Plant Diaries #2 – Another one bites the dust :(

Read previous Plant Diary entry here

Updating the progress or.. er.. “regress” in the plants I have in my home.

Pothos / Money Plant (in water)

So far, all my Pothos seem to be doing ok. Pothos 1 has been doing the best I think and has grown the most. Pothos 2 is not really growing as well and I’ve had to cut off one leaf that was yellowing. Pothos 3 is slowly getting nicer after I cleaned it out a bit and changed the water. I also now make sure they all get bright filtered sunlight, trying to encourage more variegation in the leaves. I also occasionally will give the leaves a shower in the sink to remove any dust.

I’ve been reading online that it’s not that great to leave pothos in water for long term as they don’t get the nutrients they need. My aunt has hers in water for many years and it’s doing well. But I’m also planning to experiment a bit by propagating some of my pothos to a soil medium and see if I can keep it alive.

Snake Plant / Mother-in-law’s Tongue ( Sansevieria trifasciata)

My snake plants have been doing ok so far. Only drama was that I had to cut off some leaves due to what looked like fungus spots. I cut off about 3 leaves and since then it’s been doing ok. I’m only watering once every 2 weeks now and when I water them I leave them outside on my balcony for some indirect sunlight.

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Spider Plant

FML I just can’t figure Spider Plants out… The leaves turn yellow when I water… and when I don’t water… so it’s dead now. RIP. :/ I tried so hard to keep them alive but they just keep going yellow and eventually I had to admit defeat and say goodbye. My mom gave me a few more pups which I’ve planted in a small container for now… if they survive I’ll get a small terracotta pot for them. Was thinking maybe the pot was too big previously? Not very good drainage? I don’t know, we shall see if the pups survive. If they don’t, then.. well.. thank you. next.

Ajuga Mona Lavender ( Plectranthus )

Oh dear Lord… this mona lavendar gave me the biggest headache. It just kept dropping leaves and drying out at the tips and flowers would just die before blooming. And as it got worse, I took it outside to try and figure out what was wrong… only to discover white fuzz all over the plant stems and under the leaves. Which after a quick google search of “what are this white fuzzy things on my plant?” led me to discover the horror that is the mealybug. OMG. A freaking mealybug infestation.

They were EVERYWHERE, every nook and cranny they got stuff their little white fuzzy bodies into. I ended up cutting off loads of stems that were really badly infested and had their life sucked out by the bugs. And then proceeded to use an alcohol based hand sanitizing spray to kill and pick off the bugs. I’ve been doing this every day and checking the plant every day. So far, I only see 1 or 2 small ones now. Also as a result of over watering (thanks Mr. Plant Nursery guy who told me to water every day) there was root rot in some of the stems which I couldn’t save and had to throw out. Also learned that the leaves will droop and be “wet” or “squishy” to the touch when over watered, so I use that as a gauge to see if I’m over watering.

The plant looks so sad now… I’m hoping it will recover and be bushy again. 🙁 There are new branches so I have some hope. Send thoughts and prayers.

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At this point I’m really tempted to get some succulents, they seem more fuss free, but I also recall killing 3 of them in my office… oops. I’ve been binge watching videos about plant care lately and I feel like I would be able to do a better job this time (famous last words? :p). Aside from succulents, I’m thinking my current house plant wish list are: ZZ Plant ( Zamioculcas zamiifolia) & Hibiscus (our national flower) for my balcony. My mom is propagating an aloe vera and a pandan plant (screwpine) for me as well which should do well on my balcony.

♥