The Green Fingers In Me

I admit, i've not had any green fingers.

Over the period of one year, i've murdered and killed numerous plants on different occasion. The main culprit was overwatering.

I thought i was doing the plant a favour by watering them. But i was wrong, there is such thing as killing them with water. Root rot was the main reason why they died.

On different occasion, i over fertilised and totally burned the leaves, but managed to save them on time, by removing the top soil and replacing it with fresh soil.

Only on two occasion that the plants succumbed to parasites. Namely the mealy bugs. These pesky pest would multiply under the leaves and initially you would had thought some spider made some nest underneath with some spider-webby-looking ...err...web.


Notice the whitish looking thingy on the stalk of this calathea variant??

Out of the two plants with mealy bugs infestation, i managed to save the one above. The other one, a palm tree, was beyond salvage as the root was also infested and the only way is to rid the whole pot away.

For the record, i've also killed 1 Pandan leave plant and also 1 Kari Leave plant. How is that for being green? Both was because of over watering.

Lessons learnt about watering. It took me almost a year to realise that i wasn't doing any good to the plant if i over water it.

Rules of the thumb is that i should only water after the top 1/4 inch of soil is dry. Or just let it dry between watering. 2 to 3 days interval works fine if the plants are exposed to the sun. Otherwise, some plants only need watering once a week!

Fertiliser shouldn't be used like it's some miracle drugs for growth. Use it sparingly, if the instruction says to use 2 tablespoon, just use one. It's safer that way.




Cactus..aint they pretty?


Money Plant on kitchen's window with the cacti above

Wifey always love Dieffenbachia and also Crotons. Which explained why we had this much of these plants at home. However, do take note that the sap from the plants could be toxic to a certain extend. hence, proper handling and also respect for the plant must not be taken for granted.


Dieffenbachia


Another variantion of Dieffenbachia


And anohter...


Grim reminder of the once large Dieffenbachia


Some crotons...


and anohter variant of crotons


Anohter Crontons...this time a tree like looking one.


One of the crotons i overwatered and repotted to save it...


And this too, this almost died because of overwatering....

Then, there are other plants where the scientific names are not even pronounciable by mere green finger wannabe like me.


A small mother in law plant...


Some big leaves plant....


Japanese Bamboo


Some very fragile shrubs which needs loads of TLC


This looked like the Pachira, but it isn't...


can sometime tell me why my aloe vera looked like it's dying???


The calathea making a full recovery!!!

Gardening is soothing. It could be frustrating sometimes when it doesn't go the way it should. I hope that these plants, which were planted with much TLC by the nurseries where i purchased them, would not die in my hand. I tend to them everyday, removing any dead leaves and checking for pest which might be present.

Currently, my balcony is almost camouflaged by the plants. Wait up while i paint my face...