I recently started trying to keep plants alive and I didn't realize that eventually I'd have to punish the plants by hacking off the parts that were growing too well. What kind of sick hobby is this
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Put the extra long stems in water bottles and they will grow roots. It's fascinating to watch a stem that had three little green leaves then grows to have 16...
My 🌈cat knocked a stem off a plant I bought my my when my dad died; I did the water bottle thing & it looked beautiful in the window sill.
I'm about to offer cuttings of my Croton. It gets huge and I have to cut it back. It was 4 1/2 feet at one time. People are always happy to come grab a cutting. I post it on https://Nextdoor.com
No, that's doing them a favor. Nothing more frustrating than a "leg or arm" with no hope for blood flow that's still demanding resources. Just cut it off and the rebuilding process can begin. Not my personal experience.
Just wait til you hear how we slaughter swathes of the stuff in order to waterboard it with mist, suffocate it in plastic, and ultimately be mashed and gnashed and gnawed and digested and then be da poop
Most of my plants are masochists, apparently. They do better when I hack off bits of them. I'm sure it's an "oh crap I lost a piece now I gotta compensate" but ya know... I prefer to selfishly think of it as a "thank you." LOL
This is always the worst part for me! I know it’s beneficial for the plant, but I feel bad cutting off visible pieces. I actually did this yesterday and put the cuts in a vase and set it outside with a note hoping people will take some of them. There were a lot.
It's the hobby vegetarians choose to prove just how much they have it in for the plant world and that's the only reason they became vegetarians really anyway
This pothos is the child of one I’ve had for 29 years now(!) Fun thing about pothos is you can cut off these vines, remove the chunk that has no leaves, & pop the leafy end into water & wait a few weeks till it has roots - then pop in soil and you’ve a new plant!
The pothos is a hardy plant.
I’m currently rooting some parts of another one that caught some weird fungus and died. I checked this morning and little roots! I’m so happy it’s getting a second chance.
I’ve “made” plants from my pothos and given them as gifts. Takes a little planning, but some pretty little pots and a bag of soil are all you need out of pocket. It’s fun knowing your friends now are raising plants related to your plants. A little environmental family 🪴
My sister-in-law has the most melodramatic motherfucker I've ever seen as a plant. I don't even know what it is because as soon as it grows 5 in tall she turns her back and the whole thing withers away and dies then has to spend a week in the kitchen sink.
My damn ivy plant whines all the and turns brown
I warn that little bitch she will be kicked out if she doesn’t change her attitude, and put her in the corner. We see if she decides to lose the attitude. I also told her I could easily replace with some one nicer
It's actually really interesting some people adamantly believe that they don't but that's because they're thinking in human terms of pain but plants have their own ways to understand what goes on around it
They're most certainly not thinking in human terms. They're understanding what pain is scientifically. Did you know, for example, pain is entirely in the mind. Eg Someone who has had a leg can still feel the leg. It's all in the mind.
my mom has a monster golden pothos and it’s literally pinned up ALL around our kitchen ceiling like easily 12 feet long 😭 we’re going to have to cut it bc it won’t stop growing. the pins have been ousted from the wall a few times bc it’s so huge
I just did that!!!! Up in the northeast US, took in the tropicals, and clipped off huge fronds. That combo of caring/responsible with unintended sadism is very unique lol
I inherited a bunch of rose bushes that came with the house, most of which are still alive. They were in odd places. One is right next to a big hydrangea, which keeps encroaching. I thought it died at one point, but it lives. I have to keep hacking the hydrangea to make a space for it.
I'm going through that same experience right now and discovered that there's a third state between dead and alive: the zombie plant. My monstera deliciosa is unrecognizable, small leaves, crawling on the floor, not sure if it wants to live or not.
Believe it or not, some plants can be real d*cks sometimes. 😅 My dieffenbachias grow out where you *least* want them to, needing to cut them off and plant them in a different pot.
Seriously though, it's fun growing them into different offshoots.
There's a plant called a "Diffenbachia"? I'm from a part of PA where that's a potato chip company. Now I want to grow one and use the chips as a fertilizer.
I call my diffenbachias "suicide plants." They can go from fine to losing turgor in seconds. Literally will hear a crash in next room. Run to see its 3 foot tall trunk suddenly slumped over.
Yes after a crash, it won't stay up again unless I stake it. There's something savagely satisfying when I take a chef's knife and whack it machete style. But then the replanted trunks get thinner and no longer sustainable. I fear the cycle is about to end after ~15 yrs and 5+ repottings.
Counterpoint: you GOTTA prune 'em! What is discipline, if not a hacking off of the parts that are growing too well? Like "oh I see your selfishness and ruthlessness are flourishing, we need to trim those back so some social skills can sprout here instead. Have some sharing, taking turns, & losing."
Oh no. My vine has grown from my second floor desk to the first floor, er, floor. Guess I may have to decapitate it then. Lord this is going to be tough.
Took 45 years but I finally figured out how to grow an avocado and now the buggers are *thriving* but yeah, that first cut to encourage root growth was painful.
Cut? I just stuck an avocado pit on top of a jar of leca and added water every so often when I remembered. I thought it was rotting and kept meaning to just toss it when one day it sprouted. When and where do I cut?
When the first shoot gets to be about 6-8 inches tall cut it down to about 2-3 inches.
Mine are in an old Gatorade plastic bottle. Cut the top off at the top of the label then flip it over and rest the seed inside bottom down. Fill with water until the bottom 3mm of seed is in water.
Many thanks! I didn't expect anything to happen but then again, that attitude is how I ended up with a rutabaga for a small Christmas tree a few years ago 😅
Change the water at least once a week, twice is better. Once you get roots keep an eye on them. Mine sit in an east facing window all day so fungal growth is a thing. Twice a month I put a teaspoon of hydrogen peroxide in the water.
I'd get pictures but I'm housesitting atm but believe me when I say these things are *thriving*. This year's trio are only a month old, already had their cut & back up to 8 inches with half a dozen strong leaves. Last years group are already in 15 in pots and ready for a transfer at 20 inches tall
I have plants in my office. Some thrive on tears, depression and trauma. I swear some have doubled in size, being party to therapy sessions. A good hacking has helped us expand our trauma bonding greenery.
Tip!!!—overwatered browns from the center expanding out…under-watered browns from the outer tips expanding inwards
(and press your finger into the soil to check moisture. If it’s moist, leave it a few more days)
Think of it this way:
When you overwater, you’re drowning the plant, and that drowning begins at/with the roots themselves. That death then climbs up above ground, through the stalks/branches, vines and into the leaves. That’s why the browning is from the center spreading outwards.
Meanwhile the under-watered plant doesn’t have enough water to make it out to the tips. The plant tries to send water where it’s needed most. So growth will halt, the newest leaves/buds will fail in order to save the plant, & older very large leaves that require more resources than are available.
You just diagnosed a plant problem I was wondering about this evening, thank you! “Someone” is getting their water levels checked first thing when I get out of bed.
This is for regular leafy plants!
Succulents need substantially less water than them, and it’s best to Google your plant to learn what the signs of over/under look like for them. Snake plants will get brown spots and their tips will brown if they’re under-watered but the rest should be researched.🍃
Think of it as removing a never stop growing arm, essentially creating a better life by taking away excessive arm length which could be detrimental to its health.
Actually maybe not the best way of putting it😂
Yep. I had three Ikea succulents that I've propagated HUNDREDS of times over the years. These are the cockroaches of the plant world. Almost no care required and they are really hard to kill.
This is a lace aloe. Super hard to kill. If you water it too often it will spawn babies and take over your house. Most of my plant collection are the ones I haven't managed to kill. Lol.
Oooh. I'll have to look into those. I have a silver inch plant that's the same way. Picked it up at the spring plant swap as a little 3 inch shoot and now I have multiples all over the place.
Haha, I've unfortunately lost a few to overwatering ( I underestimated the light source needs in my office) but I've always had extras and had to start giving them away too 😅
i was a "plant sculptor" for years, if done properly they love it and thrive.. my collection of bonsai skizzers is um quite impressive tbh. it was one of the least harmful ways i could think to make a living in the grand scheme of things, have fun gardening! er lifes a garden, dig it! (joe dirt)<3
This is why my spider plant has so many children. I just can’t do it. I have started forcing my friends to adopt them. Nobody is allowed to leave my house without a spider plant 😆😆😆
tbh, get a Peace Lily (if your climate allows for it). they are soooo dramatic and you have to drown it in water, but it sort of "self prunes" by killing bits of itself for you to then trim off lmao no more worrying over what to cut off, the thing turns brown all on its own
So True. Got this photo of mine testing out the rosemary plant. It says they are generally good for keeping the cats away, but mine seems to not be aware of that information…
I sometimes wonder if he’s an outlier. Most of the time he’s “not orange” and then he does stuff like this, or gets trapped under a blanket.
And I think, yep, he’s an orange cat 🫣
Empathizing with others to build an empathy following:
Ha! Imagine cutting off a person's toes because they got too tall.
Anyways, graphic image aside. I'm happy you are enjoying your hobby. Keep at it! Nobody advertises the bad parts but that's because advocates know you'll love them too someday.
Take those hacked parts and put them in dirt, then when they start to grow give them to friends that you can judge for not being as “planty” as you! Circle of life!
I just caught myself buying a handful of basil leaves at the store, so I wouldn't further traumatize the remaindered, root bound basil plant I just repotted.
Wait until you learn about "deadheading," where you're hacking the plant not to keep it alive, but just to make it bloom more for your personal enjoyment.
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My 🌈cat knocked a stem off a plant I bought my my when my dad died; I did the water bottle thing & it looked beautiful in the window sill.
🤦🏻♀️ 🤷🏻♀️
Like ”Here plantbaby, water and nutrients so you can grow big and strong! Woha! Not THAT big!”
Those horrible horrible vegetarians
If you move to an arid place, you never need chop bits off
I frequently think about this when looking at the bloody endless biomass produced in my garden…
The pothos is a hardy plant.
I warn that little bitch she will be kicked out if she doesn’t change her attitude, and put her in the corner. We see if she decides to lose the attitude. I also told her I could easily replace with some one nicer
Where is the mind in a blade of grass?
Seriously though, it's fun growing them into different offshoots.
They keep growing in all directions unless you tie them against a stick. A mostly tropical plant though, not sure how they'd last in cold weather. 😅
Strange little world we live in.
Now I have it at work, strung up using the cord of Venetian blinds. Saw one at a restaurant where they had it strung all the way to the ceiling.
I've lost count the times it fell, but I haven't had the chance to string it up. Might need to cut it up soon to put in a taller pot. 🤔
I grew up in BC where growing things was easy
In Alberta if something chooses an odd location leave it because nothing grows where you want it to and if it’s happy leave it be 🥹
Mine are in an old Gatorade plastic bottle. Cut the top off at the top of the label then flip it over and rest the seed inside bottom down. Fill with water until the bottom 3mm of seed is in water.
“are you over or under watered??!! JUST FUCKIN TELL ME!!!!”
(and press your finger into the soil to check moisture. If it’s moist, leave it a few more days)
When you overwater, you’re drowning the plant, and that drowning begins at/with the roots themselves. That death then climbs up above ground, through the stalks/branches, vines and into the leaves. That’s why the browning is from the center spreading outwards.
Succulents need substantially less water than them, and it’s best to Google your plant to learn what the signs of over/under look like for them. Snake plants will get brown spots and their tips will brown if they’re under-watered but the rest should be researched.🍃
Actually maybe not the best way of putting it😂
They honestly annoy me because I have thousands in my yard, some over 5 ft tall, that take over.
Still weirdly makes sense.
--signed, daughter of a plant goddess who did this constantly.
And I think, yep, he’s an orange cat 🫣
Keep hacking and it keeps growing back
Ha! Imagine cutting off a person's toes because they got too tall.
Anyways, graphic image aside. I'm happy you are enjoying your hobby. Keep at it! Nobody advertises the bad parts but that's because advocates know you'll love them too someday.
No way, it's Kill Switch Engaged. I am Thanos, come to kill half of what lives here.
A garden is defined by what you don't allow to grow in it.
I grow plants and when they are looking perfect I cut them off at the base and eat them!
It is tough love.