plant journey since the beginning.

[thegrowingspirit]

Pilea Peperomioides Growth

Pilea Peperomioides is a unique plant that has round leaves that grow from the center of the main stem and outward. It has several nicknames because of the shape of its leaves; Chinese money plant, UFO plant, friendship plant, missionary plant, and pancake plant. All creative names based off of the leaf structure and how easy it is to propagate.

I bought mine as a baby because I wasn’t sure how to take care of it. I love starting off with baby plants so that I can watch them grow and learn how to make them thrive.

When I first got my pilea I actually had it in a terracotta pot and honestly, I couldn’t believe how fast it was growing. It would put out a new leaf after another, just amazing growth. I don’t know what made me change it into a ceramic pot (shown above) I guess I just wanted to keep it thriving? When it already was. I’m annoyed that I did that.

Lesson I learned here: don’t try to fix what ain’t broken!

(It’s happiest previous home below)

I thought maybe the ceramic pot was too constricting and if it was going to have babies eventually, I was going to have a super hard time getting it out of the concave ceramic pot without damaging the roots. So.. I repotted it again (sigh). Now it lives in this plastic pot below. I can tell by the way the new leaves curl that it isn’t living it’s best life but it’s still slowly grown but not like before in terracotta. I may repot it again at the end of summer just because it’s been a lot for it so far. 😓

This just shows how indecisive I am…

Terracotta pot is the best for this plant aside from its water needs, light and fertilizing. The pot is important !

Happy growing!

[thegrowingspirit]

Alocasia Amazonica Polly

My first Alocasia is this beautiful Amazonica Polly. I have learned so much about this plant that it has become one of my favorite genus.

When I first repotted this plant, I found what I thought were small stones in the roots. After researching, I found out that this plant produces its own little bulbs that later become babies of the mother alocasia.

I found 6 of these bulbs (also called corms) in the roots so I decided to challenge myself and learn how to grow them. I was super excited to learn how and if I’m successful, I can eventually propagate more of them and make a profit.

I will post a specific post with details and instructions on how I am growing them and how it’s going!

[thegrowingspirit]

Philodendron Birkin

This stunning beauty captured me when I saw it at @seattleplantdaddy ‘s store. It’s glorious leaves are striped with more and more white as they grow. I keep it next to my East facing window that gets very filtered light and very little light morning sunlight as I live next to an apartment complex that blocks a lot of direct sunlight from coming through.

I acclimated her into my home in her nursery pot for about two weeks and then I transferred her into a very airy airoid soil mix in a glazed cement pot. She lived in the same East facing window and hasn’t given me any abnormal yellowing of leaves. She is fed liquid fertilizer about every two weeks and like my other plants, only gets filtered water. She’s also closer to a humidifier but I don’t think it would make a huge difference if I didn’t have the humidifier. Her soil is never fully dry but I do wait until my water meter says she’s on the lower moist side to water.

I think it’s safe to say she loves her home and loves how I care for her because every week I see new growth and new striking leaves emerging.

Easy to care for and absolutely beautiful ❤️🌱

[thegrowingspirit]

This was a problem I came about having when I used to use cut up banana peels and soak them in the water I would give my plants so that they could benefit from the nutrients. At the time, I wasn’t using charcoal in my soil mix, not that this wouldn’t have happened if I had charcoal in the mix (I think?). I’m not saying charcoal is the solution, I’m just noting what was in my soil and what I had in it.

Aside from my soil mix, I’m going to just say that banana peel water just created so much fungus and mold for me. I also think that I was over watering my plants, hence the mass growth of mold in like a day.

I now use a water meter to check when I need to water literally ALL of my plants and I do not use banana water or any other type of “compost” mixture I make myself. I use worm castings and liquid fertilizer and my plants and soil look better and healthier.

I struggled with this for a long time so I just wanted to make a post about how I defeated this mold.

Just… Gross.

(& so many fungus gnats)

[thegrowingspirit]

Pothos N Joy

You can’t go wrong with a pothos, they’re the one of the easier plants to care for and super easy to propagate.

I got this one as a birthday present from my boyfriend. One of my very first variegated pothos. I love the diverse splash of white, and shades of green on the leaves.

I’m propagating this by sniping off some of the longer stems with nodes on each cutting, then submerging the nodes into water for them to root in.

Updates to come!

[thegrowingspirit]

Sedum Tetractinum Care Tips

“Coral Reef”

[thegrowingspirit]

Ficus Pumila

Growth Update & My Care Tips

[thegrowingspirit]

English Ivy Care & First DIY Totem Pole

I wanted to experiment with vining plants, so I choose an English Ivy because I know it’s known for its invasive growth and I like to see quick results lol

For the totem pole, I used New Zealand sphagnum moss, long bread ties, and a plant support stick. When I was making it, I didn’t think about how much water it would take to keep the sphagnum moss moist, so I actually have to keep it watering it almost everyday, especially because it lives outside and it’s summer time.

But here is is, I wrapped the moss around the stick and secured it with bread ties. I also used the bread ties to secure the Ivy vines onto it. I love the way it looks even though I have to water the moss at least every other day.

Next is an update since I made it on June 7th. A month later, I’ve only had to adjust the ties once to secure the new growth.

Today is July 12th 2021 and look at it’s all around growth..

We’re gonna need a bigger pole 😅🌿

[thegrowingspirit]

I’ve always wanted a big monstera but they’re so expensive when you buy them big. I want to grow my own large monstera from a baby, the cutting my friend gave me has some issues that I’m working on healing but I wanted to start fresh with one that had more leaves and more of a chance.

My mom bought me this one for my birthday.

This is about a month later, taller and new growth!

[thegrowingspirit]

My first plant set up. I bought this shelf from Amazon for around 40-50 bucks. Looking back, it didn’t feel like a lot but now seeing how I use it and how well my plants fit on it, it was a bit expensive for its purpose.

Regardless, it adds character to my home and I can still place many small to medium sized plants on it.

This space looks completely different today but I wanted to post what I started with to later compare.

Below is my Bentley posing next to my newest plants. ❤️🌿🌱

[thegrowingspirit]

Dieffenbachia- Dumb Cane Propagation

I wish I had pictures of how the roots looked from the outside (looking in) when I put them in here, I started this plant revival project before I started this blog so that’s why I don’t. But basically, my last post shows the water roots it grew that went into this sphagnum moss set up.

I don’t know why I’m so obsessed with trying to save this plant. A dieffenbachia this size costs like 5 dollars. (🙄 at me).

But I guess I’m determined because this is one of my first two plants I’ve ever owned.

It’s a slow grower and was annoying but only because I didn't know what I was doing wrong. It’s been teaching me patience and how to tolerate a slow growing plant that isn’t pretty to look at.

Bottom line: I’m in it too deep to give up. I have yet to see any YouTube videos on this long process (I get why now) BUT.. I’m determined to bring it back!

Will post new pics of how it’s doing now soon.

(this transfer after water rooting happened at least two months ago before 5/22/21 for future reference)

[thegrowingspirit]

A sad picture of my sad dieffenbachia. It got super leggy at first then, it got worse when I took advice to repot it in a bigger pot to “grow the roots out” (in this massive and deep pot with tiny roots). Nearly killed it because of root rot  and this is also how my monstera cutting almost died as well. I put my tiny rooted monstera cutting in this same pot and it started dying. Wrong soil and too big of a pot for the roots.

Two huge lessons learned here.

One. Don’t think that every piece of advice you get is correct. Do your own research.

Two. Don’t over pot your plants when they have tiny roots! Let them grow out their roots in a small pot. Letting them get root bound is the best way to make sure you aren't going to get root rot and give them the best chance to grow bigger. 

And now that I think about it, that soil mix was miracle grow, gross, no wonder I had tons of gnats.

[insert picture I thought I had]

Thought I had pictures of the cutting process and progress of propagation in water.. 😕 swear I remember taking some.

Anyway, here’s it is after I cut it, propagated it in water for about 2.5 months or so.

They look weak and fragile.

It took forever to get to this point. But I’m stubborn and haven't given up. 

I transferred these cuttings to New Zealand Sphagnum moss after this..

Amazing updates coming soon! 

[thegrowingspirit]

When I first grouped my small starter collection in the same space!

Look at all that space!

Its crazy how fast my collection and knowledge of houseplants has grown since.

[thegrowingspirit]

My struggle with Calatheas

Let me introduce my calathea peacock, this healthier photo is how she looked when I got her.

The other is how it went..

I don't have a picture of her crispy, brown edges (cause why would I before starting this blog), but you can see in the background the yellow brownish edges.. 

I again, blindly bought a calathea without knowing they need TONS of humidity. I thought keeping her in my kitchen would be enough humidity but obvi it wasn’t. Crispy edges proved me wrong, I clipped the dying ones off and added a humidifier to my plant space. She sits right underneath it now.

Currently, she’s slowly reviving the slow death and she is now putting out new leaves! Slowly.. but surely!

I marked them on the pic to point them out.

Update soon to come! 

[thegrowingspirit]

My Queen beauty Anthurium ❤️ very first one, she’s huge now.

Update coming soon!

[thegrowingspirit]

The calathea medallion. It was my very calathea and I quickly learned I cant just blindly buy every plant. This one crisped up on me real quick and I didn't know why. I do now though, any calathea needs indirect light and high humidity. If your plant space doesn’t have high humidity, you may struggle with these as they are very finicky.

Every plant has a lesson to be learned. Not everything is easy to care for and not every plant is the same. Just like people. 

Some need more care than others, some are more sensitive than others. 

You have your easy maintenance plants and high maintenance plants. 

Just learn and adapt. 

[thegrowingspirit]

The coffee plant.

Why did I buy a coffee plant?

This one I still have, it’s grown a little.. shiny leaves but I get crispy edges. I didn’t know what to expect.

It is what it is I guess? 

Planning on giving it away to a dear friend.