Transcript
Alexis: Okay, it gets dark early now. what time Is everybody going to bed at the same time they go to bed in the summer, or are you going to bed early?
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: like what's the what or late, what's the vibe?
Plant People: You mean, you mean for the winter nap or actually going to bed and staying to bed for a while?
Alexis: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, well, I mean like the daily bedtime.
Plant People: I mean, i mean,
Alexis: Has it ah has it changed with the- with the
Jessica: I have some excitement with that. It has for my children.
Plant People: Oh, yes.
Jessica: They've gone to bed a little earlier, I'm still going to bed later because now I'm like, what do I, what am I going to do with myself?
Plant People: Yeah.
Jessica: I have so much time for activities now because they are asleep a little earlier.
Plant People: I didn't think about that.
Jessica: as of today, I saw my little weather app. It's like the sun will set at 526 PM. And I'm just like, man That's really early.
Alexis: you know we uh the other day we like straight up ate dinner at like 4 30 and we're in bed at like 8 30 and I was like I don't know if we should keep doing this or do this more don't know
Plant People: It's very early.
Plant People: Yeah, it's it definitely changes schedules. And I i forgot that with re I liked that time of year when it got dark a little bit earlier because he did go to bed a little bit earlier, but I dreaded when it changed back and stayed light in the summer when he was much younger.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Plant People: and it stayed light to like nine 30 cause he didn't want to go to bed at all. Then even when he was three or four or five, i mean, he just fought it even harder.
Jessica: Thank
Plant People: So we invested in blackout curtains and it was amazing. So we, we made our own seasonal changes with him, but yeah, I don't know. It seems like, I don't know. This is the season of napping for me.
Plant People: ah come home and, And I want to take a nap. I just want to take a nap.
Alexis: I'm kind of into like, I, I'm trying to embrace instead of being like really like irritated that it gets dark so early, embracing that like sense of, you know, like slow down and calm that it brings because it's like, I can't really be outside doing the stuff.
Plant People: It goes against your nature.
Alexis: Oh, oh darn.
Plant People: Is that what you're saying?
Alexis: Yeah. I'm trying to embrace it more. It's getting easier the older I get. I'm like, oh, I guess I got to go inside.
Jessica: It has been nice because we've like, okay, let's go and get chores done, you know, get stuff done early and then have dinner and then we're just in for the rest of the night.
Plant People: Hmm.
Jessica: Right.
Alexis: And you're like, what if what if we did this all year round?
Jessica: And we're having like,
Alexis: And then you laugh because you know you'll never do it. But it's a nice thought.
Jessica: yeah.
Brett: Do you have particular cozy dark time activities, the like knitting or playing games or baking cinnamon rolls or anything like that that you do mainly when it's when it's in this time?
Brett: Besides sleeping.
Alexis: Yeah, I pick my hobbies back up.
Brett: I love to sleep, but what was that?
Alexis: I pick my like my little hobbies back up like crochet or make it just making something or doing something just like little like little things that remind me that I'm a human outside of my farm, which is very nice.
Alexis: It's like I regained some of my personality.
Jessica: Mm-hmm.
Alexis: That's good. That's nice.
Brett: well just a different part of your personality not yeah it's like the leaves like you've shed the leaves of the farm season and now you're a deciduous tree which has its own a leafless deciduous that has its own new identity yet again contain alttudes you contain multitudes contain multitudes
Alexis: Jessica Bates.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: Yeah.
Plant People: A seasonal part of your personality. Yeah.
Alexis: Yeah.
Plant People: Your growth doesn't stop.
Alexis: I'm just bare, my bare bones.
Plant People: It only slows.
Plant People: How you, Brett? have any seasonal changeover? Yeah.
Brett: Um, I, I love to sleep just so many, just different, different times.
Jessica: What is that?
Plant People: yeah Different kinds of sleep?
Jessica: What is sleep and then in this period of my life?
Brett: Yeah, it's it's pretty awesome. You like lay down and you close your eyes and you sort of let go of the psychic reins. And then you have crazy you can have crazy dreams and thoughts that you don't have to be in control of.
Brett: And and then you wake up either rested or wondering why you're and more tired than when you lay down. It's a great a great experience. But as far as...
Plant People: It's ah interesting. You can dream. Yeah, that's i have mythic dreams that during the seasonal changeover. always have. They go in color and everything else. I thought it was Walmart melatonin melatonin for a while. Not to call out a boxer.
Plant People: I thought, is this what is going on? But I think it's seasonal. It's interesting. You mentioned like the quality of sleep. I don't know what it is. But here lately, I have been jotting down book ideals because I dream the entire rise and fall of alien civilizations this time of year in one dream.
Brett: Wow.
Plant People: And I wake up exhausted and trying to jot down details. But yeah, it's interesting you mentioned.
Brett: To Walmart, to Walmart perchance to dream.
Plant People: Yeah. to to Yes, that's exactly right.
Alexis: you
Plant People: Melatonin, my friend.
Brett: Uh, but we've been, we've been playing, um, some like card games, uh, not playing card games, but, uh, trading card games. We've been playing Pokemon and, um, magic, the gathering, uh, and he was a big magic head back in the day and I had some Pokemon cards.
Plant People: Ooh, Magic the Gathering. That's a good one. Mm-hmm.
Brett: And so we're, we've been playing those and, just eating butternut squash and lots of different formats.
Jessica: Nice.
Brett: Uh, yeah.
Plant People: Yeah, I like the seasonal change.
Jessica: We've been having.
Plant People: It's fine.
Brett: Jessica sent us a picture of cinnamon rolls and I was not, uh, Uber Eated or whatever, and otherwise transmitted one of those cinnamon rolls.
Alexis: Yeah.
Brett: So it just felt mean spirited to be honest, cause they looked very good.
Plant People: No.
Plant People: and
Alexis: little bit.
Jessica: They were pretty good. They take all day. So, you know, you're in the house more. So able to make those a little more often this time of year.
Plant People: I don't see how you hold your children off of those all day.
Jessica: ah There were lots of tears yesterday of wanting to try them at all different processes of the cinnamon rolls.
Alexis: That was one of my that's one of my favorite texts. And I read that one aloud to Tyler and I was just like, you gotta hear this.
Jessica: It's a good life lesson, right?
Plant People: Honestly, I related to the kids.
Jessica: Yeah.
Plant People: I mean, that's me. I'm crying waiting for those things to
Jessica: We cried as they, you know, as we mixed the dough that they couldn't eat the dough. We cried as we waited for them to rise because we wanted to try them. We wanted to eat the butter, cinnamon, sugar mixture. And they did. They did eat that when they got a chance.
Plant People: delicious.
Alexis: To be fair, they each had some and wanted more.
Jessica: a
Jessica: And they wanted more. So it was a whole day of waiting for those cinnamon rolls. But then they finally got one.
Brett: And then we cried. and then we cried because they were too hot to eat. It was like it was like ah like a like a like a book
Jessica: Yep.
Plant People: Like a three little bears.
Jessica: yep
Alexis: yeah
Brett: many So many tears over here to today.
Plant People: Yeah.
Brett: these We cried because we couldn't eat the yeast foam. We cried because we couldn't eat the raw dough. We cried because even though we ate two spoonfuls of the butter, butters sugar, cinnamon mixture, I said no more.
Brett: And then we cried that we couldn't eat one before they baked in the oven. And then we cried because they were too hot to eat. But now it is finally time to have one.
Jessica: is that
Brett: Laugh emoji, laughhammo laugh emoji, laugh emoji.
Plant People: It had its own kind of prose, kind of cadence to it.
Brett: Yeah.
Alexis: It did.
Brett: Yeah.
Alexis: Yeah.
Plant People: Yeah, I loved it.
Alexis: Yeah.
Jessica: Yeah.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: And to all a good night.
Jessica: Yes, exactly.
Brett: Yeah, and to all, a lovely cinnamon roll dessert.
Plant People: Yes, exactly. It had that kind of cadence.
Jessica: That was more for my three-year-old.
Plant People: Yeah.
Jessica: My five-year-old is a cinnamon roll pro. He can like tell you what goes into making them. Right.
Brett: Hmm.
Jessica: And so this was the first time that my three-year-old really got to help do the whole process
Alexis: Oh,
Jessica: And he tried to pull the mixer off the shelf multiple times. And, you know, what you imagine a three-year-old would do.
Plant People: Oh, gosh.
Jessica: So he really wanted them. But the funny, funny thing to add to the cinnamon roll saga was first thing this morning, my oldest got up and he marched over to my husband and said, how many did you eat last night? And he said, said, what?
Plant People: Oh, man.
Jessica: And he said, I just had one. And he's like, because I want more for breakfast. And mama made this for me. And he's like, so don't eat my cinnamon rolls.
Plant People: No pressure, dad. No pressure.
Alexis: sure
Jessica: How many did you eat last night?
Brett: how many you eat empty out your pockets
Alexis: You knew exactly how many should be left.
Jessica: Oh yeah, he counted them.
Alexis: That's how he's learning his math.
Plant People: Oh, yeah.
Alexis: Yeah.
Plant People: Yeah. Math skills are life skills.
Jessica: How many cinnamon rolls are left?
Alexis: Yeah, that's that those will be his ah his word problems. Just put them in cinnamon roll form instead of he has a bunch of apples, he has a bunch of cinnamon rolls.
Jessica: and
Alexis: He'll nail it every time.
Jessica: Right, exactly. Yeah.
Brett: A cinnamon roll is traveling 80 miles per hour from Denver to Atlanta.
Alexis: He's going to be like, okay, all right.
Plant People: With his dad on the way to the fire department in his lunchbox.
Jessica: yeah
Alexis: This is how slow it has to be for it to be able to get a majority of it into my mouth.
Brett: Okay. Let's see here.
Plant People: this and like ah It sounds like a Monty Python skit for those of you that guys that may be familiar. It's like a laden cinnamon road. Does it float? i mean, yeah.
Alexis: I feel like that should be that should be next year's Halloween costume is cinnamon roll.
Plant People: There's this whole mythology behind this, yeah.
Plant People: Pillsbury.
Jessica: They can be cinnamon rolls.
Plant People: Pillsbury.
Alexis: I'm just throwing it out there.
Jessica: Yeah.
Alexis: I'm just throwing there. can make that out a cardboard.
Jessica: Sure, right?
Alexis: The cardboard queen, Jessica.
Jessica: but What can I not make out a cardboard at this point?
Plant People: I feel like you could do that. You're all about it. I like it.
Alexis: Well, to get back to the plant part that you all are here for, I mean, we know you're here for our witty banter, ah but the hort culture part of, we got through the culture, let's talk about the hort that we're talking about today.
Plant People: um Ah, hork culture.
Alexis: If you've seen from the title of the episode, we're talking about some houseplants today because, you know, it's cold and it's dark. So let's let's talk about the all those babies that you brought in. And if you brought them in you know, in our areas of Kentucky, probably a couple weeks ago, unless you're me and I just push it as far as possible.
Alexis: But if you were a good person, you brought your stuff in in a timely manner, ah you may start to notice they're maybe not happy. I think after close, about close to a month, three to four weeks after you bring them in is when I start to notice mine go downhill. What about you guys?
Brett: Well, I was just going to say, if you if you didn't bring them in, we got to talk.
Plant People: Yeah.
Plant People: They're less heavy.
Alexis: Well, this episode isn't for you.
Plant People: Yeah. Well, we did talk on a prior episode. We did talk about those, you know, plants that are bulbs or root structures that, that should be killed to the ground this week.
Plant People: We're not talking about that kind of plant. We're talking about the ones that you don't want to get killed for any reason.
Brett: Yeah.
Plant People: So yeah. Yeah.
Brett: I don't know.
Plant People: Yeah.
Brett: I haven't... I think this is the first year that our house plants have, oh, yeah, that our house plants have looked pretty decent. So I can't say how long it takes for them to look bad because before they just looked bad.
Brett: ah
Plant People: Are you talking about your year round inside house plants are ones you bring in and out?
Brett: a mix, a mix, yeah.
Plant People: bret Mix. Yeah.
Jessica: Mine are mostly all inside.
Alexis: Yeah, I leave most of mine inside.
Plant People: Uh,
Alexis: Yeah, I only, i put out a couple just I don't know.
Jessica: Yeah.
Alexis: they I'm not very good with ah like pretty potted you know floral things on the deck, but I can keep my houseplants alive for whatever reason. So I did move a few of those that are a little bit little bit easier to keep alive, less likely to kill as I thrust them from one extreme to the other.
Alexis: i did put some of those outside.
Brett: I don't know. I don't know why I just lied. Cause I felt like I would needed to keep the episode alive by saying we don't put any of our houseplants outside. i don't know why I even said that I was just trying to go with a bit of like assuming, but then I was like, why am I? No. So we, it's all a hundred percent inside.
Plant People: Well, that's an interesting that's an interesting thought though, Brett.
Jessica: Mine are too.
Plant People: um You know, i never thought about it that way, but plants that stay inside like year round, they don't have to go through that transition, do they?
Alexis: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Plant People: ah But I am not good. For some reason, my brain is all ah wired weird. And like, I don't know I want to shove them outside so they can get shocked again in the spring with sunlight that's too bright.
Plant People: But I guess I'd never thought about it, but I don't really keep any plants on the inside year round. don't know why, ah because I love plants on the inside.
Brett: Well, it makes – I mean, it makes – yeah.
Plant People: Yeah.
Brett: I mean, we yeah we don't – our main reason for not taking them in and out is because the pest stuff that you know there'd be something that comes back in on them and then we're not going to –
Plant People: and Yeah. Yeah. And that's the biggest problem for me is, I mean, it's not moving them in and out because once I'm, I know that when they come back inside, right, there's an acclimation period.
Plant People: You have to adjust as well as the plants have to adjust because you have to adjust your watering and you're thinking a little bit. But the biggest thing to me, and I didn't do a good job this fall, I did a great job last fall was,
Plant People: I pre-prepped with some, I knew that I was going to have some mealy bug problems. So i pre-prepped with some systemics and some insecticidal oil.
Brett: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Plant People: Did a good job like trimming off dead pieces to the plant.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Plant People: I had some English ivy, some kind of small stuff that Reed gave to Jennifer several years ago. And, you know, I kind of trimmed off that to the base plant and prepared it to regrow in the, I did a good job just prepping everything, but there's a lot to that.
Plant People: And it started two to three weeks before I even moved the plants inside.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Plant People: And a lot of that is just for pest stuff, right? and Trying to and get out of pest.
Brett: So can I, well, can I ask before we jump into the kind of how to prep and stuff, like, why, why are you putting them outside in the first place?
Plant People: you
Brett: um I mean, there's reasons. I'm not, not.
Plant People: Yeah. Jennifer. um
Alexis: No way.
Plant People: Yeah. Why do you do that?
Brett: Why are, why did you do that? You fool.
Plant People: She likes these Southern looking patios.
Alexis: scenes done.
Plant People: If, you know, you know, we'd travel some and down to like Savannah and areas down South. We were always a big fan of all these porches that have all these plants and, and that's why we do it.
Jessica: Thank you.
Plant People: And it seems like a lot of our plants, once we do move them outside, they enter an accelerated growth phase. And we love that.
Brett: Definitely.
Plant People: We have a really good front porch and that's why we do it.
Brett: definitely
Plant People: It's like, no matter if we give, ah you know, additional artificial light, put them next to a window in the winter. Some of the plants just like to be outside. So they get a boost. You know, they they're getting their nature boost by being outdoors.
Alexis: There's the biggest, like the biggest plants I put outside are the ones that really need to, um from like a bloom perspective, they really need that shift of light.
Jessica: Thank you.
Plant People: Yeah. Yeah.
Alexis: And so um I've got that night blooming cactus or like a, you know, Thanksgiving
Brett: Thank you.
Alexis: ah cactus or something like that Christmas cactus whatever um orchids are pretty similar so ah it's a lot harder to give some plants thrive in the extreme and that's what makes them bloom um you know or sends them into you know something that needs to happen for them and so it's much easier to give them that switch to go from outside to inside versus trying to you know move them away from the light or, you know, cool them down in some way. It's just that extreme flip of light and temperature happens.
Alexis: Um, so those, those I put outside for that reason, just from a bloom perspective.
Brett: Thank you.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: Um, and then any, ah anything else that I put out um, um
Alexis: Really, there's no real rhyme or reason. The only things I do, I put out a couple things in there, you know, pothos and some of that stuff. Maybe I want to get a little bit bigger.
Plant People: Yeah. That just respond and just go crazy with the sunlight.
Alexis: um Yeah. And if they, if I, once I bring them in, even if they're shocked, they might look like crap, but they're not going to die.
Plant People: Yeah. Yeah.
Alexis: So like, I don't stress about them, but things that are more sensitive, I don't move in and out.
Plant People: yeah
Jessica: Right.
Plant People: and And we can't completely knock it or blame it on the transition from inside outside.
Alexis: They only stay
Jessica: right
Plant People: Now, I've had this discussion with some of our garden clubs. Some of that, you know, when you have leaves, the bottom leaves that start to brown and turn yellow, lot that's a natural process, whether it it was inside or outside.
Alexis: Yeah.
Plant People: A lot of that is just in response to shorter days. So some of this that people observe as, you know, a lot of that is stress and environments. It really, really is different humidity levels, light levels, the whole thing.
Plant People: But some of that is also a natural seasonal variance in response to shorter days, right? So, you know, and I try to stress that and when we have garden club meetings and we talk about specific different plants.
Alexis: yeah
Jessica: Great.
Plant People: Amaryllis is one, you know, we've talked about before on the show and they do that. They get a few yellow leaves and they'll go through this succession of dropping the bottom leaves if you grow those year round. But that's a good example of that.
Plant People: So it's a combination of things. And like I said, I always stress also that it's me relearning how to water them because My brain is wired on repetition and I'll continue to try to water every week. And then I tell myself, whoa, slow down, buddy.
Plant People: You know, we we've got to change some things because it's insane.
Jessica: right
Brett: Take a beat there, Tackett.
Plant People: Take a step back.
Alexis: I have the opposite problem.
Plant People: Step back.
Alexis: I'm like, oh, crap, you need water.
Plant People: Yeah.
Jessica: I, yeah, same, same.
Plant People: Yeah. Oh, really?
Jessica: I leave mine in all year round.
Plant People: Yeah.
Jessica: I think it's like, if you find like a good spot, right?
Plant People: Do you?
Jessica: Because when I moved to my new house, like my plants that semi might've been struggling at my old house have like thrived.
Plant People: Oh, yeah, that's true.
Jessica: And now I've like, I got them in a spot and I'm like, I'm not moving. That's like my, i have like a giant Calathea, rattlesnake Calathea and it it is massive and it is happy in this corner.
Alexis: Yeah.
Plant People: Yeah.
Jessica: And I will never move it from that corner because it is just, it's loves it right there.
Alexis: Yeah, some plants, yeah, calathea, fiddly figs, like they're real sensitive to being moved.
Plant People: yeah
Alexis: So if you find the right spot, don't mess with it, okay?
Jessica: Yes, always live there.
Alexis: They are very, they're divas. They're very specific what they like, what they like. Okay.
Jessica: yeah
Brett: Yeah. So the, so the outside thing, it seems like it's on the one hand you could use it to just accelerate growth and kind of, you know, you're putting it outside and it's hot and it's humid. It's way more humid than most of us keep our houses.
Plant People: Yeah. Yeah.
Brett: But then what happens is you've had it in this awesome environment and then the transition is really stressful because you've gone from pumping it full of energy.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Brett: And on top of that, the plant itself has adapted to that environment with its thickness of cuticle, the size of its leaves, the amount of leaves that it has. And now you're going less sunlight, you're going less...
Brett: you know lower temperature, lower humidity, all that.
Plant People: yeah
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Brett: And so it's this kind of trade-off. Whereas my, my plants, they grow very slowly. I mean, it's, but they grow some, like they're putting on growth.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Plant People: Yeah.
Brett: And so that's some of the, some of them more than others put a lot on, but compared to if they were outside, they are growing much more slowly, but they don't ever have to adjust, uh, except to the the amount of light that's coming in through the windows and,
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Plant People: that That's one thing with the light that I've learned that i have to be super careful of when I transition in the winter, when it goes into spring and I'm moving plants back outside as I never put them in on the, at the back of my house because it's Southern facing.
Plant People: And if you want to torch every plant you have, just put it in direct late spring, early summer sun immediately.
Brett: Yeah.
Plant People: It will melt just about any plant or but it'll, you know, bleach it.
Brett: yeah
Plant People: It'll brown it out, crisp it up is always put those on the front porch where it's dappled afternoon sun. So that I have learned that that's, that's why I transition. Now I found the perfect transitional spot with our front porch.
Plant People: And if it wasn't for that, I wouldn't move plants in and out at all.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Plant People: If I hadn't found that the right combination, So now I put the plants specifically from the location on the inside to a specific location on the outside. Like Jessica said, I found the perfect spots in all seasons for each plant that would typically grow.
Jessica: Right. I have my great example is my lemon tree saga. um How many lemon trees have I had? My husband keeps buying them, right?
Jessica: Like he's buying them and he gets bigger ones every time because, you know, they give him a deal. But um you can.
Brett: or Or it gives them the sense that they've it's just continued growing. It's like he's buying the same tree, but back in.
Jessica: Right. ah Right.
Plant People: and
Jessica: But that's a great example of one that it stays outside all summer. It is so happy. And then still haven't found the right place to like over winter one yet.
Plant People: Yeah.
Jessica: Did this last winter. Was very happy. Child flipped. Knocked it. Snapped it in half. But you know, I'm sure, sure I'll get another one. I'm sure there'll be another lemon tree.
Plant People: At some point.
Alexis: I'm sure I'll get another one.
Brett: You got to figure out a way to make lemonade out of a snapped lemon tree.
Plant People: yeah don't know.
Jessica: Yep.
Plant People: I don't know.
Alexis: I don't know.
Plant People: Just when it was doing well. Just when it was doing well.
Brett: Yeah. Well, this is my, you know, ah completely unnecessary inserting a bonsai thing into the conversation.
Jessica: Mm-hmm.
Brett: But um like when, when trees are coming, when you're trying to get leaves on a tree to be really small so that it looks in proportion, on deciduous trees, if you put them into the sun, when they do that, they will generally grow smaller leaves.
Brett: When you put them in the shade, they will grow much larger leaves because they're needing to try to soak up and hit every amount of um ah sunlight while at the same time, not quite, or sorry, being able to transpire more because they're youre probably going stay wet or all that kind of stuff.
Alexis: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Plant People: Uh-huh.
Brett: anyway So I'm just thinking about like, if that's one of the adaptations that those trees make, just the, when you, you're just, you're radically, we, we forget that that plant normally would be rooted in place for its whole lifespan or for most of its lifespan.
Alexis: isn
Brett: Whereas we can step out of the shade and because we're we're feeling cold or step out of the sun if we're feeling hot. you're a pot A plant in a pot is kind of a strange thing evolutionarily for the plant ah to understand that this is this hyper portability is a strange is a strange thing.
Brett: um
Plant People: I've just moved planets.
Brett: Yeah, what the heck?
Plant People: You put me on a different planet altogether.
Jessica: Thank you.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: it's just for some reason this just reminds me it's like a it's like a power move to to be able to like move you know a plant in a pot and uh it's like my husband likes to remind the cat that he's in charge by picking her up and then like holding her and putting her down somewhere else that's like his his way of showing power and he's like just remember i can move you
Brett: Or it's like, imagine you're like sitting in your car and you've got the heat cranked and you're in shorts and short sleeves. And then you step out into the, into the 30 degree weather.
Alexis: That's
Brett: It's like, you're not prepared.
Plant People: Your cuticle's not ready.
Brett: You are, you are not, there was no adjustment period.
Plant People: Not ready.
Brett: You're in there now.
Alexis: so great.
Plant People: Yeah. So a gradual transition is best.
Alexis: ah so ands my great
Plant People: It's what I'm hearing.
Brett: So how, like, how can you tell, is this just the transition or should I be more worried?
Plant People: extremes.
Plant People: The extreme of the symptoms or the transition of the plant itself.
Brett: and I guess what does what does the transition look like for those of us who don't do that?
Plant People: Yeah. With some plants, it... I mean, you mentioned, somebody mentioned pothos. I mean, some of those, when I bring them on the inside, they may not show a lot of difference other than growth rate.
Plant People: um And you know, that is a good example.
Alexis: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Plant People: Also I've noticed with pothos, the leaves will be different sizes, Brett. As it gets more sunlight, maybe it's just the fact it has more energy, the energy factories. mean, its leaves get huge, but when I bring mine in, my particular one, the leaves are a bit smaller and the growth rates way smaller. But I'm trying to think what, when I bring it in succulents can sometimes lose a little bit of their, they don't look as bright depending on what type of succulents you have, ah especially the more desert loving succulents. um You know, they' they're just not as vibrant.
Jessica: the Leaf drop, right?
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Jessica: For like my lemon trees, right?
Plant People: A lot of leaf crop.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Plant People: Yeah.
Jessica: Leaf drop to a point. You know, everything shouldn't come off.
Plant People: Yeah. No.
Jessica: There should still be some leaves on there, but ah quite a bit will, will fall.
Plant People: To the bear nub. No, no.
Alexis: Yeah. And acclimation is like ah more and more even process. So, um you know, you might lose a couple one week, a couple more the next week, a couple more the week after that.
Alexis: And then finally it kind of, you know, stops. So, um you know, over after you bring it in about um three weeks, usually depending on, know, as long as you don't have it over a major heat register or something like that, because they do not like dry heat.
Alexis: Most jungle plants do not like
Plant People: Which i do. Mine are really close because that's the best spot next to the best window.
Alexis: Yeah, same.
Plant People: But it's not good.
Alexis: All of my heat registers are right underneath my windows and I have them in my windows.
Plant People: It's not good. yeah Yeah, exactly. And we have that discussion all the time with folks. We're like, don't do that, but you're probably going to do that. because I'm like, put your hardy plants that are the toughest next to the register.
Alexis: If you do that, um yeah, put your hardy plants there.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: Like you're just guys that don't seem to you know care. Something with like a real waxy thick cuticle.
Brett: What's a hardy As opposed to what?
Alexis: Something with like a waxy thicker leaf is like a good example of that.
Plant People: and Pothos or ivies, you know, any of the ivies generally.
Alexis: who
Plant People: Yeah, plants like them.
Alexis: You can also...
Jessica: Grouping.
Plant People: Uh, like, uh, Jade, my curly leaf Jade does not like it. I don't know why. Maybe it's just mine, but if I stick that guy there, there'll be one side that's unhappy and the other side's really happy.
Alexis: me
Plant People: So, so in any of the tropical.
Alexis: yeah you're...
Brett: So are the calathea considered the hardy plant thing or is that not?
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: No, I don't consider them a hardy plant. Usually they're a little bit more difficult. um don't Yeah, don't put your...
Brett: Oh, you all mean hardy hardy in the sense of like robust, not hardy in the sense of any kind of temperature sensitivity.
Alexis: Or your orchids...
Alexis: Hard... Yeah.
Plant People: I think of it in terms of humidity.
Alexis: No, no.
Plant People: I mean, yeah, the temperature is bad.
Brett: You know what mean? Like a non-hardy perennial or a hardy, yeah.
Plant People: the
Alexis: Yeah, that's that's a good, you're you're harder to kill plants.
Plant People: Yeah. I don't consider it hardy until I've not killed it.
Brett: You're tough guys. You're tough you tough girls.
Jessica: And group them together, right?
Alexis: You're a tough guy.
Jessica: For the microclimate.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: Yeah.
Brett: Tough ladies.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: Yeah, so I like, I stuff my windowsills as full if possible.
Brett: Oh, yeah.
Jessica: Mine are all together.
Alexis: but
Plant People: Yeah. I put them all together.
Alexis: Right. but
Plant People: So when I water it.
Alexis: But you can also, well, I was gonna say from from a watering perspective, like if you put a like a pretty big dish underneath them to catch that water, just let that water in this case scenario, if you're above a dry heat register in the winter, when you have your heat on a lot, leave that water in there.
Brett: Mm-hmm.
Alexis: Normally we say get rid of that water because you don't want to root rot, but that water will evaporate plenty quickly enough and help with that little microclimate.
Plant People: Really quick. Yeah.
Alexis: Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Plant People: And if you're worried about a deep, ah you know, saucer, I've even recommended to folks putting like pea gravel or something in the bottom where it lifts that up.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Plant People: That way you have a reservoir of water without the container actually sitting deep down into the water.
Alexis: a
Jessica: Mm-hmm.
Plant People: So you kind of get the best of both worlds.
Alexis: Yeah. A lot of people, I've heard some orchid pros say that with their orchids. So they'll put the layer of pea gravel in the bottom dish and then keep that full.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: And, you know, they water the orchid occasionally, but the pot is not actually sitting in water.
Plant People: Not in the pot, but in the dish. Yeah.
Alexis: It's more for the relative humidity.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: um And I've always,
Brett: That's how, that's how we, that's how we do.
Alexis: Yeah.
Plant People: Is that how you, and that works pretty well?
Brett: Yeah. I really, I really like it because you basically aren't as worried about ah overwatering because it can drain away, but there's also a reservoir that will hold on to.
Plant People: Yeah.
Brett: I mean, if you, if you fill it up too much, the thing will still be sitting in water, but it got a little bit of a, of a thing and it keeps that, keeps that root zone area, particularly where all those tender tips are nice and moist and humid.
Plant People: Yeah. You got like a fudge factor or buffer. Mm-hmm.
Alexis: Buffer.
Plant People: yeah Do any of you guys grow gear around any ferns or move ferns in and out? I do not, personally. but dean Yeah, ah not it's tough.
Jessica: I kill them.
Alexis: I have a, I have ah hair's foot fern I've had. since college I got it as I took have a piece of it from from um a plant that I repotted in the greenhouse on campus and I've I've had it for forever and it really doesn't grow i mean she's pretty big now she starts to get kind of creepy if you don't know a hair like a hair's foot fern they like
Plant People: Mm-hmm.
Brett: Oh.
Plant People: Yeah, all that it literally looks like an animal.
Alexis: They get these, they literally put hair um on these above ground rhizomes. And I remember when we divided it in the greenhouse, it was in a milk crate.
Alexis: Like, you know, everybody I think knows the size of a milk crate. You couldn't see the milk crate anymore because it's rhizomes came out and it looked like like almost like spider legs. And they came out and like down around the milk crate.
Plant People: It looks very animalistic.
Brett: oh
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: Yeah, yeah.
Brett: That's cool.
Alexis: It's kind of creepy, but ah I've had it and it's
Brett: What is this? hair foot hair
Jessica: It needs a different name.
Alexis: here
Plant People: Rabbit's foot, fern or hare's fern.
Alexis: Hare's foot, hare's foot, fern.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: There's a rabbit's foot and a hare's foot. I get the two confused, but I think hare's foot is the one I have.
Plant People: Oh. Yeah.
Alexis: um
Brett: Do you know how you catch a unique rabbit?
Alexis: How?
Jessica: huh
Brett: Unique up on it.
Plant People: Oh man.
Brett: Do you know how to a tame rabbit?
Plant People: The universal.
Brett: The way?
Alexis: No. No.
Plant People: Tame one.
Brett: but same way
Plant People: Oh.
Alexis: because
Plant People: Reed would appreciate, my son would appreciate both of those jokes because they work.
Brett: That is that is
Alexis: Ray's like writing it down.
Plant People: They work in a variety of situations.
Brett: that is deep from my dad's bag. So respect where it's due.
Plant People: i think you brought I think he broke that out.
Jessica: yeah
Plant People: I think he broke that out on Reed, Brett, and he's he pulled that on his friends and and they were like, oh, lots of groans.
Brett: Yeah.
Plant People: So it was a success.
Brett: Yeah, Ray's son and I like to exchange notes on jokes, so.
Plant People: Yeah. Yeah, you both like the phonetic jokes. Yeah, I love it.
Alexis: I just can't remember them. Like the fact that you can pull that out of somewhere in your brain at any given chance is impressive to me.
Plant People: It's at the very top. It's ready all the time.
Brett: I'm gifted. What can I say? It's i don't know anything about houseplants and instead I know these things.
Plant People: You're keeping them alive. So you're keeping them alive.
Brett: That's right.
Alexis: we We each have our value here. Okay. and
Jessica: Exactly.
Plant People: Well, I want to hear how you guys determine like ah when a plant needs water, when you bring it in, because it is different watering schedule, either ah depending on your heat source on the inside. Like, how do you guys tell? Everybody's got their little tricks. I mean,
Plant People: So how are you guys lifters or soul pokers?
Brett: And i will I'll one up you with a follow up question of what is your mechanism for watering?
Plant People: Okay.
Alexis: o
Plant People: so Okay.
Brett: Because they I think there's more to this than people let on.
Plant People: So.
Brett: And anyway, there's more variability in how people do it.
Plant People: Mm-hmm.
Brett: I'll put it that way.
Plant People: I'll probably so.
Brett: So I'll start with me.
Plant People: Probably so.
Brett: I generally try to give it the lift test, feel the weight of the pot.
Plant People: Yeah. It's my method.
Brett: And i think that there is like, there's kind of like a long a pretty wide range of that's passable.
Plant People: Yeah.
Brett: And then it gets to a point where you're like, that's way too light. And so I would...
Alexis: like
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: When you pick it up and you go, like, yeah like ah it's like, it's a rock made of styrofoam.
Plant People: Yeah.
Brett: Yeah.
Jessica: You
Brett: what
Plant People: When it falls over because of the, the register blows it over with a gentle breeze, it's blown over.
Brett: I know I've been working out, but not that much.
Alexis: And you're like, whoa, that's a problem. Mm hmm.
Brett: Yeah.
Plant People: It's probably too lightweight.
Brett: And i I think in general plants, yeah, I would say in general, with the exception of some that are really water loving in general, plants can dry out way more than we give them credit for.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: but
Plant People: Probably better than they can stay wet. It's better to be a bit dry than a bit too wet on the inside when you have such a slower, much slower growth rate typically on the inside.
Brett: Yeah.
Brett: Yeah.
Alexis: Uh-huh.
Plant People: Yeah.
Brett: So that's my answer. What yours answers?
Plant People: saying I like the lift test myself.
Jessica: i I do that. Sometimes I just like touch the soil, the sea.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: and
Jessica: like But I'm not like just patting it on top, right? And like sticking my fingers down in there to see how
Plant People: Yeah. Yeah.
Jessica: how moist it is lift test. And then I, I don't know, I might be a bad example. I've the season of my life. I'm like, okay, about once a week, does everybody need water or somebody, but then I'll pay attention.
Jessica: If somebody is still like, kind of, you know, doesn't need any, I'm not going to water and Hey, you're out of luck until the next, the next week.
Plant People: Yeah.
Jessica: Right. ah But everyone's doing fine. Right. And like I said, clustered together and get the lift test.
Plant People: and it's and Yeah.
Brett: Yeah.
Alexis: Right.
Brett: I feel like neglect is more helpful than overcare in almost all plant cases.
Jessica: Oh, people, people love them too hard.
Alexis: In-house plans, hundo.
Brett: so
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: Yeah.
Plant People: yeah
Jessica: They love them so much.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Brett: yeah.
Jessica: And then they kill, they just kill them.
Plant People: today yeah
Brett: Yeah. You need to you need to have like more of a hands-off approach with them and
Plant People: Succulents, that's, I mean, yeah, that's my biggest problem. I mean, I just will give them a little shot of water. I'm like, oh, that, and that does not, that does not bode well. Yeah.
Brett: Yeah, if you want to do stuff and see stuff and all that, you know, plant some vegetable plants or something or get a dog.
Plant People: Get
Alexis: i have come I have some philodendrit, like a vine philodendron and pothos above, um like in my kitchen, like on the top of my cabinets.
Plant People: pet. Yeah.
Alexis: And those things get so, like they get so wilted, like to the point where like I almost can't Like if I can't see the leaves that are like around the crown, like I just see the ones that are like vining down.
Alexis: I mean, they're so wilted. I can't even see the top of the plant anymore.
Brett: Yeah.
Plant People: You're like, I've killed it this time.
Alexis: Then I'm like, ah, I should probably water those.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: Like that's my, that's my, cause they're too tall for me to like really feel the soil and they're like to get up there and like lift them because the vines are kind of trailing everywhere is a pain.
Brett: Yeah.
Plant People: Yeah.
Plant People: is You just like throw water up there.
Alexis: So I just kind of wait until they look real bad. Yeah.
Plant People: Those are kind of plants that are forgiving.
Alexis: And then I have a really good dish under there and I feel ah like I give them a ah big old drink and they're okay.
Brett: yeah
Jessica: And they're fine.
Alexis: So ah yeah.
Jessica: They're happy.
Brett: Well, Jessica, can you can you give a little bit more description of what you're touching the soil, feeling the soil test? Like, what is that what's that like?
Jessica: Yeah. I'm using my fingers and sticking my fingers down into the the pot, the pot of soil.
Alexis: I go to like the middle knuckle.
Brett: how How deep?
Jessica: Yeah.
Plant People: Yeah, yeah.
Jessica: Like about your like middle knuckle ah and just see, cause sometimes, you know, it could still feel maybe a little damp on top, but like once you get your fingers down there, it might i be quite dry.
Brett: Okay. Okay.
Alexis: Yeah.
Brett: Okay, so um i am sometimes on this podcast I act like a moron, and for the and then other times I just am one, like I'm playing myself. and So so youre you're feeling when you're putting your finger in, you're feeling the moisture in the soil directly, or you're putting your finger in there and then you're pulling your finger out and seeing if it feels wet?
Plant People: Keep them guessing.
Jessica: Filling the moisture directly.
Alexis: Same.
Brett: What the heck does it feel like?
Plant People: It feels like moist.
Alexis: are your Are your hands too, like, are your is your skin too thick?
Plant People: um mean so
Jessica: Is it cold? like coal
Alexis: You can't feel it?
Brett: um it's My hand is with's left out in the sun, so the cuticle very thick.
Jessica: I was like, is this a trick question?
Alexis: i know.
Brett: No, it's not a trick it's not it's not a trick question.
Alexis: I was like, I don't.
Brett: I'm not doing a bit. I'm not. i'm like
Jessica: I was like, what am I to say? What am I supposed to say?
Brett: Because there's gradations to the level of moisture, I think.
Alexis: It just.
Brett: like is it is it If it doesn't feel like a crispy sponge all the way down into there, then that's considered moist?
Alexis: Yeah.
Brett: Yeah.
Plant People: Now, when I first bring my plants in, i do both the lift test and the poke test to see if there's moisture because I'm trying to get a handle on and and I'm trying to, you know, zone in on my water schedule. I do both. And then later on, when I think I've got a handle on it, I'll quit doing the the the soil test. But now some plants like the St. Francis ivy, we have a big pot of that.
Plant People: I can't even find the surface of the soil.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Plant People: It's so thick, so I can't do that the poke test.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Plant People: But I kind of use both when I first bring them in because I'm a little bit cautious of, you know, the different big difference on the inside when you bring plants in. Well, the temperature outside determines how long your heat runs.
Plant People: So your schedule really varies based on the outdoor temperature because that causes your whatever your heat system is to run sometimes dries plants out quicker. So I'll use both those tests.
Brett: um
Plant People: Like, you know, you were talking about and Jessica was talking about, i do the moisture test, but I don't find it as useful as lift test, but yeah, certain plants that work for dripping moisture.
Alexis: If my finger feels damp at all, then I don't water.
Plant People: And it's basically.
Alexis: Like, it needs to feel, like, I need to not feel any moisture.
Plant People: Oh, gotcha. Yeah. oh gotcha
Alexis: And that's when I water.
Brett: But how do you feel the moisture without taking your finger out and seeing if it feels wet?
Jessica: But also the soil is like, will stick to your fingers and stuff too.
Alexis: I mean, Brett...
Jessica: Right? So.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: and I don't know how you can't feel it.
Plant People: It's like the batter test. That's spoken like a true baker, Jessica.
Jessica: battered.
Plant People: If you take a toothpick and stick it into a cake and pull it out and it's on stick, that's true.
Brett: So I will, I will just say, will just say, I think that sometimes people who are pretty decent with houseplants or very experienced with houseplants do things on a tech, a tactile and instinctive basis.
Jessica: That's true.
Plant People: That's true.
Brett: That's really hard for someone who's analytical or an inexperienced to understand.
Alexis: and
Brett: Some of it's just hard to explain, but like, but like, again, i'm I'm like, should this, if this doesn't feel like a dried crispy sponge, then I don't water, you know, if you' sorry, I have to wait until this feels like a
Plant People: It is, yeah.
Alexis: Yeah. If
Jessica: A skill you gain over time.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: it doesn't feel like, yeah, like... um just like and dry potting soil. Like if you've got houseplants, you've probably experienced dry potting soil, right?
Plant People: No. Yeah.
Alexis: Like there's no moisture in it. It will blow away in the wind. Like there's just, there's nothing to it.
Brett: Yeah.
Alexis: It's not going to stick together. If it feels like that, then you need, definitely need a water.
Plant People: I was, I just want to say like this.
Alexis: And if you.
Brett: But not to be pedantic, but there is there is a whole even dry potting soil. if like I had to put it into a an oven and dried it, it would get even drier and crispier.
Brett: And so there's like this gradation. And obviously, I think you don't have to be perfect.
Alexis: Yeah.
Brett: You don't have to nail it every time.
Alexis: No.
Brett: But I think, yeah, i because there's some of them where like it'll get so dry that I could take and just it pulls away from the side of the pot and you can lift it out.
Alexis: Yeah. Yeah.
Plant People: Yeah, that's bad.
Brett: That's too dry?
Alexis: Right.
Plant People: that That seems bad when you have a significant soil shrinkage.
Jessica: Yeah, that's
Plant People: That's usually not the...
Alexis: Yeah.
Brett: But that's the thing. That to me is dry.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Brett: and And we're saying if we don't feel more. So that this is where this is where I'm just, i'm again, i'm not i'm not playing the moron.
Plant People: Now...
Alexis: i Let me put it this way.
Plant People: No...
Brett: i am the
Alexis: my My skin is not sensitive enough to like feel that much gradation. So like the the soil could still be, you know, fitted to the pot.
Alexis: Like it's not shrunk away and it can still feel dry to me because, it but it's not ultimate. It's not like the finest point of dry, but like the the tech tactile, what the human skin is capable of is is that.
Alexis: So, um but sometimes you get it.
Plant People: When we have plant routes, oh, go ahead, Alexis, yeah.
Alexis: Yeah, I was at your plants.
Brett: Well, I would just like to invite people to email us at hortculturepodcast at gmail.com.
Alexis: Yeah.
Brett: And you tell me who is being the crazy person here. And if the answer is both, that's okay.
Plant People: Brett is well just looking for a reason to do an Excel spreadsheet.
Brett: But
Alexis: You're not crazy. It's legit, but...
Brett: I just, I have people talk.
Alexis: Yeah. You're talking like moisture meter. Like if you want to go get a moisture probe, like that's the difference.
Plant People: Yeah. Yeah.
Alexis: But like, I don't know if the human skin is capable of, of feeling that much of a difference between like baked.
Plant People: I think you said it, Alexis.
Brett: Oh, don't agree.
Plant People: I had a commercial grower one time tell me do the pinch test.
Brett: i don't agree
Plant People: And that was ah when I managed a plant route at Berea. And, you know, we had a significant amount of soil in like ficus that we could like have access to.
Alexis: Yeah.
Plant People: and we were trying to get a handle on like when to water those, we do the pinch test, which is ah kind of like, um, if you've ever done any composting, you do the moisture test by squeezing. We do a little bit of the pinch test at the side of the pot.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Plant People: And if any of it sticks together, no water, if you pinch it and none of it sticks together, then you water.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Brett: oh
Plant People: So that was a more, and, and you know, it's, it was kind of what, like Brett said, you're trying to teach a bunch of college kids, uh, age kids that maybe ah have never really paid any attention to things like that.
Alexis: That's a good one. Yeah.
Plant People: And I thought that was a really cool way of, kind of teaching us when to water, not to water specific plants was the little, because it was standard peak mix, right?
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Plant People: Like a commercial mix, like a whatever Metro mix.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Plant People: And we would pinch that. And that was a pretty good test.
Alexis: Yeah.
Plant People: But you said that a minute ago, and that's exactly what we did.
Alexis: It's like tillage, like similar. Yeah.
Plant People: A little pinch test. And once we got a handle on the rhythms, we didn't have to do that as much. We'd just do the lift test, you know?
Brett: Yeah.
Alexis: Yeah.
Brett: And I think.
Alexis: And then you like, you do the pinch and the lift at the same time and you get a feel for like, oh, I'm not watering.
Brett: and
Plant People: Yes, that's exactly what we'd do.
Alexis: This is how heavy it feels.
Plant People: That's what we would do.
Alexis: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Plant People: Yeah, multiple touch points.
Brett: Yeah. I think a lot of those shorthand tests like that, they're just to get you started to the point where you then develop some of that experience and intuition.
Plant People: Yeah.
Brett: And some people will have that better than others. You know, that there's,
Plant People: Yeah.
Brett: ah Alexis has that in a different way than I do. And I don't think part of it's experience, but part of it's also just, it's just differences in the way, the way you, yeah, experience the world.
Plant People: No.
Alexis: The way your brain works. yeah
Jessica: Mm-hmm.
Plant People: That's fine.
Brett: And yeah.
Alexis: i was I tried to tell Annie, Brett's wife Annie, she was asking about watering her houseplants.
Brett: Yeah. you
Alexis: And she took me on a tour. And she's like, how do I know when to water? And I was like, just just feel it. And she's like, okay, but like, can I water like once a week?
Brett: know
Alexis: And I was like, no. She's like, what? do you what And I was like yeah, they're all different. And there are different pot sizes. And you just kind of have to feel them every week. And she's like, I don't i don't understand. I was like, yeah, yeah.
Plant People: Too much variation.
Alexis: Like pick this one up. Then pick this one up. She was like, I don't, I need, i need data.
Plant People: yeah There are tools for for you guys. You guys mentioned like tools of the trade. I don't really use them a lot, but I know gardeners that do, especially the really like advanced, like orchid type growers are not necessarily for orchids, but there's moisture meters you can get. There's light meters you can get that maybe you don't need those on a small scale, but if you're on a larger scale, trying out a new potty mix or something or or whatever, there are meters to more you know, accurately quantify this, I guess, as in their bread for all of these things, moisture, everything.
Brett: Yeah.
Alexis: Or if you just struggle.
Plant People: Yeah. Or if you just struggle, you can even get apps on your phone and these things are like the internet of things. You plug in a little sensor and it will do the moisture and transmit it to your phone.
Alexis: Mm-hmm. Put down in the soil. Yeah.
Plant People: It'll tell you temperature. It'll tell you ph I don't put as much stock into that, but yeah, it'll tell you all of these cool things and transmit it to your phone for you gear heads.
Jessica: you
Plant People: that want to kind of be a bit more accurate about this. and And there's some really cool tools out there. I particularly like the, like the lot meters ah that you can get.
Brett: Yeah.
Plant People: I mean, a $20 lot meter from your, yeah.
Brett: Yeah. I was going to say they're way more affordable. the the All of those, you can get them for not that much money and it's very cool.
Plant People: And they they cost a lot of money. If you spend $40 on a two-part lot meter, you get an incredible device that's commercial quality, $40 to $50. And homeowners can get the $20 version that'll suit their needs to tell how many You know, foot camp foot is a foot candles that they all measure in, you know, they they've got luminescence.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Brett: lumin Yeah. They can convert to lumens and all that.
Plant People: Yeah.
Brett: Yeah.
Plant People: ah But very accessible these tools are for homeowners to tell light requirements and moisture requirements. If you really want to fine tune that, the type A in my brain really likes that. Do I use them ah a lot, you know, just at home?
Plant People: No, I don't. But I really like though those tools.
Brett: Yeah, I use it so that what Ray's talking about, if you're mad, if this light meter is like this little box and it's got a sensor on the top and you can hold it like in you know daylight or under a light or whatever, and it will tell you light intensity so that you can can then kind of compare.
Jessica: you
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Brett: I think there's still a difference between the same relative lumens of sunlight versus other light because of the spectra are different. And, but anyway, but I've used it under like shade cloth to see if I had enough shade cloth to get the level of shade that I was looking for.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Plant People: Oh, yeah. and
Brett: i have one naturally as the person who's saying, oh how do you feel?
Plant People: Yeah. Not surprising.
Brett: How do you tell it with your finger if it's blah, blah, blah, blah.
Plant People: Yeah.
Brett: But I, and I have the moisture meter too, and it's a little less resolute.
Plant People: oh
Brett: It has a
Plant People: Yeah.
Brett: It just says wet or very wet or dry or very dry.
Plant People: Or try again.
Brett: um But it also has a temperature. I use it to check soil temperatures in the in this in the summer.
Plant People: yeah. Yeah.
Brett: But yeah, I think that i think that i we have gotten better because Annie and I think both have different approaches. And so I will kind of come with the big, deep soaking water, and she'll kind of monitor them on an ongoing basis.
Jessica: Thank
Brett: And so um that's why I wanted to ask about Jural's method for for doing your watering when you're inside.
Plant People: Yeah, you asked about that earlier.
Alexis: my method is to water while I'm brushing my teeth with yesterday's water bottle. ah So I don't know.
Brett: What is yesterday's water bottle? What does that mean?
Plant People: How well hydrated are you?
Alexis: It just means like, so like i fill I'll fill my water bottle up, you know, throughout the day if I don't drink at all.
Brett: Oh, I see.
Alexis: And it's just like water in my cup or random cups or random bottles that I have.
Brett: Oh, i see. Mm-hmm.
Alexis: And like, I'll be brushing my teeth and just be like, let me just go. And I'll just, and I'm weird. i don't know. I can't stand in the bathroom and just brush my teeth. Like I just walk around and look at things. And that's like my time.
Brett: It feels feels like a 2000s movie, like late-2000 teens ah Manic Pixie Dream Girl, like going around and watering her plants and listening to the shins or something.
Alexis: Yeah.
Plant People: like a waste of life.
Alexis: Hmm.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: and It's, yeah, it's not nearly that cute, but it is the um time that for some reason my brain thinks like, while you're brushing your teeth, just go walk around and look at your plants.
Plant People: Listen to your favorite emo song. Yeah.
Brett: Yeah. Yeah.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: It's just a thing that I like to do. And then I'll look at one and be like, you look like you need water. And I just grabbed the closest thing that has water in it. Hmm.
Plant People: only do the flood watering like for certain kinds of plants. Like we've talked about succulents and i have good luck with flood watering those, but not very often. Long periods in between time, especially on the inside.
Plant People: And what are some of the other real salt?
Brett: and And how about how long is a long period of time? Sorry.
Plant People: ah For my average succulents in like a, you know, shallow dish, I don't know, um with average winter temperatures. You mean times between watering?
Brett: Yeah. Like, are we talking days, weeks, months?
Plant People: No, I water just a little bit regularly. And by regularly, I mean once every couple of weeks. But, you you know, it's highly variable based on your habits.
Brett: Okay.
Plant People: If you water a lot, you have to extend that out in between times. And your mix, okay, has a big, you know, matters a lot.
Brett: Yeah. Yeah.
Plant People: But what are some others? I'm trying to think of some other salt-sensitive plants that I will flood, like spaths, spathorillium, like they're real salt-sensitive.
Alexis: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Plant People: Every now and again, if I see them starting to show signs, like around the edges or whatever of salt damage, I will, like, you know, try to wash as much salts out of this accumulated salts out of the soil.
Plant People: But now floodwatering, I'm a big fan of, um is that kind of what you were getting at, Brett?
Brett: yeah What does that look like? What does that mean?
Plant People: Really just exactly what it is. I will put it under, usually in the bathtub, put it under there and just water, water, water, just constant, constant, constant water for a while.
Brett: And it's draining out the bottom.
Plant People: And it's draining out the bottom for a while. And then, you know,
Brett: Like, ah is that while a while being five seconds, five minutes, somewhere in between?
Plant People: and I'll do two to two to three minutes depending on how much.
Brett: Wow. Okay. Yeah.
Plant People: yeah I mean, and then, you know, some some plants respond well to that. All of my succulents, they don't mind that a bit.
Brett: And what's the, what's the thought of the flood watering versus like, what do you.
Plant People: and a
Plant People: Mimicking natural cycles for certain types of plants, the boom and bust cycle that like desert plants see, that's that's their you know native growing habit is they see lots of rain, then they don't see much moisture for a long period of time.
Jessica: Thank you.
Brett: Mm-hmm.
Plant People: And that's the plants that I find respond best to that.
Brett: Mm-hmm.
Alexis: Yeah, I see like some um big cacti nurseries will act like... um when they have like mother plants and stuff like that, they'll actually put the entire plant like in a big barrel, like the whole plant leaves, everything.
Plant People: Oh, it's like, just put it in there, yeah.
Alexis: And they'll soak them. And part of that is like, they'll put um a little bit of like a Dawn dish soap or a insecticidal oil or, you know, something along those lines is some sort of oil and a very, you know, 10% small um solution.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: And they will, it helps with pests too. So if you've got scales or mealy bugs or something in the soil,
Plant People: i
Alexis: on the leaves in those tight crevices.
Plant People: yeah
Alexis: They'll just, and you can do that with a lot of different houseplants.
Jessica: you
Alexis: The big thing is, is don't, it's not like a long period of time. Like it's 10 minutes where you're just there weighted down.
Plant People: Yeah. Yeah.
Alexis: You know, you think you're drowning them. You're waterboarding them a little bit.
Plant People: yeah
Alexis: And then it kind of lets a lot of that stuff come out and disappear. And then you bring it back out, maybe throw in a little bit of fresh potting soil if it came off. um But that can be really beneficial for a lot of plants as you you know do that transition out to in can be an option too.
Plant People: It floats a lot of that dead stuff out the top of the soil if it's little hard to clean out.
Alexis: Yeah.
Plant People: I like the insect angle on that too because that's that's, you know, the stuff I struggle with the most is if I bring in white or mealybugs or aphids or...
Alexis: Yeah.
Alexis: Mm-hmm. And like some of those plants, like um I'm thinking of like curly leaf Hoya, if you've ever seen those before, you know, like getting in those nooks and crannies is impossible, you know, to get even to get spray and like, you know, systemics work, but you know, you're going careful with those too.
Plant People: yeah
Plant People: Hard to spray insecticidal oil or anything Yeah. Yeah.
Alexis: And so that's just an option that I thought was pretty cool.
Plant People: i
Alexis: And you can just drown your bugs.
Brett: That is cool. Yeah.
Alexis: And there's something very invigorating about that, at least for me.
Plant People: Yes.
Alexis: So yeah.
Jessica: Oh.
Plant People: are Are you guys using supplemental light? That's my next big thing. We talked about like a tool.
Alexis: Oh, I just bought new ones. Yeah.
Plant People: but it So, yeah, I mean, that's something that the tech there and the energy usage has gotten so good.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Plant People: But my favorite thing is like built-in inline timers. You just pop a couple, you can do like four, six, 12 hours or whatever.
Brett: yeah
Plant People: And these things have gotten so affordable.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Plant People: But what did what kind did you get, Alexis? Like an adjustable tripod kind of thing or what?
Alexis: Well, we should ask Jessica what kind she recommended her grandma.
Jessica: oh
Brett: Mm-hmm.
Jessica: i Well, I'm probably the worst, though, at this with this funny story is because i don't have any grow lights at my house because and my new house, my new house that was built in 1890 gigantic...
Plant People: Oh, oh, yes. Hmm.
Plant People: but your Windows may be good enough.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Plant People: Yeah.
Jessica: has gigantic
Plant People: Oh, that's awesome.
Jessica: windows, right?
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: the
Jessica: So all of my houseplants are much happier her and like blooming and all of that kind of stuff. But my grandma, I probably get my green thumb from her. i was at her house the other day and she has like probably 20 to 40 cuttings of plants that she has taken from her yard, ah from geraniums to impatience to all sorts of things.
Plant People: ah wow. Wow.
Jessica: And she has requested a grow light set up for Christmas. And I did not think that was weird at all. being a plant person, but apparently everybody else in my family thought that was very weird that grandma wants a grow light set up in her basement.
Brett: She's been following the legislation closely.
Jessica: ah And, and I, I was just like, why are y'all acting weird? Like she has all these plants that one, I'm like, what are you going to do with all these?
Plant People: are you here?
Brett: preparing.
Alexis: Yeah. What? Yeah.
Jessica: And, but everybody else was highly concerned about my grandma wanting ah grow light set up. So um i directed her to some of ah my favorite ah gardening companies that also sell grow light setups for the nice ones with the shelves and the stand instead of some of the little tabletop ones that you see.
Plant People: Hmm.
Alexis: who
Jessica: Cause I guess it also depends on what you're doing right with them.
Plant People: Yes.
Alexis: yeah
Jessica: um That if you just need those freestanding ones, which I've seen those before.
Plant People: Yeah.
Jessica: I don't know. Have you guys, you have any of the freestanding ones?
Plant People: I have two or three of those at home though. Is that the kind you got Alexis or
Alexis: I've got um um've got two kinds. I've got one that is got a clip. So clips on, I have this like cute little it rack indoor with multiple layer levels on it.
Plant People: Oh yeah. Yeah. e
Alexis: And ah so it clips onto there and then it has these like flexible, you know, arms that I can point out, the snake arms.
Plant People: Yeah. Snakes or whatever.
Alexis: So there's like four different LEDs with timer and I can do warm light, cool light, mix light.
Plant People: hmm.
Alexis: So if I want them to bloom versus I want vegetative growth versus just full spectrum,
Plant People: Oh, nice. i
Alexis: I can set it on that and then I can adjust them, which is really nice. and And this year I bought, because I've got a couple, the reason, biggest reason I have lights, because I'm like, Jessica, i have an old house and they actually did a good job of putting in good lights. So we have good light, but um I of course want to put plants in areas that plants probably don't need to be.
Alexis: So that's where I got light. But I found these new ones for those like dark corners. And they are, it looks like a little ring light. um And like a little halo. And it has a stick, ah like a little stick on it that you can put down into the pot and it has it extends or gets shorter yeah and then i have it and so what i like about it is i can get that light right at the crown of the plant which is where you'll get a lot of rot if you over water and and things like that so i've got that light shining right there on the crown of the plant it's just you know really contained it's just for that one plant it's kind of cute in a little corner um and i can also set that for a timer as well so i'm really pumped about those
Jessica: Very cool.
Brett: And it looks like a little angel plant because it's got its little halo.
Alexis: It does, it's so cute.
Plant People: Got its own little halo.
Alexis: On my devil's ivy, which is great.
Jessica: I was going to say, what is the plan?
Plant People: Yeah.
Brett: Lucifer was an angel once.
Jessica: i' was going ask what it was.
Alexis: but I've got it on my one of my pothos that I put out, the only one that I put out on the porch that I'm like, ooh, if you don't get light, you're gonna be real real mad at me.
Plant People: Not happy.
Alexis: And then the other one is gonna go in the the ZZ plant I have in a very dark corner. Like it's too dark for even a ZZ plant.
Plant People: If you can't grow that, yeah, that's ah pretty incredible for those.
Jessica: oh
Plant People: you
Alexis: I'm like, you know I don't want to threaten you this way.
Plant People: you know
Alexis: You're, you're good to me. So.
Plant People: You know, it was amazing. Brett, you mentioned you had a light meter and it was so informative of me for me years ago when we had the plant route. And one of the things are, you know, person that was sort of directing us and kind of getting us oriented and to the plant route was this.
Plant People: He said, you know, took a measure, you know, one foot from the window and it had so many lumens and then backed up another foot and it cut the lumens by two third and the fall off.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Brett: Yeah.
Alexis: crazy.
Plant People: He's like, now see placement is important. And, you know, a lot of these were like in, you know, businesses had really good light exposure, but it's like, listen, you can't back these things up. if they love light, not even a foot, but it showed us what a difference like a foot makes.
Alexis: Yeah. No, 12
Plant People: So light quality in the winter on the inside, super important. And I just, I just popped that 12 hour timer. I don't, I probably shouldn't, but I just put it on the longest duration I can.
Alexis: Yep. no twelve hours ye
Plant People: I mean, there's four and six. I don't know what those are used for. You know, me being a guy, I'm like more is better. So I just 12 hours, I just set it and forget it. If you have one of those, I've tried it on different settings and I have the best luck with full spectrum 12 hour.
Alexis: Yeah.
Brett: do you do you do Do you change your light settings in the growing
Alexis: I...
Brett: growing quote unquote growing season
Plant People: No, not on the ones I just move in in the winter. I personally don't. I probably could do a better job of manipulating the bloom cycles more naturally if I did, but I've never really ah tuned it down to that extent.
Brett: So we we're we're in like a north and east facing windows.
Alexis: i Yeah.
Brett: And so if you're if you're ah cardinal directionally and impaired, they get the north window gets very little direct light and some indirect.
Plant People: Mm-hmm.
Brett: And then the east window gets morning light and less as the day goes on.
Jessica: you
Brett: And so in other words, these are the lower light side of of the house.
Plant People: Yeah.
Brett: um and lower intensity. And so we, we keep the supplemental light on year round and the additional sunlight is sort of like this boost up to a, you know, all East facing or all like Southeast facing, you know what i mean?
Alexis: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Plant People: Oh, gotcha. You're leveling.
Brett: It's like, we're trying to offset. Yeah, exactly. Exactly.
Plant People: Yeah.
Brett: We're raising the base level and then the sun does the the adjustment for us. And so we don't do any changing, but, and, and they, they seem pretty happy with that.
Plant People: Makes a difference. Yeah.
Alexis: Yeah, I might like turn mine down to like four or six hours just because i'm I am in bright light. um Mostly because I don't want them to get too excited about being. I'm like, listen, babe, winter will come back.
Alexis: So um I don't want them to get too crazy.
Brett: Don't get too used to this.
Alexis: But that and I don't want to water them anymore. Mm
Plant People: Yeah.
Brett: Yeah. Well, cause I mean, they're they're coming from places where there isn't this intense seasonality like this, like that not, not to this extent, you know, the closer to the equator.
Plant People: if i Don't grow too much. Don't grow too much.
Alexis: hmm.
Plant People: Mm-hmm.
Brett: So the the swings aren't quite so, it depends on the plant, but a lot of them closer to the equator.
Jessica: Last year.
Brett: What were you say, Ray? Sorry.
Plant People: don
Jessica: but
Brett: Okay. Yeah.
Plant People: it's I don't know.
Alexis: Jessica. hmm.
Plant People: there's no There's no formula for these things. People ask the formula, just like Annie, you were having the discussion, you know how often, just give me the formula or how many days or whatever. there're just It just all depends on the plant and the you know what's going on outside, how long your heat runs, you know which window do you have a plant by.
Plant People: And it's just the only way I know how to do it is just try to keep the same plant without killing it for two or three seasons. And I know... about how much to how to take care of it in the wintertime and how to transition it out to that one spot on one particular porch area that we have or one back deck area.
Alexis: And also if you kill it, it's probably not that big of a deal. So like be easy with yourself.
Plant People: No, it it wasn't strong enough anyways.
Jessica: It's okay.
Plant People: It wasn't hardy.
Jessica: That's how you know you're a true plant person.
Brett: Yeah.
Alexis: Yeah.
Plant People: and If you haven't killed a few plants, you're not trying hard enough to to try different things.
Jessica: Okay.
Alexis: You got to push the limits.
Plant People: You do.
Alexis: Yeah.
Brett: When the reproductive cycle, I mean, we have this, this is going to get a little bit much, so cut me off, but, um,
Plant People: That's cool. Yeah.
Plant People: Thousand foot view.
Brett: like we have this idea of like, like our, our life cycle, life, everything, it takes, you know, nine months for us to gestate. There's some of these plants, if you put them in a pot by the end of the weekend, they're going to have roots and be a new plant.
Brett: And so the idea of like death and life turning over in a plant world is very, very different prospect for a lot of these, you know, if it's a seed, some kind of crazy seed based thing, then maybe not, but
Plant People: one
Brett: It's not, you're not killing 80 year old person in that plant. You know, you're, it's, it's just a different, different logic. You gotta get your, you know, find your own way to justify it.
Alexis: Yeah.
Plant People: I don't know if you have that Jade mother plant in the greenhouse.
Brett: Like I'm doing right now.
Alexis: This is why I don't do like animals like that.
Plant People: I don't know that thing's a time investment.
Jessica: I just have to find the the right plant for you, right? Like, but no, no, no.
Alexis: I can tell you it's not air plants for me, so
Jessica: Right? No, no. know Which one works for you in your setting, so...
Brett: You're more of an earth bender.
Alexis: Yeah, yeah.
Plant People: Not an air plant, fire plant.
Alexis: i'm a
Brett: Not an airbender.
Alexis: i'm ah I'm an earth sign. I need that good soil. Air signs are not for me.
Brett: Deep roots, not shallow air roots.
Alexis: Yeah, i don't I don't know what that is. Me and Epiphyte struggle, so.
Plant People: You're loving them too much.
Brett: Me and epiphytes get into epic fights.
Plant People: Nice.
Jessica: Thank
Alexis: Facts. That's our next shirt.
Plant People: You're not going to top that, Brett. not going to top it this episode.
Alexis: And by next, I mean, like, we have to have one first, but, like, when we do, that's our next shirt.
Plant People: and
Brett: Yeah. So speaking of which, if you all are still interested in merch, you have to email us and let us know that you're interested in merch if we're actually going to go forward and do this.
Plant People: If you want the epithetic merch.
Brett: But we've been looking forward into it. Yeah, we've been looking into it a little bit and it seems to be possible despite operating within the big blue machine. So if you really want merch and you're actually going to buy it, let us know in the comments on Instagram.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Brett: Let us know and anywhere else.
Alexis: Email, whatever.
Plant People: There's a shout.
Alexis: Yeah. And with that, perfect, perfect end. Thank you, Brett. Just going in there, you know, email us, comment on Instagram at Hort Culture Podcast.
Plant People: Leading out.
Alexis: ah Leave us a review and say need merch now? Five stars. ah That would be great. Helps other people find us in case they want really cool merch like Epiphytes, our epic fights. i I'm in. I'm into this sold, take my money. I will be paying for it as well. So if you want some, definitely let us know. But we are excited that you were here with us today. we hope you got something fun out of this or at least just got to chill with your friends on the pod because that's what it feels like when I listen to podcasts and just my friends, you know?
Alexis: So we hope you feel like that too and that you'll join us next time. Have a great one.
Plant People: Thank
