Episode 135: Q&A special
Philodendron ‘Birkin’. Photograph: Firn.
Transcript
Episode 135
[music]
Jane: Hello and welcome to On The Ledge podcast, I am your host Jane Perrone - you got the questions, I've got the answers! Yes, it's a Q&A special, so if you've sent me a question recently, listen out because it might be the moment that you get your answers.
Apologies first of all to KevsOrchids who is complaining that the BCSS song, from mid-week bonus number four, is now a massive earworm! What can I say? I've been singing it for days too. Whatever you do, don't listen to the baked potato song because that really will set you going.
Thank you to everyone who joined me for the Facebook Live this past Wednesday. If you didn't catch it, you can watch and catch up on my Facebook page OnTheLedgePod. We had great fun discussing plants and also quite a bit of talk about tea and coffee, for some strange reason, and it was wonderful to get the chance to acknowledge the contribution of every single one of my 200 or so Patreons. Rachel and BatPotatoes have become Ledge-ends and Phillip has become a Crazy Plant Person this week. Thank you all. I know I say this every week, but amazingly there are still people who don't know how to do this! If you want to find out about Patreon, then the links are in the show notes and you can also give a one-off donation via ko-fi.com or via Paypal.
As I said in the Facebook Live, if you're wondering what that all goes on, it pays for Kelly, my assistant, who does very useful things like responding to emails, setting up Meet the Listener and editing Meet The Listener and freeing up my time for other things. It also goes on transcription costs, things like hosting the podcast, which isn't free, hosting my website which is also not free and paying for trips like the one I took to see Mercy Morris and you'll also hear in an upcoming episode the interview I did on the same trip about Aspidistras. So that money gets ploughed back into the show and just enables me to keep going week to week, so thank you to all those Patreons.
It's fine if you're not able to make a financial contribution, I completely understand, one other thing that you can do is leave a review on your pod app of choice which is what PeaFinell did and PeaFinell said: "I love this podcast and have learned so much about my houseplants and some I'll never own. Just listening to knowledgeable, interesting people makes me happy. Great guests, great music and super soundscapes." Thank you PeaFinell, that's a lovely review! So perhaps you could leave a five-star review for On The Ledge and that will help other people find the show and also give me that warm and cosy feeling of smugness inside that I'm making a podcast that other people are enjoying.
Oh, I forgot to say when I was talking about celebrating the Patreons, that also in celebration of my Patreons, there is 20% off everything in my merchandise shop today and tomorrow, that's April 10^th^ and 11^th^ 2020. So head on over there, it's easy to find, just go to my website and in the top right corner there's links to various things and there's one called Shop, and if you click on that you'll head on over to my shop on SpreadShirt where you can browse through a lovely selection of hoodies and mugs. They feature either my logo in the monochrome or the green version and now you can also get the Jane and Wolfie design from my Patreon Christmas card, if you fancy the idea of having that on a T-shirt or a mousemat instead. So now is the time to treat yourself.
Several people got in touch about bamboo emojis after last week's emoji episode, as I predicted at the time. I was woefully ignorant about these particular emojis. So as a result of your wise contributions, in particular Amanda and Meghan, I have now updated the show notes with details about the bamboo tower emoji, as I think I called it, which is actually a Japanese Kadomatsu, which is made of pine leaves and bamboo shoots and used in Japan to celebrate the New Year. The other bamboo emoji is the Tanabata tree, which is a wish tree which Japanese people hang wishes written on paper as part of another Japanese festival. So that was great to learn about that and I'm hoping before long we can get the Monstera emoji added on to that roster of plant emojis. Won't that be exciting?
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Jane: Right, without any further ado, let's get on with the list of questions. I managed to rope my son Fred into reading out a couple of the questions for this episode. He's a bit shy and his voice is a bit quiet but he wanted to do it. First up, we've got Fred with a question about a String of Pearls.
Jane: Okay Fred, are you ready to read the next question? This one comes from Cody.
Fred: Who is Cody?
Jane: She or he - I don't know if it's a she or a he? She's helpfully put pronouns, she's a she. Cody's question please?
Fred: I recently bought a very small String of Pearls and it's not looking good. It has shrivelled on the underside of one strand near the base, I'm wondering what I've done wrong? I've been watering it lightly as it is Winter. I have a big, south-facing window that floods my apartment with light. The pot is well drained. Every time I poke it, it is as dry as a bone. Am I not watering enough? It's been on my kitchen counter, perhaps it is too high and is not getting enough light. That's it, lasses and laddies!
Jane: I'm afraid I have no rational explanation as to why Fred has decided to start doing a Scottish accent on occasion, but there we go! Anyway, I hope you got the gist of that! Cody has got an issue with her String of Pearls. It's looking rather shrivelled and this is a really common problem with this plant, particularly over the Winter. She's helpfully sent some pictures and I can see it's in quite a small plastic pot. Cody your picture is one that I have seen repeated and repeated and repeated all over social media. Lots of people are experiencing this kind of problem with their String of Pearls. That compost issue that you identified, the fact that whenever you try to water, it's bone dry. This is a bit counter-intuitive. Usually the problem lies with the potting medium with these plants. The reason for that is, oftentimes, there is a lot of organic matter in there. Often it's peat or coir and what happens is that's either overly moist and providing a bit of a claggy atmosphere around the roots of the plant which, for a plant like the String of Pearls, Curio rowleyanus or Senecio rowleyanus as it was known until recently, that is not a good place to be because it grows in places where its roots are not in that kind of environment, they're not in heavy wet soil. Then the peat or the coir dries out incredibly quickly and is bone dry and that the plant also doesn't like.
So what can you do? What I would do straight away, Cody, is unpot that plant, take it out of that pot and knock off all the growing medium that's around the roots and repot into cactus and succulent compost, you can just buy it off the shelf. If you have a little handful or two of something like perlite or grit that you can add, that would be beneficial. If you want to make up your own mix you can use a 50/50 mix of some kind of drainage material like perlite or grit and regular house plant compost, that way you'll get a really free-draining mix around the roots and that means that the roots will be getting the moisture they need, which in the case of the Winter season is not very much at all. When Spring comes, you can start watering more and the water will drain away from the roots quickly, won't hang around and your plant will be 100% happier. Do go and take a look at the Instagram video I did for Perrone's Plants on this plant which explains in a bit more detail about how to look after it. I also recommend using a terracotta pot for these plants because it gets air to those roots, the pot is porous and I just find that incredibly helpful. Sounds like, sun-wise, maybe it needs to be a bit nearer that big south-facing window, if you can get it there, because this plant does like lots and lots of light.
Okay, moving on, the next question was entitled 'Avocado root query' from Laura. Laura is a relatively new listener, she's going through the back catalogue and she's enjoying that, which is great to hear. She's been growing Lithops from seed and has really enjoyed the experience and has sent me a wonderful picture of the babies and they are just the most adorable babies, aren't they, Lithops seeds? So well done for that, Laura. Laura also enclosed a picture of the problematic avocado. It's doing so well that it's provided a bit of an unusual problem! When the avocado pit or stone starts to germinate, it kind of splits open and this amazing, wizened root comes out and it does tend to grow slightly crazily. So in Laura's case, it's growing up over the top of the tip of the stone, the top part of the stone, which should be uppermost in the compost when you plant it, and back on itself. So Laura is wondering how on earth she can plant this thing? If I can offer reassurance, Laura, generally roots will find their way once they're in contact with the soil. I appreciate the root of this plant is reasonably fragile, so it's not something you can manhandle into a particular position. So really, you've just got to let it do its thing. With any seed, you need to plant the seed, as a guide, at least the same depth as the depth of the seed itself, if that makes sense? So if you've got a seed with a diameter of one millimetre then you'd sow it one millimetre deep under the growing mixture. If it's an avocado seed and is maybe five centimetres or four centimetres in diameter then it should be sown that depth underneath the soil. In other words, when you put your avocado stone into some soil, that root should have space to nestle on top, still be covered with compost, if you can just get it under the surface and that will be fine, the plant will find its own way then and realise which way is up and which way is down. They are incredible things.
If you do lose a little bit, it's not the end of the world. The avocado stone has got lots of resources inside it to keep it going in those initial stages, so provided that you don't let the soil dry out, then you will be absolutely fine. If you want a bit of an insurance policy, you can always stick a plastic bag around the newly potted seed so that it's got a bit of extra help in terms of air humidity for the first few days. That's exciting, Laura, I'm glad to see your growing exploits are going well. Back to Fred for another question.
Jane: I'm here with Fred. Hi Fred!
Fred: Hi.
Jane: And we're going to read out a question from Chelsea. Fred, can you read out Chelsea's question nice and loudly for everybody listening.
Fred: I'm hoping you can give me some advice on a Norfolk pine I picked up over the holiday season. I move it around quite a bit in my house, found a sunnier spot, before I noticed it was looking quite curled in on itself and I've been watering it for the past three days. It seems to be quite thirsty. Maybe you could tell me what number on my moisture meter it would be happiest at? As well as running a humidifier next to it, it's looking stiff and some of the branches are crispy instead of soft. I'm wondering if those things coming out of the soil that have gone all crispy should be hacked off? The plant doesn't have to support dying branches. A little bit of browning on smaller lower branches as well. I'd love to revive this beautiful plant to its elegant tree shape once again. Help, please, and thank you!
Jane: I hope you got most of that! Fred sounded like he was falling asleep there, but I think he was just a little bit shy. So, Chelsea has a Norfolk pine which is looking rather miserable and has sent some photos of said miserable pine. I'm not an expert on these plants, so I asked Lisa Eldred-Steinkopf, who has been on the show before, for some advice about this plant. I recorded an interview with her which, unfortunately, does not seem to have survived my filing system which is obviously completely inadequate or it just didn't record in the first place. So I will condense down for you Lisa's advice which in fact is quite succinct: "Your Norfolk Island pine is dead, Chelsea." I can't sugar the pill, I'm afraid that is her verdict. It is too brown and crispy and just isn't going to recover.
This is the problem with growing these trees in your home. It's not like growing a load of mini-parlour palms in a pot, where one little seedling might die and you can pull that out and recover the rest. In the case of a big tree like this, once it goes, it goes. Araucaria heterophylla as this is known in the full, Latin name, it likes cool and it likes loads of light. If you are keeping this plant in a regular temperature room over the Christmas period, particularly, then it's probably going to suffer quite badly. It's really a plant that would be better off in a big, airy, minimally-heated conservatory or something like that. I have seen incredible specimens of these online but generally, they're being grown in places, as I say, the temperature is not a steady 20C all year round.
It is documented to have an issue with losing branches and if you have one branch that goes brown and crispy then you can probably get away with it but when it's more or less the whole thing then that really is a death sentence for this plant. I suspect the problem here is a combination of those two factors, that the air is too hot and dry and also the compost has been allowed to dry out for too long because they really do object to that in a way that lots of other houseplants wouldn't. The pictures you've sent, Chelsea, it just looks like a regular Christmas tree that's outstayed its welcome in the home and got that dull, dry and brittle look that they have when they really are beyond saving. As I say, I'm really sorry, this is not going to be one that I think you're going to be able to revive.
If you've got a lovely, really glorious Norfolk Island pine at home, perhaps you can send me a picture and any tips that you've got for growing this plant because it's a glorious plant but it does seem to be one that lots of people struggle with. As I say, I haven't grown it myself but those are the tips that I've garnered from Lisa and I hope that, Chelsea, perhaps you can give it another go with a fresh specimen and find somewhere a bit cooler? The other issue could be that you've just been watering it too much and it's waterlogged and, as regular listeners to this show will know, water logging symptoms can look very much the same as dried out compost symptoms, so have a look at the root ball if you want to do a full autopsy, Chelsea, but I'm afraid it's RIP for the Norfolk pine. Of course, we may be wrong, you may now send me an email, Chelsea, to say it's revived beautifully and I'll cross my fingers that that's the case, but I fear otherwise - that I'm the bringer of bad news. As we always say on the show, we all kill houseplants and that's okay, this is how you learn. Have another go, get back on your feet and hopefully you will have greater success next time, whether you choose another Araucaria heterophylla, or a completely different plant.
Okay, let's hope that we can be more positive in our response to this next one, which comes from Hannah. Hannah found the show via my appearance on a podcast called The Grow Guide Podcast, which I highly recommend, hosted by Dave and Maggie - I'll put a link to that in the show notes if you want to check that out. Here's Hannah's question: "I found one of my mum's old African Violet pots in the shed and I was wondering what else it could be used for? I'm not a big fan of African Violets, but I do love the pot. It's a three-inch, two-piece, clay self-watering pot. The outer pot is glazed and meant to hold water, while the inner pot is porous to hold the plant. Specifically, I was wondering if this pot would be suitable for ferns, Calatheas or Stromanthes?" Great question, Hannah from Canada!
These pots, if you haven't come across them, they're traditionally used for growing African Violets. It's a more formalised way of wick-watering, where you've got water in the bottom being soaked up by the terracotta pot but the bottom is glazed so you don't end up damaging your furniture. They seem to be much more popular in the US than they are in the UK, and while you get these very traditional-looking ones made of china, you can now get much more modern versions, which are obviously to appeal to the more modern aesthetic. So if you're looking for an African Violet pot, there is one to suit every style.
What if you don't like African Violets? What else can you grow in this pot? Well, I think it's a fantastic pot for a fern because ferns generally need that steady moisture around the roots without being waterlogged and this is really what that pot will provide. So if you've got a Maidenhair Fern or a Bird's Nest Fern, I would definitely give that a go in this container - also useful if you're like me and you sometimes forget to water altogether and there are certain plants that you can't get away with and ferns are one of those. You can't get away with being a lax waterer with a fern! Calatheasand Stromanthes, yes, definitely worth a try. I would wonder they would need to dry out a bit more between waterings? It's all going to be down to the potting mix that you use. I would say Calatheas and Stromanthe would work, provided that you make sure that the potting mix is a tiny bit more well-drained than usual, just so they don't have too much water held around the roots.
I don't know about you, but I think I could do with a break!? Let's hear from listener, Carlana.
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Carlana: Hi, I'm Carlana, and I live in the Caribbean on an island called Grenada, to be precise. I love plants. My friends think I am a crazy plant lady! I live in a very small house, what we would consider a tiny house, based on the tiny house movement, which I absolutely love. They seem to think I have too many plants for the size of the house! Currently, my indoor plant count is at about 50 and I just love plants. I love the way they transform a space. I love the feel of going out into the world, doing my thing and then coming back and still experiencing nature indoors. There's something very calming and restorative about that, especially in the times we live in, with the quarantine and the isolation that Covid has brought about. For me, it's been quite a respite to have a space that is just so calming and soothing, so I'm really grateful for having that practice before this all began. Currently, I have about 50 plants and I'm always on the look-out for finding creative spaces to add more plants, so I do embrace the label of Crazy Plant Lady!
Jane: Question one - There's a fire and all your plants are about to burn. Which one do you grab as you escape?
Carlana: I absolutely shudder at the thought of there being a fire and my plants burning, but if I had to grab just one to escape with I would say I would grab my Ficus Elastica Ruby. Yes, it would definitely be that plant and I would choose this plant because it is such an impressive-looking plant, based on the sheer size and the foliage. I think if I had to start again, it would be the one plant that would actually make a statement all by itself, so yes, I'd go with the Ficus Elastica.
Jane: Question two - What is your favourite episode of On The Ledge?
Carlana: My favourite episode of the On The Ledge podcast would be episode number four, I believe. Yes, that's the one on microgreens. I really enjoyed it because it was something very different and it actually got me started in microgreens, so thank you for that.
Jane: Question three - Which Latin name do you say to impress people?
Carlana: Interestingly enough, I know the latin names for all of my plants and I don't know the regular names. I find there is a danger in knowing regular names, for some reason, because everybody has a different name for them. So, I just stick with the Latin names. When I'm trying to impress people, especially my sister who thinks I'm annoying with it so, I do it intentionally, I love to say Zamioculcas zamiifolia, and I'm pretty sure I just butchered that! Zamioculcas zamiifolia.
Jane: Question four - Crassulacean acid metabolism or guttation?
Carlana: Definitely guttation.
Jane: Question five - Would you rather spend £200 on a variegated Monstera or £200 on 20 interesting cacti?
Caralana: Well, I think £200 is way too much to spend on any one plant, especially when that converts to $800 in my local currency, so as much as I'd love to have a variegated Monstera, I'd definitely pass on that. I currently just have one cactus plant in my collection so I would be very pleased to spend that money on 20 interesting cacti.
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Jane: Americans say they love my accent, but Carlana I could listen to your voice all day. Thank you so much and it's great to hear that I've got listeners in the Caribbean, or as we British say, the Caribbean. I know, I know, we're always getting it wrong. I'm still arguing to this day with my friend, whose family comes from Trinidad, about aluminium versus aluminum, so we'll leave that one there!
Harriet's posted a picture of her new Philodendron Birkin in Houseplant Fans of On The Ledge: "I was after some care tips or advice on this plant." First off, Harriet, I'm very jealous! This is one of the Aroids that is on my wish list. I'm not a massive, massive Aroid grower, I've probably got about eight to ten Aroids, but this is definitely on my list and I'm not alone. Lots of people are searching after this plant, which does seem to be slowly becoming more available.
If you haven't come across this one, the leaf shape is not that exciting, it's an oval, but it's the variegation that catches the eye. The dark green leaves are striated with cream in a rather attractive pattern and as the plant grows and matures, this variegation seems to be enhanced and enhanced until you've got this wonderful green and cream combination which is gorgeous. So, what can I tell you about this plant? Well, searching around for information in the usual sources I'd look for, I've drawn a big blank. All I can tell you is that this plant is a newer hybrid, so it seems, although to be fair, some hybrids that have been around for donkeys' years come back into fashion, described as new, so I may be incorrect in that, but it does seem to be one that has been relatively newly developed and I've seen rumours that it's come out of Thailand, which is obviously a great houseplant breeding place.
The only information I could find about what hybrid it was, was on a Reddit thread which was R/Aroids. On the one hand it's hearsay but it's an interesting source and somebody from a nursery in New Zealand was asking about the name of the plant and what exactly it was a hybrid of. Somebody replied: "I've read that it's a genetic mutation from a hybrid of green congo and green imperial,". What's that worth? Not a lot, but it does kind of make sense that would be the case. I'd love to know if anyone has more firm information on what the parentage of this plant is. But, the good news is, whatever its parentage, it seems to be pretty easy to grow, so if you can grow a plain green Monstera deliciosa,you should be able to pull this one off. Usual caveats apply with Aroids, they like lots of bright filtered light, not direct sunlight, keep those glossy leaves nice and clean with regular damp cloth application and allow the mix to dry out between waterings and you should find that your Birkin does really well.
And the final question for today's episode comes from Lynne who has a question about pots. "If we pot on plants into new pots just a finger width bigger than the previous one, how do we fill the space with compost without leaving air spaces, please?" Lynne signs off as a Dr Hessayon fan for 40 years. I had to answer this question, Lynne, because you are a fellow traveller along the road of expertise that is Dr David Hessayon. It's a very good question.
You're right that when you pot up, as we say, you're advised to make the pot size of the new pot just a finger width bigger than the previous pot. Obviously, it depends slightly on the size of the original pot, so if you're repotting a huge Norfolk Island pine, or a Ficus lyrata, it might be more than a finger width, and if it's something absolutely teeny tiny in a three centimetre pot then it might be far less than a finger width, but it's a general guide. You're right, when you have put the rootball in the new pot and you've got that finger width gap around the edge between the rootball and the new pot, how do you get compost in there? I have tried many different techniques and it's always a bit of a juggle trying to funnel compost into that narrow space. Sometimes I get a piece of stiff cardboard or paper, fold it in half, and I have one end wide and the other narrow, so it's like a half-funnel. I channel the potting mix down where I want it to go, sometimes I just use my hands, either way it's really important that you do this either in an old washing up bowl or on a plastic sheet, because this job of repotting inevitably becomes messy.
You can get some kind of funnel, like an old jam funnel, which you could use as well, if the hole is of a suitable diameter. It's worth saying, you do want air in those gaps, you just want smaller pockets of air, as opposed to big areas where there's no potting mix because, of course, what will happen as soon as you water, the potting mix will settle down and it'll appear as if you've got not enough potting mix in there any more, so that can be a disappointing first experience when you repot. So I tend to feed that compost in gradually with my half-funnel and then as I'm going along I'm tapping the side of the pot and jiggling it around, just gently, so that the compost can settle before I add any more. This, I tend to find, means that any big air pockets that are there tend to be filled in by the falling compost that's being dislodged and moved down, shaken down into the lower parts of the pot. You may find, even if you do your absolute best to do this technique, that your compost will settle again and you do need to add a bit more. But this jiggling technique, you can hear me doing it as I'm talking to you, a little jiggle with the pot just means that the compost spreads itself around evenly into that gap and you don't have a problem.
Occasionally you do find with this technique you end up adding more compost on one side than the other and the root ball all ends up all skewiff, do you say that, 'skewiff'? I don't know if that's a phrase!? Lopsided!? In which case, you have just got to take it out and start again. There's no way around it. One of my pet hates is leaning plants. When I'm putting up the Christmas tree, if it is not straight from every possible viewing angle in the room, including through the window looking in, then it's not right. So I cannot stand leaning plants, so I have to make sure it's straight. If you're more relaxed about that kind of thing then, of course, you can leave the plant on a bit of a lean. That's my technique really, funneling the soil in, jiggling it about and making sure it's not compacted, but at the same time you're not leaving big air pockets which will make it hard for the plant to draw moisture out of the soil and the roots won't want to go into bare spaces they need to be growing into soil. I hope that makes sense, Lynne, and that has helped you and you can get a bit of a jiggle going the next time you're repotting!
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Jane: That's all for this week's show! Thank you to Fred for helping me with the questions, to Carlana for sending in her Meet the Listener and to my assistant Kelly for all her hard work. Have a great Easter weekend! Bye!
[music]
Jane: The music you heard in this episode was Roll Jordan Roll by the Joy Drops, Chiefs by Jahzzar and Lonely Spider by Cullah. All licensed under Creative Commons. See JanePerrone.com for details.
Subscribe to On The Ledge via Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Player FM, Stitcher, Overcast, RadioPublic and YouTube.
I answer questions about crispy Norfolk Island pines, glorious but mysterious Philodendron ‘Birkin’ and wayward avocado roots, plus we hear from listener Carlana.
If you want to check out the Grow Guide podcast mentioned in this episode, you’ll find it here. My appearances on other podcasts are listed at the top of this page.
Want to ask me a question? Email ontheledgepodcast@gmail.com. The more information you can include, the better - pictures of your plant, details of your location and how long you have had the plant are always useful to help solve your issue!
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CREDITS
This week's show featured the tracks Roll Jordan Roll by the Joy Drops, Chiefs by Jahzzar and Lonely Spider by Cullah.
Logo design by Jacqueline Colley.