 Good evening everyone and welcome to the first of our everybody's yard and garden guide seasons for the spring season. And this evening, it's my pleasure to provide the program how to propagate house plants and other care tips. So anyway, there are a few joining us yet, so we'll just pause for a minute or so and then we'll get going. But again, welcome and thank you very much for joining. We've got about 150 of you joining us, so that's great. Well, first of all, I'm Don Kinsler, the extension agent for horticulture here in Cass County. It's my pleasure to be here talking gardening, and I'll be having a series of webinars starting this evening and on the next number of Wednesday evenings. So if you're wondering about those where you can register for those if you just do a search for NDSU Cass County extension that will take you to our landing page in which you'll find these events that you can register for. Well, I'm excited to talk about house plants this evening, because it is so fun I grew up with house plants, and they are just such a healthy, healthy item for our homes, they help make the air healthier. They can even purify the air they add humidity and there are so many healthy things that the plants do for our environment, but also just us caring for the plants. It's good for us. It's good therapy. And also, the other thing is when we talked about house plants. It is so much fun to have a few of them in our house, but it's even more fun to have lots of house plants. And this is fun. We've got about 154 of you now and obviously the 154 of you that have joined along with myself and my wife, Mary, all enjoy growing house plants. And one of the fun things of course is to start more little house plants off of the ones we've got. And that's what tonight's program is all about. We're going to start about the first half talking about the different ways to start more house plants. And the last half of the program will talk about some general house plant care tips. So first of all, the different ways to start new house plants. Well, sometimes it's fun if you've got a very nice house plant it's fun to have more of that same type. But maybe friends relatives have plants that you'd like a start from. And so it's fun to get a new start off of those. And that was probably the way that many of our grandparents great grandparents got their house plants garden centers weren't as common as they are now. So there were less places to buy a plant. So trading amongst ourselves was a very good way and that's the way most of our ancestors probably got their house plants. So we're going to talk about a number of different ways that we can start new ones. Now the first way is by seeding. African violets can be started by seed. So if you want hundreds of African violets, that's a good way to get them kind of on the cheap you can order house plant or African violet seed of different colors different types. It takes about a year to maybe even a year and a half to get from a seed to a nice big blooming size African violet. So it does take patience. One plant that I like to start from seed in fact I've already got the seeds going under lights in our basement are begonias. Now begonias, my wife and I use those outdoor in our containers during the summertime, but also they make a really nice house plant. They're one of the house plants will provide nice blooms and the begonias the one on the right there. A begonias really make a nice house plant, a lot of bloom in the sunny window. The seed is very, very tiny. Now the seed photo that's right above the colored red begonia that picture has been enlarged begonia seed is almost as fine as powder it's it's dust like and to the left of the brownish black seeds are what is called pelletized seed. And again, this has been enlarged a pelletized seed are still really, really tiny. So I see that our begonias about a week ago. And that that's a very nice way to start the going is they do start well by cuttings to we'll talk about cuttings. So a couple of house plants, we can start from seed, probably not as common as the other methods that I'm going to talk about. This next method is one of the easiest ways to get more house plants and it's dividing. And what dividing is we just simply take the plant out of its pot and split it up into sections. Now there are certain types of plants that lend themselves well to dividing. So if you take a look at the picture of the snake plant in the middle. And the peace lily that's off to the right there. Take a look at the growth habit on both of those the leaves and stems are all coming from a lower central crown. So if you just take a look down at the point where the leaves meet kind of the soil, there is a crown there from which all those leaves and stems originate so it lends itself well just to splitting them apart like that division. So here are a couple of ways on that you can do division on the lower left hand side. We have a fern that is just being sawed in to we could probably saw that one into maybe four or so sections. If you've ever grown fern such as the Boston fern, the roots and the crown are so thick and tight that it really does take a saw to get down through that. And then each of those sections can be potted up and we'll have a brand new fern in the uppermost photo snake plant is being split up with a pruning shears so that each of those divisions will have its own root. On the right hand side we see probably looks like a palm of some sort, and the roots are gently being teased apart there it's being gently divided, and then each of those will make a new plant. So when you're dividing a plant like that. How many plants can you make out of it well as many little divisions as has a nice root and a nice stem. But oftentimes when we're dividing a plant, most of us are host plants we would probably take and divide it into maybe four sections seems to be a good ballpark number that you can get out unless you really want to start lots of them, then some of these can make dozens and dozens of plants. I mentioned that if you have any questions as we go along. We'll have time for questions at the very end. So if you type them in the Q&A, or you could also put them in the chat I'll monitor both, but the Q&A is where I'll be checking first and we'll do those right at the end so any questions as you're thinking of them, please do feel free to to add. Okay, our next is called air layering. Now this is a rubber plant air layering works very well on tropical plants that tend to become tree like. Now it's interesting a lot of the host plants that we grow indoors are tropical in nature and some of them become like trees, so they can tend to have lots of stem. Air layering is a good way to produce a new plant right below the nice upper growth you know where all the leaves are. If the rubber plant has become kind of leggy over time maybe bigger than you like air layering can create a whole new plant from that top portion. So for air layering if we start over on the left hand side. In air layering, we use a sphagnum moss that's that kind of brownie mossy type material and usually before you apply that moss to the stem. Most indications are that you should cut that stem a little bit to coax rutting to cut the stem a little bit and if you do some online searching for air layering you'll find good detailed methods for that kind of how much to cut, or maybe do a little bark scraping on that that kind of induces that stem to start producing roots at that point that you've that you've done a little bit surgery on it. Before we wrap the moss on. It does help if you use a rooting powder now rooting powder of the garden centers sell those they're a rooting hormone, they're a white powder in most cases. And in this case of air layering what you would do it be to take some that powder and maybe moisten the stem first so it sticks. So a little bit of that powder on the area that you've maybe cut a little or nicked a little bit to induce rooting, then wrap that area in the moistened moss. Then it takes a little bit of monkeying to do, but kind of with one hand or holding that plastic and the moss, you know that wrap and secure the moss with and the plastic with twist them or other fixture. See in the middle picture how roots formed is that nice in that need the roots form in there. Now, it's going to take some time on some of these plants it can probably take a couple of months to get decent roots like that. Occasionally you need to add water so watch the, the plastic and see if it ever looks like the moss is drying out if you don't see that moisture accumulating in there. Take a little bit of water kind of in up at the top or loosen the top twist them and add a little bit of water. So when you see the plastic well filled with roots like that. Here comes the fun part. The photo on the right hand side. We take our pruning shears and cut that off below the roots. And there you've got a nice rooted new rubber plant. The bottom was all leggy. Well, you can cut back that might resprout to but you've got a brand new rubber plant from the process called air layering again do a little bit of online searching and you'll find some of the more detailed instructions for that but that's the the general concept of air layering. Next stem sections. Here was a Chinese evergreen the plant is called and it was quite old and had gotten quite leggy. So here's what we're going to do we cut off that whole top portion leggy portion and notice the stem along there. What I've done is cut it into stem sections each one maybe about three inches or so long, and we're going to coax that to root. So to do that, here's the rooting powder that I mentioned. So put a little that in a disposable dish and then moisten the moisten the surface a little bit, and that the rooting powder will adhere better. Now in a minute we're going to take those stem sections and deal with that but being a thrifty houseplant owner. We don't want to dispose of that top. Let's see if we can get that to read that that will also read that top like that. So we're going to get lots of plants out of this one. So now in a pale, like an ice cream bucket, I've added seeding mix. The type of mix you would buy at a garden center or hardware store national chain that's used for starting seedlings that can also be used for rooting cuttings, or you can use total vermiculite. Vermiculite are those little kind of golden crystals you buy that at you buy it at a garden centers and vermiculite are little kind of golden flakes like and it works really well for propagating or a seeding type mix usually works quite well too. So now I've taken the top off of that spindly Chinese evergreen and planted it down in this this pale, and it's going to root. Now let's let's get back to these stem sections. Okay, the stem sections that I cut up. I've rolled in the rooting powder. Next, I planted those down in this media. Then we can close that in a plastic bag. Next, I put it under fluorescent lights we could put it in a window kind of not so it's getting hot sunlight, but just off to the edge a little so it's getting good light. And now, now the top has rooted I haven't taken that out of the bucket yet, because I want to let it go a little, but I did raise up a couple of the stem sections now out of the mix where I put those. Now notice the white roots that are coming out of the stem sections. Also, notice towards the left of the photo. Notice the little green sprouts that are coming. So look at that that from just a almost dead looking stem section. Notice how it started to root and sending up leaf sprouts. So that's going to be a fun plant. So brand new little plant coming out of the older Chinese evergreen. So stem sections is certainly a good way on some of that type of plant to start more of them. So our next method is getting houseplants started by cuttings now an old term for cuttings is slips taking a slip of a plant. So the plant parts that we could use for starting more plants. On the left there you see African violets. And also takes on an African violet to start a new one is a leaf cutting just leaf not not any stem tissue or anything like that but just the the broad part of the leaf, plus the leaf stem and put down in vermiculite or a seeding type mix and kept moist like that. It does help if you enclose that in a little plastic bag just to make a greenhouse type of fact and look at the little plantlets coming off of that. And when a person takes each of those clumps out with a fine knife you can separate each of those little plantlets off as long as it has its own root, and you've got new African violets. One advantage of starting African violets from a leaf like this a cutting is that if you start with a nice purple African violet, you're going to get another purple African violet from that. Remember I said you could start African violets from seed. Well, if they're hybrid type seed they'll probably get the same color, but if it's a non hybrid you might get kind of a mixture, but this type of cutting assures that you're going to get the exact thing that you started with. On the right hand side of the picture there, we've got an Ivy type, and notice how the leaves come off of stems. So those lend themselves very well to to what are called stem cuttings. So for those, if we want to start a new plant, we would take tip cuttings. The tip cuttings always seem to root better for me than if you go too farther back. But I like the tip cuttings from all the tips around that plant and in length probably three or four inches. And those will make a very nice cutting. So let's take a look at some of the methods for doing that. Now, what if we just take a cutting off of a plant and put it in water? Well, that's the way my mom and grandma started most of their house plants. And this coleus here that I've rooted, you know, they do root, but there's a better way. But I mean, whatever works, we can keep certainly keep doing, but there's a better way. The problem with starting cuttings in water is that the roots that develop are adjusted to water. The roots get used to that environment. And then when you go to transplant that root cutting into potting mix, that mix is foreign to those roots. And so you get more transplant shock. Sometimes it works well, but the success rate seems to be lower for many of us. But instead, if you root those cuttings in, you know, media is the term, media means just a more solid type mix, a seeding type mix, the vermiculite perlite, things like that, non water type mixes. So if that same coleus is rooted in a media like that, the roots are already adjusted, the roots that form are adjusted and adapted to that type of mix. So when you go to transplant that cutting, the success rate, the takeoff rate is much better than a cutting that was rooted in water. So that's the type of method that I'm going to describe next. Now I like to call this the ice cream bucket method of starting cuttings. I first did this when I was studying horticulture at NDSU. The basic horticulture class had a lab, and in that lab we got to start houseplant cuttings. And the method that they used was this. And this, that was 40, 45 years ago, and I've used that method ever since. So here's what we do with this method. Okay, the materials we need is either an ice cream bucket or another similar size bucket. Make sure you punch holes in the bottom so that excess water can drain away. Most of those, of course, have a one handle on already a wire handle, you can add a crisscross wire to help support and make a little more of a greenhouse. You don't have to do that if you don't want. Okay, then next we need a the media. Okay, the media can be a seed starting mix as is shown there, or you could use vermiculite. Whatever mix you use whatever media you use make sure you moisten it down well first, all of those materials are very dry coming out of the bag. So make sure that you first moisten it down well maybe the day before the moisture penetrate and make it nice and mellow. So we're not starting with that bone dry dusty material. The cuttings as you see down at the bottom of the photo. The cuttings should be probably three to four inches long stem cuttings the stem plus a few leaves attached in one ice cream bucket. You can get probably six or eight cuttings depending on the size of those when you're taking the cuttings. Again, I like the tip cuttings they just seem to root better the cuttings from the tips outer tips of plants. So remove the lower leaves so that there are a few bear what they call nodes, the nodes are the raised joints along the stem. So leave the uppermost leaves, remove the lower leaves, and that exposes those bumps or nodes on the stem. And that's where most of the roots are going to form. So next we fill the bucket about, oh, half to two thirds full of our media. The one again that I've had the best success with probably is vermiculite. Then we insert the cuttings. Now many of these houseplant cuttings will root fine without the rooting powder, but rooting powder does encourage more roots and kind of more fibrous root. Before we insert the cuttings into the media in the bucket, we can moisten the stems a little bit and then roll them in a little bit of that powder, and then insert. Now, if you do use the rooting powder instead of just putting it down in the mix which could rub off that powder, first make a hole with the pencil or pen, and then insert the cutting in, and then firm that mix around the cutting. Now we don't want the cuttings to wiggle. If the cuttings are too loose and wiggly, the roots will wear away as they form. So make sure you kind of pat the mix down. And then we can fit in one bucket, probably six or eight cuttings, depending on the size. Then once you've got all your cuttings in, and when you're inserting the cutting. If it's about a three inch cutting, put at least one inch down so that one or two of those nodes, the raised bumps on the stem are down below the mix so that that's where the roots will come. And then we enclose the whole bucket in a plastic bag, not totally sealed, we need a little bit of air. But what that is going to do is create a greenhouse like atmosphere around those cuttings so they won't wilt as much, and they just make a wonderful, very root, rooting friendly atmosphere. After you've got all the cuttings in there and before you zip it up, water that bucket well, that also helps to firm firm the mix around the cuttings. And when it's thoroughly watered the excess of course will drain out the bottom. So you might want to put this on a plate of some sort so it doesn't get all over everything. But be sure that you water it well and once enclosed in plastic you're probably not going to have to water that again until the the cuttings are well rooted. So close in plastic believe a little bit of air so that can get in. So where are we going to put the bucket. Well, if we put it in a sunny window would probably be too intense. So a little bit of filtered light or off to the side of a window would be good or under fluorescent lights. Then in two to three weeks we've got nice roots forming. Now resist the urge to tug on the cuttings which could break off the roots so instead with your hands you'll dig down in and lift the cutting out with your hands so that we don't break off any roots. Now those roots that have formed on that let's say I believe it was an angel wing begonia I think that I started the roots that form there are well adapted to that solid type mix. So that will transition very well into potting soil with very little transplant shock. So really a really neat way to start cuttings. The majority of our houseplants can probably be started from cuttings that way, unless the types that divide easily like we mentioned before but cuttings is a really great way. If you have any kids that are interested in gardening, this is a great way to get kids involved in gardening it is fascinating to see those cuttings actually produce roots, and then you can start all kinds of new little houseplants. I wanted to take a few minutes to talk specifically specifically about geranium cuttings. Now geraniums are so fun and of course that's one of the most popular outdoor flowers in the summertime. And we can start lots of geranium cuttings off of a large plant like that. The time of year that they seem to root really well is in late summer August and September. See on these big potted geraniums they have outdoors then the end of summer August September, we can take nice cuttings off of those and start lots. And with the cuttings that we take off of those and coax to root those cuttings we can grow indoors in the wintertime then they'll be ready for next May so let's talk about taking geranium cuttings. The ideal geranium cutting is on the left side, a cutting that's about three inches long and only has two main leaves and a little bit of center growth in the middle. So notice when I've taken that cutting off of the old geranium plant. I've taken off the bottom set of leaves so if you see in that photo the raised section the nodes along that stem. Now geraniums are really susceptible to rot. Geranium cuttings are susceptible to rot before they root. That's one reason why these root better in vermiculite or sand peat moss than they would in water. So that cutting that I've taken. I did not use the scissors or pruning shears I snapped that from the plant now there was a reason why on geraniums. I don't use the scissors or shears. I just snapped the cutting off and the reason for that excuse me is that geranium cuttings can rot really easy. And if we're using a scissors to take the cutting that can transfer the bacteria and the fungi onto that cut surface. And so for that reason, snapping them off prevents the transmission of rotting disease onto that cutting. So beautiful cutting. Now, we could put them in the ice cream bucket like I mentioned before, but they wrote very nicely in vermiculite or any other mix put in little cell packs. They do really, really well. One reason, one reason for not putting draining cuttings in the ice cream bucket is stays really nice and humid excuse me I got a little frog in my throat. It stays really humid in those ice cream buckets almost to humid for geraniums. Excuse me it's been a busy day of webinars today. So anyway, they do root better with less rot if we put them in in individual little packs like like this. Now, these are geranium cuttings that my wife Mary and I started this last year, and I took off a couple of leaves so we could so it could be photographed better. So I started them in recycled nursery, they're like six packs. And so I put one cutting in each one. And what I used here was a mixture of sand and peat moss, we could use seed starting mix or vermiculite. So they wrote really, really nicely. Now it does take two, three, four weeks for them to read. But then when they do look at what a nice cutting that is look at the roots on that. Now that's going to transition into potting mix in a pot beautifully with very little transplant shop. And then what Mary and I do is we pot those up into four inch kind of greenhouse type pots, and then grow them under fluorescent lights all winter long. And by the following spring, those produce greenhouse quality geraniums for starting again. And of course we usually don't throw out the original plant that was outside you know the big mother plant that I got all these cuttings from. So we throw those out we actually overwinter the mother plants to but I do a whole program on geraniums so tonight's not the night for that, but a wonderful way to start geranium cuttings and from one mother plant in the late summer fall of the year you can get dozens of new geranium plants. Geraniums are a fun, fun crop to grow from cuttings. We're going to leave the propagation behind a little bit and but feel free to put questions in. I'll have some time to answer those at the end, but we're going to talk about some general care types. So do you have a green thumb. It's surprising how many people mentioned to me I'd like to grow plants but I just don't have a green thumb, but that's not true. Let's tell them you can a green thumb is simply giving plants what they need to thrive and grow and all of us can do that experiences the best teacher just growing plants seeing what works seeing what doesn't but also learning about plants we can all do that so we can all have green thumbs. An interesting concept is that all house plants are native outdoors somewhere. There weren't really any plants created just like here this is created to be a house plant know they're all native somewhere, mostly to the tropics tropical jungles or some to the in the deserts like the succulent cactus types. So they're native somewhere. And if we, if we kind of comprehend or look, look up where those plants were native that gives us a clue to their care to what they instinctively want as their care now here's a good example. African violets. Have you ever heard that African violets, you should not get water on the leaves. Well, that's not entirely true because African violets are native to the tropical rainforests in the Usambara mountains of Africa so they're getting water on their leaves all the time. But that water is warm, a nice lukewarm water. As soon as you get chili water on African violet leaves, it causes spotting and the leaves quickly just droop. So a good case in point of how knowing where those plants are native gives you a clue as to what care they want. And of course light very, very important. There's different types of light of course for house plants and when you buy a new one, the plant tag will usually say what type of light it gets. Now, full sun is when a plant would be sitting right there directly in a window with sunshine falling on its leaves. Indirect light is off to the side, or if you've got a sherry type curtain in front of the window then you can give indirect light. There's a good way to know if your plant is getting enough light. And that's to look closely at the leaves and stem. If you bought a new plant from a greenhouse when you get home and take a look, the leaves are spaced very closely along the stem. It's compact, it's not leggy. If a plant isn't getting enough light, as you look at the leaves and the stems, the space between the leaves will be wider apart. The plant will have a leggy look. And sometimes on that plant they bought from the greenhouse and you've grown for a year or so and wondering if it's getting enough light. Look back at the central base where it was grown in the greenhouse and look what the distance between leaves should be. And then look what it is in your home condition. If it's kind of like what was grown in the greenhouse, it's getting a good amount of light. If it's gotten spindly and a lot of distance between leaves, then maybe we need to give it a little more light to prevent that leggy look. Also, light changes with the seasons. Oh, and it's fun. Now in February that sun is getting higher in the sky. During the winter when the light is so weak, the sunlight is weak and the days are short, Mary and I put some of our plants directly in the window so that it gets some sunshine. But that same window in July would be way, way too intense. We would get sunlight burning. So it's important to remember that the light changes with the seasons and sometimes you need to adjust where you've got that plant in the window with the seasons. Now the right size pot. Lots of different types. I like clay pots. They just do well. Plastic pots will work too. The right size pot is important. If the pot is too big, plants just wallow in that. Well, we might think, well, if I've got a new little plant, if I plant it in a big pot, then I won't have to repot it so often. But plants seem to have a comfort level in filling the pot with roots. And then we can transplant it into a slightly larger pot. When you do transplant the plant into a new pot, usually about just one inch on either side. So a four inch, if it's in currently a four inch plant, bump it up to a six inch diameter pot. If a young plant is put in too large of a soil mix, it tends to get over watered and just wallows in way too much soil. So plants have that comfort level of filling it up. Now selecting potting mix, the highest quality mix that you can buy are usually nice light mixes. You don't have to water mix them up good, add water before you use them so they aren't so dry, but the, the less quality mixes are usually quite heavy in the bag. So the national brands are wonderful mixes that your local locally owned garden center or greenhouse would would recommend oftentimes they have mixes that they use in their own greenhouse and of course that's the good stuff. So you can ask your locally owned garden center for a good potting mix. So this isn't the area to scrimp on on cheap, get a good quality mix. Oh, now I love this drainage is better in a house plant pot, if you do not put those rocks in the bottom. Just did it her plants grew beautifully but some of those really knew how to watch the watering. There's been a lot of research done and plants actually drain better without those layer of pebbles so we can save ourselves work. Now here's the concept behind it. So when water goes down through the potting mix, it reaches that layer of change and it senses that, and it super saturates the soil above before it drains away. And so your drainage is actually better if you don't have that layer of change. So the best drainage is to fill the pot from top to bottom with good quality potting mix and forget the rocks and the stones in the bottom. I've just saved saved myself and everybody else a whole lot of work and scouring the back alleys for a little bit of rocks or pebbles like my mom used to do, but her plants grew well too. So if if you have rocks in the bottom of the pods you don't necessarily have to take them out but it does mean you have to watch because those those plants can get water logged easier. Now how do you know if a plant should be repotted? Well, if we slip it out of the pot, if you can see free soil, then it's probably okay for a while yet. But if that pot is so entangled with roots that you see no free soil, then it's time to bump it up to the next size pot. How often do they need repotting? Well, there are Christmas cactuses and jade plants that have been the same pot for 30, 40, 50, 60 years. Most house plants are probably going to need repotting every one, two, three years or so. Now I like to talk about this, the importance of headspace. We don't hear this talked about much, but I've I've seen a very important correlation about what we call headspace. Okay, what is headspace? Headspace is the distance between the rim of the pot and the top of the soil. Notice on this jade plant, it's got a very deep headspace. I get a lot of questions on house plants that are not doing well. And I've noticed a direct correlation between house plants that are not doing well and a very deep headspace. The pot wasn't filled up as far as it could be with soil. And so, okay, why would that be? Well, if it's too deep of a headspace, the soil potting mix tends to stay just wet, poorly drained, poorly aerated muddy. There's not as much air moving through. But here's the concept. If you have a higher soil profile from a pot that's filled all the way up, gravity is our friend. Gravity will pull that water down through the mix. You get a bigger gravity pull and a better drained mix. So in our house plant pots, fill it all the way up. If it's newly potted plant, fill it all the way up to the rim, to the edge of the pot. And then when you water it, water it thoroughly, it's going to settle it down so that the final result will only be about a half an inch of headspace. So again, I really would like to emphasize that if the headspace is deep and the pot is only filled two thirds with soil, you're not getting that gravity pulled down. And so the drainage is actually not as good. Okay, what if the headspace on a plant is too deep? Can we just add some soil on the top? Probably not. That can cause stem rot. We should take that plant out of the pot, add soil in the bottom of the pot, and then set the plant down at the proper headspace. Would you believe that I started these two spider plants the same time from little baby spiders? I like to call this the importance of intentional care. We have pets. We give our pets intentional care. We just don't kind of leave them off to the side and give them a little food and all that. If we give them care and intention, they respond. Plants do the same thing. I started those two spider plants the same. The one on the left, the bigger one, I fertilized it, I repotted it in due time. I gave it intentional care. The one on the right didn't die. I watered it kind of when I needed it, but I didn't give it the extra care. I didn't give it fertilizer during the spring and summer. And look what a difference that makes. Started the same exact day from similar sized little spiders. So intentional care. Our houseplants respond to intentional care the same way that pets do. Okay, watering is one of the most challenging aspects of houseplant care, especially until we develop some experience with those plants. And of course, chemicals in water can cause tip burn, chlorine and fluorine are common causes of tip burn. And some plants are more susceptible like spider plants. This piece lily is another very susceptible. It does help if you let the water stand overnight. It's kind of debatable whether some of those chemicals are really going to evaporate enough, but it certainly doesn't hurt to let the water stand for a day. Oh, but rainwater. Rainwater is wonderful for plants and melted snow. My mom always had a pail of snow thawing on the radiators at home for her houseplants. How to tell if house time needs watering? Well, you might think, gosh, that one looks like it's awfully dry. But now the interesting thing is a plant that is over watered could have its roots all rotted away, and then it wilts because it doesn't have any roots left. So wilting doesn't always mean that it needs more water. There's a couple of ways to tell. Okay, the weight of a plant. It's surprising on a smaller plant, if you just lift it up, you can kind of gauge the difference in pot weight and then water that plant thoroughly, lift it up a little bit, and then sometimes you can just by lifting it tell the weight of a dry pot. But the finger test is probably the most reliable. Just inserting the finger up to the first joint and feeling is there a moisture at the fingertip? If so, the plant probably has enough moisture. Wait a day or so. If it's dry at the fingertip, then go ahead and water. The important concept is for most plants, anytime we provide water, apply enough so the entire soil ball becomes wet and then discard any drains out. I'm oftentimes asked, how often should we water plants? You know, once a week, twice a week? There are too many variables. The heat in the room, the light, the size of the pot, the type of plant. So we can't water on a schedule. We can't say to someone else, you need to water twice a week. But it's important to check the plants on a schedule. I check ours every Wednesday and Sunday. And if they're dry, then go ahead and water. If they aren't dry, then wait a day or so. But do check them on a schedule, but not necessarily water on a schedule if they don't need it. You can look at the visual appearance of the soil. Most of the potting mixes become light in color when they're getting dry. And then you can give it the finger test too. Fertilizing houseplants. Houseplant growth responds to the day length and the amount of light that they're getting. So in the winter, some of these plants kind of hunker down and they don't really need a whole lot of extra nutrition. So it's important to save our fertilizing. When the days get long, the light gets better. Starting really in about February or March, then we can fertilize once or twice a month. Following the label directions, of course, all the way spring, summer, fall. And then around September, when the days start getting short, then maybe not fertilize. An exception is African violets and blooming type plants. Now we're going to quickly take a look at a couple of houseplant insects. Now these are spider mites. I should say spider mite damage and spider mite signs, the webbing. If you take a look at the leaves, the little tiny white dots, that means spider mites have been sucking the sap of those plants. Spider mites are so tiny that you can usually not see them on plants. If you take a white sheet of paper and flick the leaves on and then with a magnifying glass, look at the little tiny specks, those are spider mites. So usually we see the damage long before we see the little mite themselves. By the time you see damage like this with the webbing and all the little markings on the leaves, this plant really is not going to recover very well. And so important to be looking for spider mite injury early on. Aphids, if you notice the white, Aphids can also be green or brown, reddish. They tend to congregate up in the growing tips of plants and on the leaves, they exude a sticky substance. Do you notice how the leaves have kind of a shiny substance? That's the sticky honeydew. And you oftentimes will feel that on the table around where the plants are growing as well. They're sucking the sap out of the leaves. Mealy bugs. Mealy bugs are the white cottony growth. They're a slow moving insect that has encircled themselves with that cottony material to protect themselves from any insecticide that we try to apply. So what are we going to do with some of these insect problems? Well, systemic insecticides are a good choice. Systemic insecticides are granules that are applied to the soil following label directions. The roots take up the product and then as spider mites or aphids or mealy bugs start sucking the sap, the insects are killed. So it protects the plants from the inside out. So it's a good, really a good protective measure, especially against like spider mites that are so difficult to see until it may be too late. Insecticidal soap works good. Now, insecticidal soap must contact the little insects in order to kill them. It doesn't have residual, so it needs to be applied fairly oftenly and it needs to actually coat those little bugs with the soap and then it can be quite effective. But again, it's not really a preventative. Now, here's one that I think we can all relate to, those annoying little black flies that flit around our houseplants. Those are called fungus gnats on the yellow trap there. You can see them and they are so annoying. They create a life cycle in the soil. So the black flies, little black fungus gnats, they lay eggs in the soil. The eggs hatch into larvae. The larvae hatch into more adults and you get a life cycle going. So you could spray the fungus gnats that you see, but, okay, that would kill those. But they've already laid eggs in the soil and the eggs in the soil cause more adults. So you can constantly be trying to spray and it doesn't solve the situation, but there's a good remedy. That's the product called mosquito bits. And if you look on the label, it says also controls fungus gnats. Mosquito bits is a great product. It's a beneficial bacteria. You add the little granules to the soil and the beneficial bacteria attack the larvae. You see the adult flies laid eggs, eggs hatch into larvae. And that larvae is what these beneficial bacteria kill. So it breaks this life cycle. So it may take a little bit to go into effect, but the life cycle of fungus gnats will be killed. You'll break that life cycle and eventually you'll get them under control. Now our last two slides here, I added just for a little bit of trivia. Christmas cactus. Now you've probably heard that they're Christmas cactus and they're also Thanksgiving cacti. There's also Easter type, but take a close look at these stem pads. They don't really have leaves. They have stem pads. Notice the smooth lobes on these. This is the true Christmas cactus. Most of the long time old ones that we inherit from parents, grandparents, great grandparents are the true Christmas cactus. Now take a look at this one. Notice the stem pads have that tooth on that that at each joint, they have these barbs, these teeth. Those that is the Thanksgiving cactus. It's actually a different species from the Christmas cactus, even though the blossom look kind of similar. A lot of the of these plants that are sold now in the greenhouse trade are actually Thanksgiving cactus. They have a trigger that triggers them into blooming a little earlier than Christmas cactus. So the sales are better. So again, notice the difference. So as people are sharing on Facebook, they're Christmas cactus. Sometimes they know it's a Thanksgiving cactus, but take a close look to see is it actually a Christmas cactus, or is it the Thanksgiving cactus? The care is much the same, but it's kind of fun. Well, the wonderful world of houseplants, I love it. Now, I'm going to leave this contact information up here. If there's anything you'd like to contact me about on gardening type questions, feel free to email me. And now we're going to go to the chats. So if at any point you want to sign off, I want to thank you for joining us and thanks for bearing with me while I had that little frog in my throat. So again, Don Kinsler, Cass County Extension, NDSU, and we're going to go to the question and answer box. But again, for anybody that does need to leave, I really appreciate your joining us. Okay, I'll start at the top here. I'm carefully caring for many outdoor house plants. We're going to be gone, going to be gone. Okay, any suggestions for keeping plants in the house, temperature will drop to 62 degrees, that's perfect. Okay, in the garden column on Saturday, we actually are going to talk about this in the question and answer. A method that works really well is to group your houseplants together in a spot that's going to get filtered light, not direct sunlight, and then with clear plastic film, cover the plants with that, water them well first, drain off any excess, cover them in that plastic, and then fasten it down well around the edges. Someone just emailed me, the reason I'm talking about in the garden column is they emailed me and said, we tried this, wow, and it worked for about three weeks while we were gone. So if you're going to be gone for 20 days, this method should keep you covered. So what are the pros and cons for rinsing off the dirt before you divide the root ball into smaller sections? I think that's a good idea when you divide to rinse away. What that will help do is get rid of fungus gnats that might be there. You're causing a little bit of disruption, but that's probably a good idea. The other thing you're doing with rinsing away the old potting mix. The potting mix tends to accumulate salts, fluorine, chlorine, other salts out of the water. So by rinsing it away, you're getting rid of some of that. Okay, next, does rich hormone powder get old? I have one container from a few years ago, should I get a new one? If it's kept dry, then usually they're fine. They have a shelf life of probably at least three years. The fresher the better, but I think you'd be in pretty good shape. They do have a shelf life. What is the purpose of putting a plastic bag over the plant? Is it necessary like for doing cuttings as necessary in all plants or only certain types of plants? When a person takes a cutting of a plant, you're cutting it off of its root system. And also that plant that was leggy, that Chinese evergreen that I'm rooting the whole top. We're totally severing it from its root system that supplied water. So the reason for putting those plant parts that no longer have roots to feed them water, for putting them in plastic is to keep the humidity up. So there's less chance of wilting on those. Okay, for the stem cuttings, were they completely buried in the soil? For those stem cuttings that did not have any leaves? Yes, they were just barely covered with potting mix. If cuttings have leaves, of course, then you leave the leaves above the mix and just put the stem part below. I have an orchid that has sprouted two babies. What is the best way to separate those into additional orchids? Okay, they will be attached to the mother orchid. So a sharp knife will sever them off. Now orchids are fascinating. They don't have a whole lot of roots on. Oftentimes they'll have aerial roots sticking up out of the pot. And that's good. Now with orchids, it's very important that you buy an orchid type mix. Orchids grow on rotten trees in the tropics. And so the orchid type potting mix is going to be mostly bark chunks. So get a good orchid type mix from the garden center. Approximately how long does it take for African violet to root after cutting? In African violas, you just take a leaf, the wide part of the leaf with a leaf stem. And it's probably going to take the better part of a month before you see a little plantlet arising. The roots might come quicker, but if you're too anxious and disturbed down in to see if it's rooting, then that delay is. So it's probably going to be at least a month or more before you see a new little plantlet coming up out of that. Let's see. Next question. Let's see, I'm not familiar with that plant species. That one I might have to come back to. Do the toilet paper rolls also work well with seed starting for geranium starts? I've grown discouraged with the flats being plastic not many years per flat. Yes, you can use toilet paper rolls. You don't need the whole length, but you can cut them in half and they will, they'll stay supported enough to work for geranium cuttings. So yes, a toilet paper roll cut in half and put in a tray filled with the rooting media that would work for geranium cuttings. Okay, when you mentioned fluorescent lights, are you talking about just plain fluorescent lights or the one specifically designed as grow lights both. Many plant seedlings will grow just fine. We use just because we had them a long time, we use fluorescent shop lights. Just regular. These are eight foot long with two fluorescent tubes. I try for cool white and a warm white under, but they're all kinds of new LED lights and LED plant lights and they are wonderful. So you can do under fluorescent lights that works well. The LEDs and specific plant lights work well too. So lots of good choices. Is it too late for geranium cuttings now? I didn't, didn't take the cuttings back in the fall. They'll certainly root now. So go ahead if you've got a geranium plant, go ahead take the cuttings now and the method we suggested. They're going to take a little longer to develop to root and develop into a good plant. So instead of being ready for May, that might be the middle of summer, but I would go ahead. I would certainly go ahead. Okay, when did you start the geranium cuttings August to September? Christmas cactus be repotted with succulent soil or regular potting mix or host plant mix. Ah, good question. Now we need with Christmas cactus to take a look at where they were native. The word cactus is a little deceptive because they're not a desert type cactus that would grow in sand. Instead, Christmas and Thanksgiving cactus are tropical cactuses that grow on deteriorating trees, humus-y type thing. So actually a well-drained potting type soil potting type mix is probably better than a succulent type mix, but it's got to be very well-drained because they are a cactus and they can be over watered easily. So one thing you might do is use a regular potting mix, add more vermiculite or something for extra drainage, but that peat moss in those is beneficial. It kind of gets them back to their native roots. Okay, any tips on repotting large plants of bird of paradise? Wow, bird of paradise are beautiful. Over six feet tall and glorious. It is breaking out of the plastic liner it came in. I'm afraid of repotting and damaging. Those are pretty much a repotting on the floor. So to get that, of course, plastic down always helps on the floor first, and then scoot the plant over onto the plastic and then take a break. It sounds like the pot's already cracking, so break that away and get your new pot and soil right there, have someone help lift it, and only go a couple of inches bigger in pot than it is right now. Maybe try to get a little of the old soil off so that a little bit of fresh soil would put, but I can appreciate that. You hate to disturb in the wrong way a big plant like that, but with a little care it'll work well. Fillers and pots are pine cones okay to use. Fillers and pots. So maybe referring to like a big outdoor planter where you don't want to put so much potting mix in, but you want to take up some space. Okay and yeah pine cones would be okay. Some people use pots, milk jugs. Now remember in house plants we don't want that layer of change because that can make plants get over watered. Now outdoors we can get by with putting stuff down in the bottom of pots because outdoors the issue isn't usually having the plants get too wet. The issue outdoors is usually keeping plants wet enough because they tend to dry out. So you have pine cones. I've never heard of pine cones being used as fillers down in pots, but I think they would work. They'd eventually break down of course. Any tips on propagating succulents? Succulents, many of them will root fine from cuttings, and the mix has to be very, very well drained such as sandy. How to get rid of fungus gnats or avoid having them? Okay and fungus gnats, the two approaches. One is to use a house plant spray, insecticidal spray that'll knock down the adults or use those yellow sticky traps, but also get the material called mosquito bits, mosquito bits. Garden centers, some have them, hardware stores, sell mosquito bits, and put that in the soil. That will break the cycle. Because they're very, very common in house plant soil, even from reputable sources. Will you be offering a geranium webinar? Maybe in the fall. How about if I do that in the fall when it's time to overwinter and also take cuttings? Good idea. I'll do that in the fall. Stay tuned. Thanks. What method propagation would work best for string of pearls rosary plant? Oh, beautiful succulent. On those, if you can divide them, that will work. If it's formed multiple shoots coming out of the crown, that will work. But also, they will root from taking sections, which will be kind of little strings of pearls, and then put the base down in. They will root. Let's see. Would you do a lesson on succulents? At some point, I probably will not be doing that this spring, but at some point, that might be next year on succulents. Would African violet potting mix have enough drainage to propagate a cutting from a flaming violet? African violet mix is quite well drained and it is high in peat moss. Things well in peat moss. So I would say if you have African violet potting mix, that should, your flaming violet should root in that. How often do you water succulents in winter? Oh, that's a good, good, good question. And of course, the reason they are succulents is because they've got a waxy coating and they store water within themselves so well. So how often do you water succulents in wintertime? Many plants, including succulents, hunker down in wintertime. So once a month. It kind of depends on if it's in a sunny window or not sunny, you know, if it's under lights or in a bright sunny window. But probably once a month, every three to four weeks, might be enough. It's hard to give an exact deadline or timeline on those. If you see a fungus net periodically, like maybe once a week, do you need to do mosquito bits? Well, the tricky thing about fungus nets is they lay hundreds and hundreds of eggs. And so a couple of fungus nets can quickly become a problem. So if you see any, I would do the mosquito bits. Again, the mosquito bits are beneficial bacteria don't harm. They won't harm pets. They won't harm humans. They're one of the friendly guys. Okay, especially if you have 150 plants or so. Yes, bless you. 150 plants is wonderful. But yep, if you see a fungus net or two, I definitely do some control. Although if you've got 150 plants, that's going to be tough to know where to put them. Maybe in that case, try the yellow sticky traps to try to catch the adults. What is the best time to propagate cuttings or does not matter because they're indoor plants? Oh, plants sense day length. So right now is a great time to start cuttings because unless you're keeping under fluorescent lights, they'll sense the lengthening days and that helps stimulate rooting too. Okay, I also have a bird of paradise that is never bloomed. Do I need two plants for pollination? Pollination would affect the seed that would be produced, but it doesn't affect flowering. So two plants wouldn't coax the flowering, but it could coax if cross pollination was needed, that would affect the seed that would come out of the flowers. So no, a bird of paradise, they have to be really, really happy. It takes a lot of patience too. I'm not sure how old your bird of paradise plant is, but with patience, if it's growing well, good leaves, good light, eventually they will bloom. My Thanksgiving cactus bloomed too early. If I leave it in the dark, will bloom later when the buds start to appear. Okay, Thanksgiving Christmas cactus are triggered and bloomed by two factors. The most reliable is cool temperatures. The other thing is short day length. So the most reliable trigger is cool temperatures. The reason our grandmothers always bloomed reliably is they had them probably in the good living room where it got really chilly at night and that triggers blossoming. And also maybe move that Thanksgiving cactus closer to a cool window and it'll have a little chilly microclimate there at night, and that can trigger. Or another thing in the fall, leave it out when temperatures are getting below 50, not freezing, but that will also trigger the eventual flower bud formation for Thanksgiving. And you mentioned it bloomed too early. Well, okay, so yeah, if it bloomed too early, maybe it got that chilling a little bit earlier. But again, yeah, so sometimes they bloom when they want to. Many people's bloom several times. What is my favorite house plant, ferns? I love rabbit's foot fern just because they're so fun. I really love ferns, you know, and sometimes we think gosh, they're kind of messy, but you know, many of our pets are messy too. So if I had to pick a favorite house plant and prayer plant, I love prayer plants, it's fun at night to kind of fold up a little bit from once they get the name. What's the best way to propagate a Christmas cactus? Well, stem cuttings, you take a couple of those pad sections, and in vermiculite works very well, or sand too, or a succulent type mix would work too. And you just barely put a little of that mix over the end where you snapped the pad off. They don't have to be very deep or shouldn't be very deep. Can you recommend a good brand of soil? I like Miracle Girl potting mix because you can buy it almost anywhere. Miracle Girl potting mix is what Mary and I use for most of ours, but also the garden centers have brands that they use, and those are equally as good. Is there any way you can get an ivy to branch out instead of just one long vine? Yes, pruning back, and of course sometimes that's hard to do. Gosh, I hate to cut all these long vines back, but ivy can be coaxed to do better branching by pruning it way back, because where you had one shoot, it'll encourage two to grow in that spot. So you can double the amount of branching by pruning back. And about now, do that now because the increased day length will help stimulate better branching also. So pruning back, but don't throw away those prunings. You can root those, take stem cuttings of those. Why would my snake plant start getting yellow leaves? Too much water? Usually. Snake plant are a succulent. So with snake plant and other succulents, it's always better to err on the dry side. Too much water oftentimes causes yellow leaves. My paddle plant is getting horrible spots on leaves and generally looking very stressed. Repotted, very little roots, I use a meter to check for moisture. What am I doing wrong? Repotted very little roots. So oftentimes when, when something is happening, moisture is oftentimes, I, even though moisture meter is saying water, they can't always distinguish between different types of plants unless it's a very sophisticated moisture meter. I have a feeling it's probably staying a little too continually too moist. So try letting it dry out a little, a little longer. I have over 50 plants in my house. That's awesome. I have mealy bugs in a few of them. I use rubbing hall with squirted on just open water. It's worked some but not others. What would you do to get rid of them and how many plants could they possibly move to mealy bugs can infest plants fairly, fairly rapidly and the rubbing alcohol will penetrate that will help. I would really try the systemics of the systemic granules because that causes the sap to be poisonous to the mealy bugs. What is causing blackening leaves on my philodendron? Well, there are different diseases, but if it hasn't been repotted for a while, I would repot and look at the roots, see if the roots are good and healthy, or if there's some rot happening on the roots as well. I would try repotting that into some fresh high quality soil. Also check to make sure that the pot isn't too big. Where do you get plastic Ziploc bags that fit into an ice cream pail? Yes, that took some searching. Okay, so what I do instead is anytime I find a clear plastic bag that's big enough for an ice cream bucket to fit in, I save it. For example, paper plates. If you buy like 500 paper plates at Walmart or any other national chain, oftentimes those products come in big clear plastic bags. So I always save those for when I want to root an ice cream bucket. So it doesn't need to be a Ziploc. We can fasten the top of other size clear bags too. How do you root a jade plant from a leaf? A jade plant you can use either just a leaf or a stem section with several leaves on too, but you can just use one leaf and just cut the, or just tuck the cut end, the lower part of the leaf, just barely tuck that in sand or a well-drained potting mix. Okay, and eventually they will root, even if the new little pup, as you mentioned, but they will root. Okay, I have a ZZ plant. ZZ Raven that I hope to set. Those are beautiful plants. If you aren't familiar with a ZZ plant, investigate them. They're beautiful. That I hope to separate into two plants. They seem to like to be crowded. Many plants do. And as you, as we mentioned, plants don't like to be into too big of a pot. They seem to be like to be crowded a little. As I, as two separate plants, should they be in a bit smaller pot? And if you do divide those two, certainly put them in a smaller pot. And again, to separate those, sometimes a sharp knife where they're, where they're joined together. If you saved a Petunia plant from the summer and stied off, will it come back in the spring if planted in the ground in the spring? Possibly from seeds dropped. Petunia plants, in a milder climate, they are perennial that would come back. But of course in our area, they aren't winter hardy enough. But they do come back from seeds that they've shed around the mother plant. How do you propagate a Jade plant? Jade plant can be propagated just from one single leaf that you put down in a very well-drained potting mix so that the end is just barely covered, or you can take a stem section. Stem sections are quicker. So a stem section about three inches long and to remove the lower leaves and insert about one inch down into that ice cream bucket method. That's my favorite way of starting Jade plants. You get a bigger plant quicker than just starting with one single leaf on Jade plant. I have a lot of plants. I've tried for two years to have a Rex Pagonia. No luck. Do you have tips for the plant? Rex Pagonias are beautiful. Make sure they don't stay too wet. Pagonias actually like to air a little bit on the dry side. So if having problems with Rex Pagonia oftentimes it's because the soil is staying maybe a little too moist. What conditions are I new to help my monstera produce fruit? Ah, a monstera is produced, well actually the botanical name is monstera deliciosa because of the delicious fruit. And so monstera when they're very happy and reach a certain age they will produce a flower followed by a fruit. So if the plant's growing well, plenty of humidity, good light, if the leaves look good with enough patience you should get a flower and a fruit. I have a ropeoya that has two long stems. How do I get it to push out more growth in the middle? Okay, to get it to get more growth down in the middle you almost have to cut it back. And you could try increasing the light but oftentimes a pruning back is needed to cause more growth in the middle. We have brought in a Swedish ivy in the summer. They got root rot. Is there anything we can do to prevent this from happening? Swedish ivy have a fairly thick leaf so they conserve moisture internally. So if it's getting root rot make sure it isn't in too big of a pot. Keep the pot somewhat small so that they aren't wallowing in too much soil and then of course let them dry out really good in between thorough waterings. I have friends that I now wish, boy I think we're at the last question. I have friends that I now wish I'd participated in this session. Is it available after tonight? The reason we don't broadcast the recordings is because people tend to not join live and most of us don't get around to listening to every webinar that we would like to. So we all have good intentions and so, but we did record this and so at a certain point to those who registered here, excuse me, I am going to send out the recording link that you could share with friends. So thank you. I do think we have reached the end of our questions. Let's accept there also. Some in the chat box as well. Let's see. Hey, I could quickly. Let's see how often do you water the cuttings. Okay, cuttings on geraniums let them dry out quite a bit in between I'll try to run through a couple of these and the other some questions were in the chat some in the Q&A. If you've been able to get new plants from variegated snake plants from lease sections. No, variegated snake plant will rot from a cutting, but it loses the variegation. So a snake plant to keep them variegated have to be done by divisions. That's kind of a nice science project. How do you treat and prevent spider mites. The best way really is a lemon tree systemic insecticide is really good, or you really have to be treating them religiously with insecticidal soap, or washing off what cause blackening leaves on a philodendron I think we did that one. All spottoms in a pot, a good idea. As long as the drainage is good yes sometimes we can put one pot inside another pot, and that can work. Why does my spider plant leaves have dead dry ends spider plants are very susceptible to flooring chlorine in the water. And so, with spider plants and also peace lily. It's best to use distilled water, rainwater snow water, save enough of that just for spider plants and peace lily. They, because they do get those dry ends frequently from material and water they're very susceptible to the to that. Let's see. Okay, I think we got that one. Okay, trying to save an old fence Thanksgiving cactus by rewriting leaves. Okay. So anyway, the three leaves hints on rewriting a Thanksgiving cactus. Yeah, so if you've got the three leaves yep just barely cover the, the, the cut cut end I guess I'm saying that right. The part where it came off of the plant just barely cover that with vermiculite sand or other material and try the the ice cream bucket method works quite well on geraniums. Or I mean on Thanksgiving cactus. Okay. Okay, good. Good. I think we let's see tulip bulbs from last fall forgot to plant them. And now if you have started to sprout pot those tulip bulbs up. And they must have met their dormancy so pot them up right now. Hopefully you'll get some bloom from them. Thank you for the kind comments. I think we think we're ponytail Paul brown dead leaves. How do we need to repot ponytail palm. They like humility so maybe try to increase humility and but replanting only every couple of years should should be susceptible or should be sufficient. Okay, mealy bugs, growing more leaves on a skin dapses. Again pruning back some of these is really the only way to encourage some of these is a frowned upon to cut slips from your workplace it is that and botanical gardens. Yeah, frowned on that. We have reached the end of our questions I believe. Again, thank you very much 72 of you hung with us till the bitter end. Again, thank you very much I appreciate your joining on these webinars. These are fun. The next week's webinar is on starting seeds indoors. So I hope you can make it and again thank you for joining me this evening.