Any other house plant murders here?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo

Friller2009

Aimara
MFK Member
Oct 27, 2021
979
1,585
134
Australia
I can't really keep houseplants alive, the best I can do is a Monstera siltepecana which I have kept alive for a while. BUT for some damn reason my father can keep his ones alive.
SO being bored, I figured I would make a list of ones I can keep alive, has anyone killed any of them before?

Pothos
Ficus benjamina
Wondering Jew
Monstera Adansonii
Monstera Siltepecana
Pepperomia sp. Not sure which one
Moss
Elephant ears
Peace Lily.
 
I can't really keep houseplants alive, the best I can do is a Monstera siltepecana which I have kept alive for a while. BUT for some damn reason my father can keep his ones alive.
SO being bored, I figured I would make a list of ones I can keep alive, has anyone killed any of them before?

Pothos
Ficus benjamina
Wondering Jew
Monstera Adansonii
Monstera Siltepecana
Pepperomia sp. Not sure which one
Moss
Elephant ears
Peace Lily.

Not guilty lol but seriously I have killed a couple. May have killed a Elephant Ear my Mother gave me.
 
Keeping houseplants alive isn't always as easy as it seems, especially if you want the plants to thrive, rather than just survive.

Soil choice, placement of plant, temperature, light exposure, feeding/watering, maintaining (as in pruning) are all extremely important aspects of growing healthy houseplants.

Have i mastered it? Have i hell, lol. But I enjoy giving it a go.

Below is an example of my limited skillset. I bought a beautiful Anthurium, in full bloom a few months ago. If looked after properly these plants will reward you with blooms all year round. But mine? It quickly lost its blooms and there's no way I can get it to reflower. I believe it's a light exposure thing with Anthuriums. I'm currently trying a few things out but with no luck so far.

Still a healthy looking plant, but minus blooms, lol.

IMG_20210829_113321_HDR.jpg

IMG_20220601_155208_HDR.jpg
 
I dabble lol… Fig tree is over 10yrs old… from a “family tree” over 40yrs old… cple plants a few yrs old i dont even know what they are ? and some “normies” ie snake plants. A red begonia and amaryllis that already bloomed this year. Just killed a peace lily ??…
EDB446E4-9E81-4CFF-97CD-D8D578D8CBC1.jpeg595C8617-CDDD-4440-AA6A-0603FCEBD9FD.jpeg831BBE64-9028-45F5-B968-EA05C0C8A41E.jpeg
 
My wife and I have mastered the art of torturing plants to death in an exquisitely slow and drawn-out fashion. We can bring home a huge, lushly beautiful plant and, a year later, it will be a fraction of its original size, with a few tiny, scraggly green leaves desperately clinging to life.

The difference is that I will look at the near-carcass of the formerly lovely plant and say "Yep...we're killing that one goooood! Another month or two and it'll be done completely, and we'll have room for a replacement!" My wife will look at the same wilted, brown bundle of almost-kindling and smile dreamily: "That plant is still doing great!"

We're not "murdering" them, as that would imply a certain individual attention lavished on slaying each plant. We're not even serial killers, although we have many kills under our combined belts. We're not sacrificing them to experiments that will improve our knowledge of plant husbandry, because we have learned nothing.

We are engaged in wholesale slaughter; no other way to accurately describe it. :)
 
Shoot, growing in water next to okay lighting is the only reason I'm having any success indoors I think. Always used to go poorly, but most of the cuttings I've started in my tank are doing fine, other than a couple mystery plants from down by the creek.
 
  • Like
Reactions: tlindsey
One of my most killed plants. I think I overwater them. That's why I like pothos, It will grow in water!

Best advice for snake plants is do nothing lol… i hit em with liquid food once every few months. Water maybe once every 3 weeks. Just touch the soil. If its moist at all dont water. Wait till its dried up ??. They do enjoy alot of light also contrary to what u read about em. In winter i keep mine under a led plant bulb, summer on a sun porch or by a window. Ive found the reg. miracle grow liquid plant food does wonders. Cple squirts and stuff just thrives. Alot of my stuff stopped dying with the addition of food ?
 
Yippee! I finally think I've cracked my flowering, or lack of, Anthurium enigma. As you can see from my pictures in post #3 it's once wonderful blooms have long since gone, and I can't seem to reverse the situation......until now!

I've noticed today that, after all my research and jiggery pokery it is finally rewarding me by pushing up a couple of flowers.

I changed its position to give it more and brighter light, which is what my research suggested.

Good ol' internet, good ol' you tube and good ol' me. Hallelujah, praise to the lord, lol.

IMG_20220606_152155_HDR.jpg
 
Incidentally, on the subject of plant murderers, there is one plant which I just cannot keep alive, no matter how hard I try, and believe me I've tried. They usually go the same route as jjohnwm jjohnwm plants.

And that is the Venus fly trap. I believe moisture levels, quality of soil (or lack of quality in the case of carnivorous plants) and soil acidity are key areas with this one.

However, I can't help thinking that there is a bit of karma going here bearing in mind that they are insect murderers! lol.
 
MonsterFishKeepers.com