Calling Plant Woman

[Qingdai]

That is a particularly nice maidenhair fern.

Common names can be confusing:

"There are several varieties or cultivars such as: FAN MAIDENHAIR FERN - Adiantum tenerum (TEN-ehr-um); COLOMBIAN MAIDENHAIR FERN - Adiantum raddianum 'Weigandii' (rad-dee-AN-um wee-GAN-dee-eye; PINK MAIDENHAIR FERN - Adiantum hispidulum 'Pink Lady' (his-PID-yew-lum) Delicate rose and green sprays of foliage from New Zealand and Australia. More than 200 species of this fern growing throughout the world."
From:African Violets

The rose and green ones sound pretty too.

"When you get a yard" is there a possible yard in the works, Crumb?

[Crumb]

not any time soon

[Plant Woman]

Just go to a yard sale and buy one cheap.

[Shelli]

[Shelli]

Originally Posted by Plant Woman

I don't know for sure which one it is but most likely K. blossfeldiana. Without flowers it can be hard to tell and I can't see the leaves real well. If you are going to transplant it I wouldn't prune it at the same time. I wouldn't transplant it unless it's root bound.

I don't mean the first Kalanchoe that I posted, rather, I'm asking about the second, re-posted below which I think looks totally different than the Kalanchoe Blossfeldiana that I first posted.

I don't really have a choice but to transplant both of them. The first Kalanchoe that I posted is in the same pot as the Maidenhair Fern, Dumbcane & Croton. No way is there enough room for all and even if there was, they all have different needs. The second Kalanchoe that I posted is in a pot with no drainage and the dirt that it's in doesn't look too good either.

[Shelli]

The article also said that I should pre-wet the new potting mix that I'll be adding to their new homes. Is that necessary?

[inland wave]

The wildflowers and bluebonnets along the Texas highways are beautiful this time of year. Ding and I were talking about purchasing some red-bud and dogwood trees, along with a couple of more lilac and azalea bushes for the yard. I would like a few more Hydrangeas too. I love to open the curtains to the back patio and look up the hill. Especially in the spring as plants and trees turn green. The other thought we had was to turn the slope of the hill closest to the house into a wildflower garden so to speak. Wildflowers, dogwoods, red-buds, yeah, I think I like........
My Tyler rose bushes are starting to bud out. Can't wait!!!

[Shelli]

Operation Re-Pot was a success!

All four plants have been successfully re-potted in their own containers with plant specific potting soil mixtures for each and are now hanging from the ceilings.

[Shelli]

It was kinda fun playing with the dirt and mixing up different types of potting soils. I felt like I was a little kid again playing in the dirt.

The Kalanchoe I gave a premixed succulent potting soil. The Croton is now nestled in a mixture of regular potting soil and added peat moss. The Maidenhair Fern is snuggled in it's mixture of the same as the Croton except more peat moss than the Croton. The Dumbcane is sitting pretty in a mixture of regular and succulent potting soil.

I couldn't take the plants out of the original container the instructed way because turning the pot upside down and trying to grab a-hold of all four plants without hurting them was never going to work. Instead, I watered the original pot well and let it sit while I got the dirt mixtures ready in each pot. (I had to label the pots or I never would have remembered which was which ) Then, when I was done with that, I took a butter knife and went along the outside edge of the pot, loosening the packed dirt from the pot. While I was doing that, I noticed that the fern was becoming nice and loose .. .. so I carefully removed the fern from the rest first and potted that, then moving on to the next loosest plant and so on until I had re-potted them all. That was a lot of work!

But, now it's done and I don't have to fret anymore about it.

[Shelli]

The next thing I need to do is re-pot my mother-in-law's (turned father-in-law's) Kalanchoe, give him instructions on when and how to water it and take a couple of cuttings from it to start a new plant from it which will take it's place between two of last night's re-potted plants in my living room.

Also, I saw a pretty marble Pothos at the garden center last night that I think I might get to hang at work and I haven't decided which yet, but I'm going to get a low light plant to hang in my bedroom, which will make three plants in my bedroom.

[Shelli]

Operation Re-pot Mother-in-law's Kalanchoe complete.

And I left my father-in-law a moisture meter and instructions on how NOT to kill it.


Oh, yeah, and I also took two cuttings from it to try to clone it which are now set out to let the cut ends callous over before I plant them.

[Plant Woman]

Oh, I thought it was another call for help.

[Shelli]

Oh, not to worry. Plants have become my latest obsession interest, so I have no fear, your sooper powers are still held dear.

[Plant Woman]

Your wish is my command.

[Shelli]

PW

[Shelli]

Originally Posted by Plant Woman

It looks like another Kalanchoe plant that needs a good pruning and more light in an east or west facing window. Prune it now to encourage it to bush out. By the way it is pronounced ka-lan-ko-ee. Do a search on how to propagate it by a leaf. You can start a lot of little plantlets to give to any family member that would like a piece of mom's plant. Very easy to do.

Operation Kalanchoe Propogation complete!

Thanks for the idea, PW.

[Crumb]

So how did you do it? A coworker of mine has a Kalanchoe and it would be cool to steal a start.

[Shelli]

Originally Posted by Crumb

So how did you do it? A coworker of mine has a Kalanchoe and it would be cool to steal a start.

I'm trying propagation both from leaf and stem cuttings. I took two 4" stem cuttings, cutting off the lower leaves as instructed, so I saved the the lower leaves that I cut. I took the cuttings and leaves with a sharp razor blade sterilized in alcohol. The reason for this, I read, is because you want a clean cut without ragged or pinched edges. Then I let them sit in a container until callouses (similar to a scab on a human cut) formed on the cut edges which can take anywhere from a couple days to a week. Mine took about 3 days to callous over. You need to let them callous over before planting them so that the leaf or stem is protected from bacteria entering it's system and so that the cuttings don't leak out their vital plant juice.

So last night, I planted the stem and leaf cuttings in a cactus soil mix, putting a little extra top soil around the cuttings to prevent soil loss and then watered thoroughly until the water ran through.

They need lots of light and they like it warm so, I waited until this morning, and then I put them on the front porch in the .

--------------

I printed out a couple of excellent sites that I went by but they're at home, so I'll post the links to them tonight.

In the meantime, if you were looking to do a search now, my best information came from looking up "succulent propagation" rather than specifying "kalanchoe propagation" in my search.

[Crumb]

[Shelli]

Any time.

It just so happens that I was in the middle of making a blog about my plant adventures when I saw your question, Crumb.

Wake = 4+ new plants

[Crumb]

Commented.

[Shelli]

Originally Posted by Shelli

I printed out a couple of excellent sites that I went by but they're at home, so I'll post the links to them tonight.

This was the best site I found on it and a few other things: Propagation of Cacti and Succulents


This site was also good: Propagation of Cacti & Succulents

[Plant Woman]

Hey quit calling me. You have it well under control... I have a mountain of homework I'm trying to do.

And don't give me the argument I shouldn't be here if I have homework to do.