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devafreya

It's amazing that my plants have lived this long

DevaFreya
10 years ago

I have a couple of plants that I've had for over 13 years, and it's pretty amazing that they are still alive after all the abuse they've had to live through! They even made it through a cross country move!
When I started, the extent of my knowledge was pretty much that plants need dirt, light, and water. Period! lol. I've killed pothos, african violets, aloe, and lots more.

My poor, old faithful plants include:
13+ year old jade tree. This was super leggy, and I recently layered it and it started growing out of all sorts of places on the layered stem! It's odd looking, but pretty neat to watch!

13+ year old peperomia- I thought this one died years ago, and through some combination of hope and laziness, I left it in the pot and watered it sporadically for months. Wouldn't you know it, it came back better than ever. It was still pretty sad for a while, until I finally pruned it like crazy after reading a thread on here. It's kinda cute now.

13+ year old corn plant. This thing is huge! This one was my dh's before I met him. We actually had it bloom this past summer! It had NEVER been repotted in the 12 years I've known him, until the other day.

Comments (11)

  • christine1950
    10 years ago

    It just proves to you that your doing something right :>) I'd love to see pictures..

  • marquest
    10 years ago

    DevaFreya, your story reminds me of what I was brought up with. A house of plants planted and not babied but still survived. I have had my mother's snake plant and it has never bloomed. But it bloomed under her care every year. It was in something that did not even resemble soil it had been in the same pot for as long as I remember.

    It is one of the reasons I smile when I read the forums and hear people are hunting down one thing after another to make soil.

    Then others come and say I have done everything and the plant is dying help me.

    Some plants are really difficult to survive out of their natural environment but there are some you could plant them in a rock and they will grow and be happy.

  • DevaFreya
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    I will post a few pics later! I think I just happened to find a few plants that could tolerate my specific type of "plant care" lol.
    I've also only fertilized them about 2 times in the entire time I've had them! Hopefully, as I get better at plant care, they will start to actually look GOOD!

  • DevaFreya
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Here is a picture of our corn plant blooming.

    This post was edited by DevaFreya on Sun, Sep 22, 13 at 15:59

  • teisa
    10 years ago

    Wow! That is amazing looking. I love to see those in bloom! TFS!

  • christine1950
    10 years ago

    Thats incredible, she's a beauty !!!!

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    10 years ago

    Cool plant stories - not plants one usually hears about in such anecdotes. Peperomias can die very fast, and, from what I've read, a jade can be killed by a single incidence of "overwatering." Keep up the great work!

  • DevaFreya
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Well, the peperomia and the jade...both have looked pretty sad at times! I do water "right" sometimes, ie: until the water comes out the bottom. But I've had horrible soil in the past, and not paid enough attention to lighting! For the past year or so, I've been getting better about the lighting and had somewhat better soils, so that's why they are looking better now.
    Hopefully, now that I'm getting even more educated, they will do even better!

    I think the main thing they have going for them is that I love plants, so when I learn something new I try to do better.

    Here are the peperomias. At least I *think* they are peperomias. I also think there are two types of them, probably. Some of these are rooted, and some are cuttings. (They don't live on the table with the jade plant, that's just the only place bright enough to take pictures of them. They all live in different places in the house.)
    The one with the red edges is a cutting. I'm guessing the edges are red because of the light it's in? It's been in that pot for a while, so I think it's doing pretty well.

    This post was edited by DevaFreya on Mon, Sep 23, 13 at 14:22

  • DevaFreya
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Here is a full pic of the corn plant. It hadn't been repotted in 13+ years, and I just repotted it. I know it wasn't looking super great before, but I'm soooo worried that I might have harmed it! DH would be so bummed if we lose it.

  • DevaFreya
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Here is my jade plant over the last few months. It was really leggy (because I didn't have it in a bright enough location), and a friend suggested I layer it.

  • DevaFreya
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Here it is now. I am going to try to have a proper looking jade tree from one of the many plantlets that I have grown from leaves, but I this this mish-mosh looks kinda cool in it's own way. I got the original cutting from a friend.

    btw, is there a way to put more than one pic in a post? Sorry. I'm new to posting pics on this forum. I apologize if I'm doing it wrong!

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