Plants

[thing]

I'm about to kill my third plant in 6 months. This one is a palm -- 3" pot, I've been trying to avoid overwatering because the little plastic instruction tab said not to; gave it a plant food spike a couple of weeks ago... It sits in my south-facing window, getting as much natural light as it can. What to do?

I've never tried to keep a houseplant before. When the first one died, one of my officemates said "overwatering". When the second one died, another officemate suggested not buying plants from KMart. What the problem is this time, I dunno.

Is there a "houseplants for dummies" book?

[Anonymous]

Here I come to save the day.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0764551027/qid=1001378428/sr=2-1/ref=sr_8_7_1/107-3039486-1666912

[Han Solo]

I have the perfect solution for you. It's one both my wife and I learned over years of trying and failing to keep houseplants alive.


Buy fake plants.

[Skippy]

Try a spathyphillum (spelling?), aka madonna lily. If you kill one of these, there truly is no hope for you!

[Guero]

I have a Snake Plant and a Spider Plant. They both can survive just about anywhere with minimal watering. I water them about every other day if I remember. I have gone a week without watering them and they are still alive.

[Not So Typical]

Spider plants are extremely hard to kill. I once left one on my balcony during a freeze. Couldn't bother bringing a pot full of dirt back in afterward, so it stayed out all winter. My mother suggested watering it in the spring, and since water's cheap, I followed her advice. The plant actually came back to life! That was Atlanta, and the winters aren't particularly cold, but it sure shows just how strongly those suckers cling to life! By the way, I never water mine more than once a week.

[thing]

Superman! My hero!

Thanks for the suggestions, all. The palm continues to look alive, barely. Maybe I'll try a spider plant next... Or a cactus. Hard to underwater a cactus...

[Anonymous]

Chinese Jade plant...does not need a lot of water. It also looks nice when it gets bigger.

[thing]

Update:

I went with the Spider Plant next. A co-worker had one with a "baby", that I set in water until ready to plant. It's done very well, and I've given away a baby from mine since then, too.

Then came the Snake Plant and the avocado. The Snake has been subdivided, and is doing very well. The avocado won't branch, no matter what I try.

There's also a Jade and a Devil's Ivy, both grown from cuttings. The Jade was liberated from the mother plant at a local bagel shop. Sadly, it seems to be struggling. The Ivy started as a single leaf, taken with permission from another co-worker's.

I do have a couple of dead plants in my office as well: a failed experiment in transplanting and one that just withered and died (it always seemed to attract bugs, no clue why). I think the trick is to have enough plants that even if one or two don't do well, you still appear to have a green thumb.

[Wigmeister General]

May we change your name to "Black Thumb"?

[s.ung's Cali Popemobile]

http://qfg.info/images/robert%20plant06x.jpg