reposition

I've moved a few plants around, in the house. Some of them got temporarily moved out of a room that was having work done (so they didn't get coated in plaster dust) and then I simply liked their new location better, so left them there. My six-year-old avocado plant is now near the fireplace:

This pothos in a soda-bottle SIP is on top of a living room shelf. It gets pretty much ignored, but is doing fairly well after all this time.

And the dracaena marginata is in the basement, near the sliding door. I never yet do right by this plant. I've read it should be treated 'like a dragon in a cave' - low light, infrequent watering. So I placed it where there is only indirect light, in an out-of-the-way room where it won't get my excess attention. I've reduced its watering to once every three weeks. Upper foliage is looking nice and straight, but it is dropping lower leaves that go yellow at a rapid rate. I don't know if it is readjusting and going to recover, or if it is dying.

Even if it did improve and keep growing, it would soon hit the ceiling. And I have not read of people having much success cutting back a dracaena like this to keep it going at shorter height. So not sure if I will keep it once it gets too tall.

potted up

These are the plants I moved into regular pots. Most of them were moving out of SIPs, the two African violets in the front needed to get divided. I'm done using SIP planters simply for the fact that I want to feed my plants the vermicompost! And top-dressing won't really work if the plants are wicking water from below; the nutrients won't get washed down through the soil (I've already seen this happening with my regularly potted plants; when I water them the extra that flushes out drain holes is a rich golden brown color, not clear- worm tea!). I guess I could remove them from the planters, mix up new soil with the worm compost, and replace. But that seems like too much work and stress on the plants, even if it's only once or twice a year. So into new pots they go.

I didn't have enough medium-sized pots, so cut the tops off a few large ones, removed a strip, cut the rim in half, slotted it back together. This really isn't one of my best ideas, it doesn't hold together and if you forget and pick up the pot by the rim not the bottom, it comes apart again (I did that once, luckily it was with an outside plant so the soil mess not too bad to clean up, and the plant didn't get damaged, but it was hard to fit back together with the plant in there). I guess I could hold it together with staples next time. Or just pony up and go buy more pots. For some reason I have lots of little two- and four-inch ones, and lots of larger gallon size, but nothing in between.

I have some concern that I might kill the plants with kindness- some vermicompost or worm castings can be very strong and you can't give them too much. I don't think my product is as finely processed by the worm to be called castings; it still has bits of roughage in it. So for the most part I mixed things by thirds: one third the old potting soil a plant came out of, one third new commercial mix (on the lower right) and one third my vermicompost (lower left).

I'm still putting broken shards in the bottom of my pots for drainage. Year before last I had quite a few pots on the balcony without shards and found when I upended them that the ones with shards had done far better- the ones without had soggy, rotting bottoms. Garlics, in particular, suffered from this omission.

I have too many African Violets, now. I'd give some away, but none of the children have started flowering yet, so they're not as attractive. I do love their reddish-pink stems and soft leaves though.

Dividing:

This one I had to cut the stem in half. The part that ended up without roots has been a bit sad ever since, but if a leaf petiole alone can root into a new plant, surely the stem can as well?

I removed lower (yellowing anyways) leaves so it doesn't have as much stress on the plant while growing new roots (no roots = can't support a ton of leaves)

This Violet came out of an SIP, the root mass and soil held funny shape of the bottle end when I first took it out.

I am happy how well this Spider Plant has grown. You can see the roots all growing through the plastic sides.

They like to be a bit crowded I've learned, so it did not move into a much bigger container.

Its long leaves trail down so much I set it up on a pedestal (drinking glass) so they don't get damaged.

Lately I've been wondering about my Cyclamen. No spicy pink flowers yet, foliage has been growing but very slowly. I remember in past years it always bloomed in spring. I've noticed the seasonal markers outside- blinking fireflies, buzzing of cicadas, now the stifling summer heat- shouldn't there have been nutmeg- scented flowers by now?

It was only after looking at the above photo I realized some of the leaves have that dreaded curl again. Inspected it for mites, but no sign of them. Not sure why it looks unhappy. Maybe it will do better in a pot again? I hope so.

The one plant I regretting moving out of its SIP was my Pothos. This sturdy uncomplaning plant has done wonderful, even set up on top of a bookshelf on the farthest wall from the window. Nothing else will thrive there so far from the light (except the Sansevieria).

It still surprises me to see how quickly the Coleus cuttings make new roots:

Last to get shuffled was the Arrowhead. This one was a bit droopy after its transplant; I propped up the stems a little.

The only plant not pictured is the miniature Geranium. For some reason I didn't bother to photograph that one. My kid joined me at the table, she gave her plants some top-dressing and repotted a few. She has a small cactus, a geranium and baby spider plant, one african violet and a few jades (crassula)- all offspring of my own plants except the cactus. Here she's showing off the roots her jade cutting grew.

seedling front

Snow drifts down outside and I do silly things like pot up seedlings. Too early still, but as long as they live I will keep these going. I have remaining from the first foolish sowing a bunch of vigorous Pea plants

a handful of young Dill

three Broccoli

a few of the tiniest Celery seedlings

and dozens of Lettuce. I forgot to mark the trays, so I don't know which are what variety of Lettuce.

Yesterday I moved the Broccoli and Lettuce seedlings out of their trays. As usual, I put them into cardboard toilet-paper rolls. Stuffed each with soil through cupped hands, made a hole down the center with an old chopstick

Gently wedge the biggest seedlings out with an old butter knife

Always careful to lift the baby plants by their leaves, as the stems and roots are too delicate.

Lower them into the individual cardpot holes, then firm in with fingertip. Bury their leggy stems entire.

Add a bit more soil on top to fill it up.

This time I also took the trouble to clean out the trays the cardpots sit in with a vacuum nozzle- I always spill soil down there and don't like how it looks dirty. Plus, I plan to water these from the bottom, and don't want it a muddy mess. You can also see here how they're secured with a rubber band around each group of cardpots- sometimes when I go to move the trays they can tip, top-heavy; this makes them steady.

The first time you always have to water from above, to settle the plants in. After the first watering, I'll just add water into the tray below. I've been doing sub-irrigated watering with the Peas...

I don't know if you can tell, but these seedlings are sitting in the plastic container a stick of shortening came in. They're exactly the right size for three cardpots, and fit nicely on even narrow windowsills. It's the only reason I buy shortening in those premeasured sticks, it's cheaper in the bigger tubs but I like these trays for cardpots. (I don't cook a lot with lard, it's mostly for the occasional pie crust).

I now have three Broccoli and nineteen Lettuce seedlings in cardpots.

They're all nestled into the plastic "greenhouse" box with the other young plants, so they can go outside during the day for winter sun.

It was nice to actually get my hands dirty!