Friday Flora: Tuber Time

[lebateleur]

I'm a big fan of the "string of" plants: string of pearls, string of turtles, string of frogs, you name it. I have a string of hearts and a string of arrows among the various plants on one of my narrower windowsills.



They generally seemed pretty happy there. However, a series of calamities have befallen my houseplants over the last 11 months. Think scale, powdery mildew, mealybugs, and wildly fluctuating temperatures and humidity levels...sometimes in the course of a single day. So I was not pleased to find that some as-yet-unknown-to-me pest had started nesting in my string of hearts.

For some reason, I kept not doing anything about it. And for some reason, the string of hearts carried on living and growing quite happily in the face of my neglect. I started to wonder...



Turns out, those little globes aren't insect nests at all, but tubers. How cool--and cool looking--are these things? Better yet, I can clip some of them off, pop them in medium, and have a bunch of new baby string of hearts after they take root.

It's a constant battle between houseplants and books in this residence, and for the time being at least, it looks like the houseplants are in the ascendant.


これで以上です。

Comments

[kalloway]

Oh nifty! I have had middling luck with any sort of vine-y plants. Any I get from the grocery store either have infestations that crop up once I get them home or just die immediately from what I assume is some sort of plant culture shock. I do have a couple of survivors that came from cuttings from coworkers, though, and the wandering-dude is doing well enough I'm beginning to start more and contribute those to the work-plant-ecosystem.

(Someday I'll get my spider plant to not look half-dead. It keeps blooming and shooting off babies so I know it's doing okay; it just looks like ass.)

[lebateleur]

Your work-plant-ecosystem is also nifty! I wish we had one of those. For me it's the grocery store succulents that have quickly and repeatedly given up the ghost. They have a greater die-off rate than my grocery store alocasias, which are demonstrably harder to keep alive in this climate. I lost the majority of my many long-lived and thriving spider plants in this year's Great Die Off; the sole spindly, anemic survivor is just outside of the shot in that first picture above.

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>>I'm a big fan of the "string of" plants: string of pearls, string of turtles, string of frogs, you name it.<<

I like those too. I have a string of pearls, couldn't afford to get the turtles too but will watch for it at future events.

I like plants that propagate themselves. I have some spider plants and a couple of different kalanchoes.

I've just planted some mulberries to see if they'll sprout from the fruit. I found a sapling with big sweet berries and I'd love to encourage that. The yard is full of mulberries, variable in size and quality.

Re: Thoughts

[lebateleur]

Why are the turtles so expensive? I was lucky to get mine at an annual festival here some years back but now even a 1" string of pearls starter pot is $9.00 at the hardware store.

Good luck with your mulberries! They're one of my favorite types of berries and I wish they were more popular (instead of being regarded as a nuisance, which is what most ppl in this area seem to think of them as).

[pauraque]

Oh that's fun, I hope they propagate well!

[lebateleur]

Thank you ❤️ With luck that can be a future Friday Flora update!

[delphi]

Turns out, those little globes aren't insect nests at all, but tubers.

Oh wow, that's really neat!

[lebateleur]

I know! It would never have occurred to me that a "hanging" plant would have them, but hanging takes a human and in their natural habitat they probably creep along the ground.

[under_the_silk_tree]

My sister has a string of dolphins' plant that I always thought was fun. My string of pearls plant is always trying to die on me. My mom gave it to me, and for some reason, it has never been all that healthy.

I'm sorry your plants have had their fair share of problems. That's awesome that your string of hearts plant is doing well.

We are having a plant swap at my library where I work, and I am trying to decide if there is a plant I want to give up in order to get something different.

[lebateleur]

Ooh, I'd love to have a string of dolphins but have never found one here for under $30 (and that's just too expensive for me to justify the purchase).

My first few string of pearls plants also turned very sickly within a year or two of acquisition. But! I have since learned that this plant--especially a healthy, established one--doesn't live beyond five years anyway. So the trick is to take a string or two when your plant's at its peak and root those.

How did the plant swap go, and what sorts of things did people bring? It's interesting to see what plants are "big" in different areas (and I'm jealous of all the plants that grow well in your zone!)