@Afton
To flush the soil, simply pour in water 5x the volume of the pot and let it all drain out. You have now effectively pushed the reset button and need to fertilize.
2 months without growth is weird considering we are just past the time of most vigorous growth. As long as your fiddle leaf doesn’t drop leaves and they don’t discolor or warp, I think you should be fine. No growth could be a sign of root congestion. If that is the case, you’ll need to repot.
@Afton
I believe the growth cycle is determined by the length of daytime rather than temperature. Is the fiddle leaf in bright light? Also, fiddle leaves never really go into dormancy.
@Afton
Huh weird. As I said, check the roots, make sure they are healthy and have room to grow.
@Afton
That’s not true; there isn’t one houseplant in the world that likes to be root bound. This is a very popular myth. The fiddle leaf fig especially does not like tight spaces. Please do a repot if the roots are already circling around.
Jory said:
You just made my day with this.
!RemindMe when I’m rich, buy this guy some gold.
Thank you so much for the last little bit about cutting the fiddle leaf! I bought one months ago and did a bunch of research about how to care for it, and thankfully it has grown a LOT! I was wondering how people end up with a thick stalk on shorter plants and now I know. It’s time for me to do some chopping.
@Nova
Do it soon! We are just past peak growth (in the northern hemisphere). If you’re lucky, you’ll get 3 branches. Make sure the plant gets lots of light.
Chop 1-2cm above a leaf. You can propagate the chopped-off part in water.
@Penn
Herbs do especially well outside! I have trouble keeping them alive inside.
Jory said:
You just made my day with this.
!RemindMe when I’m rich, buy this guy some gold.
I have a couple of spider plants split into jars without drainage.
What kind of damage am I doing to the roots by doing this?
Thanks for the post, been really interested in getting more plants and understanding them.
@Payton
Without oxygen, roots suffocate to death. Without drainage, water cannot exit the soil and will saturate it. This also happens when you do have drainage holes and water-retentive soils (look up the perched water table) but to a much lesser degree.
If you overwater without drainage holes, you’ll kill the bottom/lower roots of the plant. Once the water is used, the plant will begin to grow new roots using energy it could have used otherwise. When you water again, you will kill those roots again, and so the cycle continues. You might be able to keep the plant alive this way, but you are definitely causing it to weaken and grow slowly.
@Terry
Appreciate the helpful reply.
So without drainage, would you water less frequently? Or is that only causing the upper roots to have less water than it needs?
I’ve (stupidly) bought a selection of jars for my plants without realizing how important drainage is.
@Payton
Are the jars transparent? If so, water very slowly until you see the perched water at the bottom. If not transparent, watering correctly is impossible. Spider plants need water, so underwatering is not a possibility here. Some people have succulents in pots without drainage because succulents can be underwatered.
Even with the right watering, you’re still going to have issues with salt and fertilizer build-up, and spider plants are sensitive to that. They will get brown tips.
@Terry
But almost all of the nice pots I see at Ikea, CB2, Crate & Barrel, etc. seem to not have drainage holes? Even most of your pics, no saucers.
Vic said:
@Terry
But almost all of the nice pots I see at Ikea, CB2, Crate & Barrel, etc. seem to not have drainage holes? Even most of your pics, no saucers.
This is the weird thing about America.
In Germany at least what we usually do is the “pot in pot” method. We use thin plastic pots with drainage holes and put them in another, decorative pot. When I water my plants, I remove any leftover water.
@Sal
There is a pot with drainage inside the white pot. You don’t need to put rocks underneath; just water the inner pot outside the outer pot, let it drain, and put it back inside.
@Sal
If you have fast-draining soil, maybe a few seconds. If you have water-retentive soil (most plants come in those soils), maybe 10 seconds. Shake the plant to make it drain quicker. Don’t worry too much about that; a few millimeters of water won’t really matter.
Jory said:
You just made my day with this.
!RemindMe when I’m rich, buy this guy some gold.
I only have one window in my 18 sq meter apartment, and it’s facing north… Can I still grow something in here?
@Reeve
All the low light options, but put them right at the windows. In my experience, the distance to the windows is more important than the direction it’s facing.
@An
Pretty much impossible; you’ll need a large south-facing window for that and probably still need to use grow lights. Not worth it IMO.
Jory said:
You just made my day with this.
!RemindMe when I’m rich, buy this guy some gold.
How much do you spend on plants? I’d love to have something like you, but don’t know if I can afford it. Also, do you have suggestions for keeping cats away from your plants?
@Neve
A small plant is usually €2-€4; some rarer ones are more expensive. The sansevieria was €15 because it is such a slow grower. I also have many plants from friends (cuttings) and grow some from seed, which is pretty much free.
The pots is what you have to worry about; they are costly.
As for cats: hang the plants.