A nincompoop's uncertain first stabs at not killing plants

Okay - dripping pot - not good. Plants (most of them, rice is an exception) shouldn't sit in standing water. It's too much for them, plus you might find you've created a lovely mosquito habitat. So don't water until it drips; water until the top of the soil is moist, then stop. If the plants need water, you'll know it because you've see dry, brown, crackly leaves (usually. There are always exceptions, but that's more or less a rule of thumb to follow).

Bring them in before it hits freezing. If the weather report says there's going to be a frost, take the plants in, and leave them in until Spring, even if it's 30 degrees C the next day. We all know that autumn and winter can kind of come and go but the plant is going to get mighty cold if you leave it out too long. Better safe than sorry. We usually take ours in at about mid-October or so.

Dead leaves - brown or yellow - ah, it depends on the plant, of course. If the leaves readily come off, take them off; the plant's about to shed them anyway. If not, don't pull, don't force the issue. As for leaving them in the soil (I think the idea there is, bury the detached leaves in the soil), eh, it may or may not help. Of course you should check whatever is shed - if it's got scales or webbing or any other evidence of insect interest, don't bury it in the soil and instead throw it away so that it's far, far away from your plants, which may or may not be salvageable. For very bad insect infestations (I doubt that you have this, I'm just telling you this for the future), the remedy is to discard the plant and get another. Really. It's hard to get rid of the little buggers once they're established.

PS Is this your Bidens plant?

Is this the zilverblad?

Musta been Bern. I've been to Basel - let me assure you - only pot there is bellies!

Thanks Jes, you're really being of help. And next Saturday, I'm going down to the market again (its just around the corner, anyway, and lovely), and I'll write down the exact names of each plant I have - if they still have 'em - and look up what that would be in English!

OK, so why am I asking this all here?

First, I dont think any of my friends (not as many as there used to be, in the first place) have a garden. They all be up on some floor, barring the one who has a tiny, dark moist "courtyard" (more like a hole between houses). Havent noticed any flowery balconies either.

My sister and father have gardens, though. In fact, I was calling H. with some surprising tiny question the other night, about dead flowers. (I mean, flowers that have stopped blooming, the petals falling off. 'Ccording to one website, you have to take those off as well - there'll be more new flowers if you do. But when do you take them off? When the petals fall off? Or only when they're all dried out, and almost roll off by themselves? I started doing the first, but felt uneasy about actually having to use my nail to snap them off. I expect Jespah's rule about the leaves ("don't force the issue") applies? My dad wasnt of much help - bloody intellectual ;-)).

Anyway, it gets tired soon to call about random tiny questions like that, especially if it makes you feel hapless! Hence, here I am. Hey "nimh" can be clueless - nobody knows him anyway ;-)

This is true with SOME flowering plants but not all. If you prune off the flower heads as they begin to wilt (aka "deadheading") the plant will continue to produce more blooms.

Think of it this way. The plant flowers to produce seeds which are it's form of reproduction. The flower blooms and is pollinated then wilts and as it dries it's seeds fall to the ground and grow the following year. That is the plant's entire purpose for existing. If you break that chain the plant "knows" it hasn't produced viable seeds so it tries again (by producing more blooms).

Most roses and flowering shrubs respond very well to this but not all flowers do. You have to check out each type to see if they will or not.

This reminds me of when I mentioned to a client that the chrysanthemums should be deadheaded (they last through the seasons in southern California) they ... disappeared the next day in their entirety!!

We don't mind itty bitty questions, nimh (oh, nimhcompoop, I had to say it, but don't mean it). I am quiet as I haven't lived with cold below (or rarely below) freezing temp.

Thanks, Fishin'- so I was mistaken to assume the rule on dying leaves (leave 'em on if they don't come off) would apply to dying flowers too - gotta be more proactive then. So I guess its OK to use your nail. Cool - simple answers to straightforward questions!

... nimhcompoop, heh.

And the water thing, if you've got drainage from the bottom of the pots, feel free to water them until the water runs out the bottom. But, it really does depend on the plant. Do find the plant names (the latin ones would be best). This will help tremendously.

My little "garden" on the balcony isn't doing too hot, I'm afraid. At all.

For one, the forget-me-nots have started to look bad. Some kind of white stuff has started to cover some of the leaves. Many of the stems and where the little flowers were, now look pallid and like there's some dusty film over them. (A spider in there too, but I suppose thats not necessarily bad?). There's still enough pretty little blue and purple flowers, but mostly just on one side. Is it some kind of funghus or something? I've put the pot a little aside, so the stems dont touch those of the other plants anymore, afraid they might be infected too.

I went to the market the other week to look up what the names of all those little plants are that I got, I'll come back to list 'em (after I look up how they would translate into English). I even borrowed my work's digital camera and took some pictures! See if I can upload 'em. The one-year-bloomers that thus far I called "the pretty blue flowers" - the ones I thought were either Felicias or Brachycomes - they are Felicia's, thats the Dutch name in any case. But they got a problem now too.

I thought at first there was just some kind of little dust or specks on the stems, just below the flower(bud)s. The other day however I looked up real close, and yuck, they're not just some specks, they're alive. Like tiny green bugs. Is it lice? What do you do against them? Can you do anything against them? They're all over the bloody two of 'em. And now also all over the two green plants in the flower box on the other side (couldnt find those back at the market, so still dont know what theyre called). Do I have to throw them away before the rest of the flowers get em too? Or can you spray them or something?

Thank you everybody ...

Oh and Jes, the top one of your pics is indeed the Bidens I got (from very, very close up! ;-)), but the bottom one is not the zilverblad, from as far as I can tell (different leaves and no flowers)!

potted plants usually need much more water than those in soil. Many plants need DAILY watering or each time they stress by wilting, it takes a little strength away. A potted tree will not do well if left out all winter. We have a lot of orchids which we bring in starting late Sept. We bring them into a room that is actually a "mud" room and they get acclimated to inside .
Flowering annuals often need a food boost and if you dont want to do the old 'fertilize weekly, but weakly" then put some OZMOCOTE or other time rease fertilizer around the plant pot.

I heard a trick that someone with another willow had used. Its called "POT IN POT" where you take you pot and insert it into a bigger pot filled with a plant medium. This acts as a water storage and an insulator.

We have little pots of herbs around ou patio and my wife waters them weekly with a weak solution o f Peters or Miracle Grow and that seems to work well. Never let your plants get soggy wet for days , and converesely, dont let them bake dry either. Its a responsibility and youll develop a good touch thats unique to you area.

nimh

The tiny green bugs are most likely aphids .... little bug things that attach themselves on stems around new growth on plants .... then proceed to chomp into them! Are some of the areas around the new buds/leaves sort of bent, or dying? Leaves discoloured? If so, it is most likely aphids. They're easily gotten rid of ... especially in a few pots. You can either spray them off with jets of water ... or I even remove them by running my fingers down along the stems. Make sure you check that you look under leaves, too. Trouble is, you have to do this regularly. But still, heaps better than using poisons. Another thing you can do is make your own bug spray: Add a little liquid soap (like wool wash) & a little cooking oil to water in one of those plastic "squirt containers" from the el cheapo shop. Give it a good shake & squirt on the affected areas of the plants. You'll need to do this regularly, too. But it works!

I take it the weather's hot on your balcony, it being summer? Well, if the plants are drying out very quickly you might need to water daily. A good, thorough soak is best if the plants are bone dry at the end of each day. If not, thoroughly fill the pots to the top & let it soak right in. Check next day by sticking your finger in the potting mix. If it's still damp, leave it & check the next day.

Hope this is of some use to you.

Thanks msolga, I used your tip! Bought a squirty thing (aint easy to find, actually, like many simple things of old -- I ended up with a fancy one with a little fan, which I promptly stripped off). Filled it with water with some soap and oil, and squirted all the nasty stuff off. Two days in a row, taking the stubborn ones off by hand (yuk).

Seemed to have worked! But for the felicias, perhaps too late ... plants are still alive and well, but the flowers were already killed off by those things (I presume). One or two buds left tho, so perhaps I'll have new ones again.

Paprika plant surprised me too with one, two, then three cute, small blond flowers ... <smiles>

I have pictures, btw, digital camera ones. Have them on my computer now, but they're huge, so Im gonna have to size them down in Photoshop first.

Oh good! Here's hoping we'll hear further good reports, nimh. Just remember to keep a daily watch on those aphids for a bit ... they can pretty persistent! Keep us posted on the paprikas. Things are looking good!

Paprika flowers mean paprika peppers (peppers, yeah?).

Well, I'll bet they'll be tiny! <grins>

mmmm, I dunno that I've seen a whole paprika pepper. I do know that peppers come in a large range of sizes.

Is it one of those little ornamental plants, nimh? If so, you might become the proud parent of some hot little Thai chillies.

Light bulb's going off... does the word 'paprika' mean 'pepper'? Just a general word, or a specific type of pepper?

I think it could be some variety of chili pepper plant, littlek.

Oh, yeah, that paprika/pepper thing ... never understood that bit about your language.

The picture that came with the plant showed one of these:



The yellow one, to be precise. We call 'em paprikas.

Of course, then it turned out you had to put it in a greenhouse ... by itself on a plot of earth some fifteen times the size of my little pot ...

so I'm not expecting much ;-)

Capsicums, nimh. There's no reason why they shouldn't do well with enough sun, liquid food & water. You'll notice little round thingies developing in the centre of the flowers: fruit!
BTW, what food are you giving your plants? Liquid seaweed or fish stuff is good for pot plants.