🪴This Week In Houseplants🪴
Why buy a dehumidifier when you have a peace lily right there?
Welcome! I’d love to start off this week’s newsletter with some growth updates, but alas, it’s November and there aren’t many. My Amydrium medium silver has randomly produced a new leaf. I’m not quite sure why it chose to grow runners all summer and a leave now, but hey, that’s none of my business.
The other change in my plant collection is a bizarre aphid infestation on my Philodendron gloriosum. They haven’t spread any further, despite my plants all being in close proximity to one another. I’m not complaining, it’s just a bit weird.
Oh, and my schefflera is still growing. It goes through stages of growth that don’t fit any kind of pattern, but if it’s happy, I’m happy.
Video of the week
I haven’t watched any Planterina content in a while. I love her, but I can’t help thinking she has a secret to grow massive plants that she’s refusing to tell us. Her plants are INCREDIBLE yet whenever she does watering videos she gives the impression she neglects them a lot. WHAT’S SHE NOT TELLING US??
I do love her houseplant tours though. She gives the impression that she really loves her plants rather than just collecting for collecting’s sake so she has huge specimens that are pretty unique.
One of the first videos of here’s that I watched showed her truly monstrous Monstera. The combination of her plant care and eye for home decor makes me yearn to live in her house.
Next year’s project
I know, I know, I’m getting a bit ahead of myself, but look:
How cool does that look? I already have a Schefflera, duckweed and a maidenhair fern too - I just need some lava rock and a clue on how to set this up.
Anyone got any thoughts? I’m hoping that the moss wicks up water from the tray so there’s no complicated watering procedure. It says easy care on the board (top right) but my definition of easy care is not necessarily the same as someone else’s.
I saw someone in a Facebook group claiming they neglected their Monstera because they only watered it every couple of weeks. That’s pretty much my standard care routine. Oops.
Another thing I’ve seen is SUPER marbled Philodendron Pink Princess going for rock bottom prices. These were like £5.99 - obvs just tiny babies.
I’m guessing some tissue guru lab tech really hit the jackpot, hence them popping up everywhere.
Meanwhile, mine produces the odd sliver of pink on its leaves IF the leaf manages to unfurl without ripping. You can really tell this plant has never had to live in the wild.
New articles
The peace lily information continues:
I’d love to know why peace lilies only flower when they’re feeling chill and happy. Snake plants, for example, only flower when they’re a bit stressed - usually light or root stress - but stressed peace lilies just wilt and look pathetic.
New video
I fully intended to film a video on watering peace lilies (that’s next week) but has anyone noticed that their Google Discover feed is FULL of dramatic claims about damp and houseplants?
Humidity levels go up when you’ve just watered - it’s one of the reasons I’ve switched over to pressure in winter but houseplants don’t dramatically impact humidity levels unless you have a tonne.
The weirdest claim is that a single peace lily can reduce condensation in your home. No, it can’t! At least, not in a significant way.
Peace lilies are more likely to increase humidity because they like to have damp soil.
I’m pretty sure that combining their wet soil and ability to absorb moisture results in a neutral outcome - they neither increase or decrease humidity in a significant way.
Becoming an entrepreneur (or not)
I was watching a podcast with Daniel Priestley (he’s an Australian entrepreneur) and he said that the best way to become an entrepreneur is to find an audience, find out what their pain points are, and solve them.
However, in the houseplant world, we all have largely the same pain points. There are apps that can try to help us, but realistically, the best way to address our pain points is to get a load of money and pay someone else to do our plant care when we can’t be bothered.
OR get a load of money, retire, and spend our days surrounded by and caring for our plants.
Here are some of the things I’d invent if I could:
Soil that changes colour when it needs watering
A tiny drone that hoovers up pests and dust. Like a flying Roomba
Pots that grow with your plant. Like, they unfold or something - I don’t want them to actually grow. Like those collapsible dog bowls.
A peace lily that ACTUALLY absorbed a tonne of water.
Anyone got any more ideas? We could go on Dragon’s Den/ Shark Tank! Bonus points if, unlike mine, they’re within the realms of possibility. Although I’m sure an expanding plant pot could be a thing.
This week’s poll
If you have any really specific things that you just can’t get your head around, leave me a comment (or reply to this email if you’d prefer to stay anonymous). I find things like this super helpful because I have a terrible habit of assuming that we all struggle with the same things.
For example, I’m pretty good at knowing when my plants need more (or less) light, but I’m TERRIBLE for noticing pests but doing nothing about it because it’s too overwhelming. Why nip a problem in the bud when it can cause you massive issues later?
Have an awesome week, I’ll see you next Friday. Apologies for any lost emojis in this email - I keep adding them, they don’t populate so I move on, and then they randomly appear three lines later.
Caroline
OMG, I love your ideas for inventions. I would LOVE soil that tells me when it should be watered -- it is SUPER hard to know for some plants, when they are supposed to be watered if they are supposed to mostly dry out.