Damn. Nothing motivates me to do something like a challenge (I always insisted I am not competitive but have recently found out this is a lie). But alas, I gave up on my thrip infested monstera adansonii just. last. week. so zero accountability from me. She now lives in The Wasteland where I am sure she will go on to root in a pile of rubbish and put out the best leaves of her life (still with thrips though, I bet). Hoping the cuttings I took will root and I am eyeballing them constantly for signs of bugs. I am very interested in your endeavours though and will keep reading your updates about how they are improving, if that helps!
Can I ask what subreddit that conversation happened on? I am new to the platform and there are SO many about plants that I got overwhelmed and didn't join any... But I would really like to, especially ones where people don't take themselves or their plants too seriously.
I think it was just r/houseplants? I find the houseplant community on Reddit incredibly snarky so I don’t post for fear of being bullied 😂 woe betide anyone with an etiolated succulent! Most people are lovely but the meanies are LOUD.
I don’t blame you for condemning plants to The Wasteland. I have a similar area where I have a thriving community of both thrips and spider mites living in harmony on what we’re once my fiddle leaf fig, croton and something unidentifiable (I think a syngonium trileaf wonder). If my Hoya linearis doesn’t buck her ideas up I’ll be adding some mealybugs to the mix too.
I’m about three days into the Great Blue Sticky Trap Experiment of 2025 and I have caught ZERO thrips. I’ve put out dozens of traps - you’d think I’d have caught at least ONE if only by accident, but alas not 😭😭😭
Damn. Nothing motivates me to do something like a challenge (I always insisted I am not competitive but have recently found out this is a lie). But alas, I gave up on my thrip infested monstera adansonii just. last. week. so zero accountability from me. She now lives in The Wasteland where I am sure she will go on to root in a pile of rubbish and put out the best leaves of her life (still with thrips though, I bet). Hoping the cuttings I took will root and I am eyeballing them constantly for signs of bugs. I am very interested in your endeavours though and will keep reading your updates about how they are improving, if that helps!
Can I ask what subreddit that conversation happened on? I am new to the platform and there are SO many about plants that I got overwhelmed and didn't join any... But I would really like to, especially ones where people don't take themselves or their plants too seriously.
I think it was just r/houseplants? I find the houseplant community on Reddit incredibly snarky so I don’t post for fear of being bullied 😂 woe betide anyone with an etiolated succulent! Most people are lovely but the meanies are LOUD.
I don’t blame you for condemning plants to The Wasteland. I have a similar area where I have a thriving community of both thrips and spider mites living in harmony on what we’re once my fiddle leaf fig, croton and something unidentifiable (I think a syngonium trileaf wonder). If my Hoya linearis doesn’t buck her ideas up I’ll be adding some mealybugs to the mix too.
I’m about three days into the Great Blue Sticky Trap Experiment of 2025 and I have caught ZERO thrips. I’ve put out dozens of traps - you’d think I’d have caught at least ONE if only by accident, but alas not 😭😭😭
Hold strong! Thrips are tiny so maybe it's a very long journey for them to the traps 😅