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djliquidice

Rescued from Walmart!

djliquidice
9 years ago

Planted my 2 babies today in their new home. Bought both of these from Walmart, been letting just hang out in my place for a couple weeks to get used to their new hangout. So far they love the skylights in the room, all day sun!

Kind of kicking myself about using an entire bag of cactus mix dirt (fast draining). Don't know why I didn't think to put a bunch of pumice stones or similar in the bottom of this big pot since the roots won't go that deep anyways. Oh well, I'm sure I'll get the urge to put in fresh dirt late this summer or early fall.

Big mama in the background, really wish I would have explored her roots more when I transferred to her pot. I would love to know how many plants are actually in there, or if it's maybe just one big one!!! Dying to find out, and then maybe cut one and give it's own pot.

Soon these things will be taking over my place! I have leaf cuttings sitting in their own pot too, hoping they actually root and produce. Too early to tell yet, and I don't want to pull one up to see for myself. Time will tell, trying to be patient.

Comments (8)

  • zzackey
    9 years ago

    From my experience they aren't a bit fussy.

  • pirate_girl
    9 years ago

    Hi DJ,

    The babies look nice, but I've got several questions. Even tho' the mix says it's cactus mix, it still looks too fine & water retentive. I'd add at least another 30% perlite. I also think the pot is too large for them, I'd pot down smaller.

    To me, the combination of too large a pot & too water rententive a mix can lead to root rot.

    Don't know that pumice stones on the bottom would have been good.

    If you're wanting to fill up some of that pot space, maybe several inches of packing peanuts at the bottom of the pot, then a sheet of newspaper above that & add in the mix & plants. I'd try that if I wanted to keep that pot size.

  • djliquidice
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    thanks for the suggestions! I'm very new to this, so all feedback is great.

    You actually can't see the cactus mix because I had used the whole bag, and I still had room for more dirt, so I used some of the regular potting soil I had just on the very top. Hope that is ok for now, but I also like your suggestion of the packing peanuts, so may load up on more soil, then do that in the next couple weeks.

  • Stush2049 Pitts. PA, zone 6
    9 years ago

    djliquidice,
    I believe the big ones are Sansevieria trifasciata Laurentii. The smaller ones, although they look the same, I think they are Sansevieria trifasciata Futura or 'Compacta'. They have wider leaves and more of them. Grow much shorter than Laurentii. I always had better luck growing them in pots more their size. Also I use bricks inside the big pots so they are bottom heavy and can't far over too easily.
    Stush

  • djliquidice
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    more great advice, thanks! I think I may leave them alone for awhile, just to give them a break for awhile (and myself). I also read somewhere that bigger pots will promote faster growth and splitting off of the (root thing that starts with 'r'), so I'll just see what happens.

    As long as I don't lose them.....

  • pirate_girl
    9 years ago

    Well maybe don't believe everything you read, not sure abt what you said nor why one would even want the plant to separate off from its rhizome (if that's what you mean).

    Whenever you get back to working w/ the mix (soil), pls mix it all up together (whatever you're using), rather than just keep adding new & different mixes on top of other layers, that can make problems.

  • djliquidice
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    ok, sounds good. The potting soil you see in the picture is not very deep at all, just a light layer. I'll mix it up after I let the plants settle for awhile yet. Don't want to bang them around too much!

  • pirate_girl
    9 years ago

    Sorry, no you're missing the point, you have it backwards. These aren't fragile plants & that one needs to coddle or be gentle with.

    Let them settle AFTER you've remedied the situation. It's more damaging to them to have soil w/ wet & dry pockets in it that may or may not let the roots breathe before they rot.