This Week In Houseplants

Thrips are winning the battle but they will not win the war

One of the main reasons I always seem to have at least one or two thrips on my plants is that I don’t seem to be able to consistently treat them for as long as is necessary.

This is the story of my life.

I love planning to do stuff - new hobbies, skills, businesses - but I’m not so great at actually doing the thing. And if I do get as far as doing the thing, it’ll likely be a one time thing.

This is more about habit forming than plants, so here’s a picture of the giant new leaf on my Philodendron Gloriosum:

The photo is really not showing how much bigger the new one (on the left) is

I am not good at consistency, much to my detriment.

I’m 39 years old, and still congratulate myself on getting into the habit of flossing.

I have dozens of half written novels (by which I mean I’ve written the whole thing, I just haven’t bothered to make it, you know, good), several half-finished craft projects, and a practically endless ‘watch later’ YouTube playlist full of instructional content for hobbies I *might* return to when my brain decides it’s time.

I’m not good with consistency because my brain gets bored and convinces me that whatever is currently in hand won’t work, and we should abandon it for something more fun that 100% WILL work, and will probably make us a millionaire by the end of 2025. My brain is nothing if not an optimist, but MAN it will not put in the work.

We’ll relate this to plants now:

I have used my new bug spray TWICE and my brain has already begun whispering that it won’t work. Throw all your plants out and start again. That would be fun, wouldn’t it? Buying new plants. We LOVE doing that. We do NOT like spraying plants. Tis dull, and more effort than we really like to put in. Also, if you don’t move the plants, which you don’t want to do, the carpet will get wet.

Luckily, I’ve been aware for a very long time that my brain is wrong. Is it annoying when a thrips appears, alive and will, reinforcing what Brainy said? Yes, but that’s because pest eradication simply cannot happen in a week. If it could, pests would have gone extinct long ago.

So what to do?

Well.

This year I made a resolution to be consistent with Pinterest. Post four pins everyday.

I’ve stuck to it, and gotten into a pretty sweet routine with it.

The key for me is establish the habit without thinking AT ALL about the consequences. The reward in its entirety is the peace of mind of having done what I set out to do.

I once saw something on Instagram on how you should always keep promises you make to yourself because when you don’t you teach your brain not to trust itself. It really panicked me for a minute , until I realised that my brain doesn’t care if I break promises to it as long I give it regular hits of that sweet, sweet dopamine (which I can achieve with an early night and an audiobook, because I’m old).

Anyway, next year, when posting to Pinterest is second nature and a normal part of my evening routine, I can begin analysing what works and what doesn't and add a bit of strategy. This year, I’m focusing only on the outputs (though my traffic is slowly increasing, which is nice).

How am I linking pest care to this?

It’s going to be my new habit. Twice a week I will be spraying my plants down with horticultural soap, spray orchid feed, or just water regardless of whether I see any pests.

Who cares if the thrips remain? They’re not a part of this. If I focus on them I’ll get in my head and end up quitting.

I haven’t got the actual routine sorted out yet - I like to keep things quite flexible in the beginning so I can work out what works best. It took me ages to get into a rhythm with Pinterest because I had to keep changing my planning spreadsheet.

I LOVE a spreadsheet. I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it here but I NEED to get a plant one started. I need a way of keeping a record of which plants I bought when and I feel like there’s other things I should track - maybe how often I get a new leaf? How often I repot?

Leave me ideas below - I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Have a great week!