Thursday, March 24, 2011

amazing ficus

I'm itching to start digging and planting full-force in the garden, but it's a tad too soon here in Colorado. That's OK though because there's still plenty to do indoors with the Green Nation. My houseplants can definitely use a little TLC about now --  each one needs a shower in the kitchen sink, a haircut, a top-dressing with new soil, and a few dog food nuggets snuggled down a few inches in the soil. Yes, dog food -- as it decays, it releases its nutrients -- just make sure your dog doesn't see you do it! Or you could use diluted fish emulsion, but dog food doesn't smell.

This was a recent houseplant project. The goal was to root these ficus cuttings from a friend and pot them close enough to braid as they grow. I started out with four in case one didn't take.

Some people evidently don't use rooting hormone with ficus, but I had never rooted it before so figured I needed all the help I could get, plus we already had some. Moistened each cutting and dipped it into the rooting hormone.

Poked holes in the potting soil with a pencil and placed the powdered stems in the holes. Then I watered the whole business and placed it in a low-light situation. And forgot about it except when I watered it along with other plants. No special treatment whatsoever.

Six weeks later, I noticed new growth. So out came the fourth cutting and the first braid was begun. Amazing ficus!

Do you feed houseplants anything unusual? I'm collecting ideas.

6 comments:

  1. I used to be big into house plants, but not so much time for them now, but they do put oxygen into the air so I keep a few. Once or twice a year I feed mine cold coffee as it has nitrogen in it (or that's what I was told, and one always puts coffee grounds into compost for that reason I believe)) and I always use distilled water for watering. I do not like to add any unnecessary minerals (this I learned when I worked a year at a plant/greenhouse/florist).The guy I worked with said more plants were killed from salt in the water and other stuff or putting them on a surface that immits heat, i.e. t.v. set, table over heat vent, etc.than anything else.

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  2. You have some great tips -- I didn't ever even think of cold coffee, there's a little of that around here now and then -- and using distilled water, that's a good one, too. Thanks, Helen!

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  3. I always pour leftover tea into the soil of my houseplants too. I use tap water, but I let it sit in gallon jars so that the chemicals can evaporate before watering the plants. I heard lately that the chemicals do not evaporate, so who knows? I put most of my houseplants outside over the summer.

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  4. when i rinse out the milk carton, i pour the milky water into houseplants. they love it.

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  5. Marilyn, I use herbal infusion, too -- and as far as I know, chlorine does evaporate.
    Our drinking water could be left out as well. Sometimes we treat our plants better than our animals and ourselves!

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  6. Velma, that's another thing I've never done before! It makes so much sense -- plants need calcium. Thanks!

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