Lucky Bamboo With Pebbles

Ask the Expert: A Few Questions About My Lucky Bamboo
and i been searching on the net to see just how to care for them, and i have been getting ALOT of different things pointed at me..

* I understand that they are hardy plants which dont like to be fussed with to much..
* I know they like destilled water over tap or spring
* I also know that you have clean/change the water and rocks in order for it to stay free of bacteria

My Questions Are However :

1. How often should you give it water? (once a week, 2 times a month?) - im totally confused!!

2. How often should you change/clean the rocks?

3. How much food should you give it, and when?

please let me know! like i said i have been reading alot of things online.. and im not sure what one to follow, please help  Janelle

Plant Expert Reply:

I understand your stress.   So I will try to give quick and uncomplicated answers.

Lucky Bamboo water requirement:  Give it enough water to maintain a consistent water level.  For me that means once a week for you it may be longer or shorter.  Tip: make a mark where you optimum water level should be - if the water drops 1/4" below this mark add water.  For you I would make the mark right at the lip edge of your pot.

Keeping Lucky Bamboo clean:  If you keep all decaying plant material out of your container, you will only need to replace the water every couple of months.  The only time I would change or clean the rocks would be if a bacteria or algae conditions was occurring.

Feeding Lucky Bamboo:  I personally feed my lucky bamboo twice a year.  Lucky bamboo is slow growing and do not respond well to over-fertilization. If you feel that it needs more fertilizer, schedule fertilization once a quarter.

I hope this information helps to remove any confusion you might have about lucky bamboo.  Please keep me posted and let me know if you have other questions.

Ask the Expert: Pumpkin?

Young Pumpkin Plant

Last year I threw old pumpkins that were not cut open in my back yard.  I think they were just the small kind you use to cook with and they are hard to cut.  Anyways now this year there is a big mysterious plant growing close to where the old pumpkins were.  In the background you cant see it very well but the pumpkin is still there and has seed there still too.

Pumpkin With Bloom Pods

Also on the other picture it looks like more leaves or maybe those yellow flowers are growing that grow on pumpkin plants.  I was just wondering if this is a pumpkin plant and if so what can i do to keep it growing to grow pumpkins for this year? Amanda

Plant Expert Reply:

Yes, it seems to be a pumpkin plant.  However, your pumpkins may be slightly different than the orginal plant depending on the cross pollination that occurred last year.

Your plant looks healthy and should produce pumpkins without any problems.  Basically water and fertilizer it the plant.  When you water try not to wet the foliage.  Instead apply water at the ground level.  You can use a water soluble fertilize or a granular fertilizer.  On pumpkins I like to use a granular slow-release fertilizer.  I have been using milogranite on my squash, cucumbers and the like.  So you might try it.

You should see pumpkins start to form as soon as the blooms open up.

Ask the Expert: When will my Phalaenopsis Orchid Bloom?
I bought a (indoor) Phalaenopsis Orchid plant that looked rather sad with its' droopy leaves and no flowers on a Lowe's discount table for a $1.
Took it home and with some TLC it has perked up quite a bit.
It has a long brown stem (like a skinny branch) growing out of the plant base.
No blooms whatsoever, so do I cut the stem off and would another one grow in its' place?
When would I expect some flowers?
Also, does this plant get root bound? I can see through the clear plastic (small) pot all these green thick "roots" seem crowded.

Never owned a Orchid before as I have heard they are hard plants to take care of.
Thank you in advance for your help.
Would a photo help? If so I can send one to you.
Thanks
JD

Plant Expert Reply:

Phalaeopsis orchids are not too difficult to grow.  In fact at the nursery, we basically ignore them.  However there are a few things you will want to do:

Proper Light:  Phalaeopsis need bright indirect light.  Directly across from a south facing window is the best.  You can also exposed it to 12 hours of fluorescent light if natural light isn't available. Your orchid will have bright green leaves if it is getting adequate light.

Adequate Water & Nutrients: As for water, you will need to let it dry almost completely before you water it.  You will need to fertilize it once a month with a fertilizer specially blended for orchids.

Proper Maintainence:   Bloom stalks are normally pruned.  If the plant has healthy thick green leaves that are not wrinkled or drooping, you cut the bloom stalk just below the lowest bloom.  The plant should then send out a new flowering branch.  If you stalk is not healthy, cut the stalk all the way down and be sure to water and fertilize properly as the plant recovers. When an orchid is this damaged, it can take up to a year before it will bloom again.

Hopefully this information will help you bring your Phalaeopsis orchid back to it's glory. Oh as for the roots - it is perfectly acceptable for the roots to show.

White Flower Hymenocallis harrisiana

Ask the Expert: identify night bloomer
the flower blooms randomly every few years & starts blooming @ dusk & completes a bloom cycle in ~5 minutes.  i'd appreciate you identifying it & providing any online info that is available about it.  thanks - ed johnston

Plant Expert Reply:

You have a type of Hymenocallis probably a Peruvian daffodil (Hymenocallis harrisiana) or a Spider lily (Hymenocallis acutifolia).  The plants all in the Amaryllidacaea family.  They are bulbous perennials.

Different species of this plant have different blooming cycles. The first hymenocallis will bloom in spring followed by summer blooming ones and finally autumn blooming ones. You can find them in a native habitat in  United States from Indiana, Kentucky, Virginia, south to the Carolinas, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas. They are also found in Mexico, Central America and South America.

You can find more information about hymenocallis at http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=HYLI.

Ask the Expert: what can i do when poinsettias got heat stress
it was after  doing root tredem the temp got up to 101c now they are all drooping will they come out of it any help thank you Theresa

Plant Expert Reply:

When poinsettia cuttings have heat stress issues,  the first course of action is to place them under cooler conditions.  Poinsettia cutting should be grown at an 80-85degree day time temperature and a 70-75degree night time temperature.  Keep the cuttings under a shade cloth until they form roots.  Keep the humidity high and give the plants adequate moisture with out over saturating the soil with water.  Soil that is too soggy will not allow the roots to form and will promote the growth of fungus gnats.  Although the plants look wilted many will recover given the right conditions from here on out.

Good Luck and Keep Me Posted.

Ask the Expert: pink flower ID
Everyone asks me what kind of flower it is, and I don\'t have an answer.  It is a shrubby spreader.  Pink flowers with about 4-5 delicate petals and a fluffy yellow center.  Sort of reminds me a bit of a pink dogwood blossom.  It has firm stocks that feel like velvet, with multiple round buds that have taken weeks to open up this summer.  Large green leaves, similar to a grape leaf.  About 3-5 feet tall.  Thanks for your help in solving this mystery. Kimberly

Plant Expert Reply:

Anemone Hupehensis

Without a picture I am taking a stab in the dark.  I think it is an Anemone hupehensis sometimes called a Chinese anemone. I found  a picture of this type of anemone on the Missouri Botanical Garden site.

Does your flower look anything like this one?

This particular Anemone is a woody-based, fibrous rootstock perennial. It blooms mid-summer to autumn with pink or white flowers.  It can get up to 3' in height and 16" in width.

Ask the Expert: Where do I cut off spent blooms on a peace lily?
Hi there,
I took home a beautiful peace lily plant from my father's funeral back in October of 2008.  Since then its been full and green and has had lots of blooms.  My question is when you say follow the bloom stalk to the to the base of the plant and cut it, does that mean to cut the leave that it is attached to as well?  I have cut off spent blooms only at the base of the stem that is attached to the leaf, as the leaf is green and healthy, by cutting the stem of the flower there I have had no damage to the leaf and the plant has been blooming more flowers.  My concern is that since cutting it there it has had no more blooms in the same spot.  Right now I have a bloom that will soon have to be taken off and this particular one is attached to a leaf that its stalk is attached to two other big and healthy leaves.  In a nut shell: should I see blooms in the same spot where I cut the dead ones off? And am I cutting in the right spot?  If I cut at the base of the plant, I dont get any more growth in that same spot the stem turns yellow and is easily pulled out. Melanie

Plant Expert Reply:

The proper place to cut the spent peace lily bloom is at the base of the plant and only the bloom stalk.  Whether you cut the leaf off or not, a bloom will not develop from exactly the same spot as before.  Now I am a little confused as to "stem turns yellow and is easily pilled out".  Do you mean the bloom stalk or the leaf stem?  You should cut the bloom stalk so that nothing is left to turn yellow.  That is why you go all the way the base of the plant where the bloom stalk orginates to cut it off.  If the leaf stem is turning yellow then, you may be damaging the leaf when you cut the bloom stalk off.  If the leaf stem looks damaged in any way, you need to remove it for the health of the plant. Sometimes because the way the blooms is positioned, I have to cut a leaf off as well.  Trimming your peace lily will not damage it.

Ask the Expert: Dead insects

We are on vacation and have a neighbor watching our house.  Over the past few days there have been many of these dead insects found.  See attached photo.  Any idea what they might be and how to get rid of them?

Thanks. Fay

Plant Expert Reply:

It could be a fruit or shore fly or even a fungus gnat.  It is hard to tell without an up-close picture.

Are these in your house or where you are vacationing? If they are in your house, did you leave any fruit behind? Decaying fruit can become a breeding ground for flies and gnats.  You will need to remove the breeding source - decaying fruit, soggy houseplant soil with fungus etc.  To get rid of the adults you can place traps or use an insecticide safe for the house. 

Good luck and keep me posted.

Ask the Expert: Will my peace lily come back to life?

Peace lily

Ok so i went on vacation about a month ago and i was gone for 2 weeks. Well my air conditioning went out in my house and my peace lily was dead when i got home. All of the leaves were dried up and black. So i cut them all off and watered the plant and left the plant alone for a month now. It looked like new growth was trying to come through and then they turn black on the tips! So now after reading about root rot i decited to take the plant out of its plastic pot that has holes on the bottom and clean the pot out. At the moment i dont have a different pot to put it in so this one will have to do for now. The roots are blackish brown color i dont know if i did the right thing but i just kinda picked at the roots to see if i could see some better looking roots and there was a few but i had just got done watering the plant and it was soaking wet. I think it was over watered now that i have read the proper way to water. So i filled the bottom of the pot with new soil and put the plant in the pot and filled around the sides. I pulled all the dead dried looking stalkes so that all that was left was green. This is what it looks like now. Do u think it will come back? Can root rot be treated in any way? Amanda

Plant Expert Reply:

I see some potential for recovery. The fact that you have a few areas of green left means the plant is still viable. However, it does sound as if you have a root rot problem.  Black, mushy roots or a pungent odor from the roots all indications of root rot. Foliage that is declining is also a sign of root rot.

Your plant can recover but you will need to take care of a few things first. Remove as many of the damaged roots as possible.  Do this by removing the plant from the pot and cut away the damaged roots.  If your plastic pot doesn't have drain holes, make a few in the bottom of the pot before you place the plant back in it.  At this point we only want moist but not soggy soil.  In a few weeks the plant should start to show signs of new growth.

Good luck and keep me posted.

Ask the Expert: Hi. I live in Florida and one of would you please answer my question?
Hi. I live in Florida and one of my students gave me this pretty plant with green leaves and pink spots. I would like to know how to take good care of it. Thank you so much. Isabel

Plant Care Expert:

Hypoetes phyllostachya

I believe your plant is a Polka Dot Plant (Hypoetes phyllostachys). Does your plant look similar to the picture shown?

If so the plant is relatively easy to take care of, just follow a few easy care instructions and your plant should thrive.

First keep the plant moist.  Make sure it is in a container that can drain off excess water. Mist around the plant every other day or keep in a humid environment.

Second,  give it plenty of light but no direct sun.  In thie summer time you can set it outside under shade. This plant likes warm temperatures and during the growing season it likes to be fed every two weeks.  During the winter feed it once a month.

To keep the plant shapely, trim leggy growth.

Although hypoetes is used as a garden plant, it makes a wonderful houseplant.

Good lucky with your plant and keep me posted.