Indoor Plant Series Part 1- All about Areca Palm

"There are no gardening mistakes, only experiments." – Janet Kilburn Phillips 

There is no gardener who never met situations like yellowish/brown leaves, leaves falling off, no flowering, and even sudden death of the plant. But as they say, it takes years to learn gardening and once you get it, you can't step back. With this we start our Indoor plant series, we will talk about one of our top favorite indoor plants, Areca Palm in this blog. 

About this Plant: Originated in Madagascar with the scientific name as Dypsis lutescens. Majorly known as Areca Palm, also known as Butterfly Palm. People who love bright interiors would definitely love this plant, it creates a tropical setting in a very well lit room. Long, feathery fronds of Areca palm make an attractive corner, that's why you see them everywhere, in houses, offices, shopping malls, and restaurants. They are a relatively slow grower and prefers to be somewhat root-bound. It is fairly easy to take care of this plant, yet sometimes over/under watering, direct/insufficient light, over-fertilizing, low humidity, fluoridated or chlorinated water, pests, or unnecessary re-potting is the fastest ways to kill this plant. 

Height: It generally reaches a height of about 30 feet outdoors and 6-8 feet when grown indoors.

Benefits to keep: It is an air purifier for indoors, non-toxic, and safe for a home with children and pets.

Sunlight: It likes bright (indirect) light and suggested to keep indoors. It needs 2 to 3 hours of direct sunlight every week for its even growth. Too much sunlight may turn the leaves yellowish-green in color. 

Water: It is sensitive to overwatering and generally recommended to water only when the top one-inch soil is dried up. Once you water, water it thoroughly to wet all the roots. Use a planter with a good drainage hole and place a plate at the bottom to remove excess water. Avoid giving tap water if it contains fluoride. Also, do not forget to spray water on the leaves once a week.

Temperature: Home temperatures between 60°F (16°C) to 75°F (24°C) is fine, but sudden temperature drops or cold drafts can lead to brown spots on the leaves.

Soil: It likes good drainage, soil to prevent waterlogged roots. Use a mixture of soil and sand.

Fertilizer: Fertilizing this plant is a little tricky as it does not like many salts in fertilizers. It likes magnesium and iron to prevent yellowing leaves. If you’d like to help your palm grow faster, you can feed it a diluted water-soluble fertilizer monthly during the spring and summer growing season, avoid fertilizing in winters. 

Pest Attack: Whitefly, mealy bugs, scale, red spider mites. Look for these at the base of the leaves, on the stems, and especially under the leaf sheaths between the sheath and the stem; mites will hide on the bottom side of the leaves and produce webs.  Be extra vigilant when scouting for mites, as they can do irreparable harm quickly, often mistaken for dust on the underside of the leaves. If you see either of these, break out the spray bottle with a light soap solution and spray them daily till they’re gone.

Re-potting: It requires re-potting every two or three years. Re-pot in a pot 2-4 inches wider than the current pot. When re-potting - take care not to disturb the plant too much and only sit it as deep as it was previously in the soil.

Propagation: The best way to propagate this plant is by gently dividing clumps when re-potting. Propagation is also done with seeds, but it's time-consuming and quite difficult. 

Some Common Problems: 

• Yellow spots or streaks indicate a lack of potassium or magnesium. 
• Root rot is the biggest killer, but it can be avoided by watering properly, and not keeping the soil soggy. 
• Brown leaf tips may appear if the air is too dry, which also makes this plant more susceptible to pests like spider mites and mealy bugs. 
• Brown leaves are usually a sign of over-fertilizing, dry air, or a lack of water. 
• Spider mites are attracted to dusty leaves, especially in winter when humidity is low, but cleaning palm fronds with mild, soapy water can prevent the problem. 

Thanks for reading!!

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Journey of Plant Mom

I was never a gardener or had that passion for plants, in fact, I was the child who always forgets to water her plants. Never knew today I will write blogs on plants. From a newbie to a plant mom, this journey is a ride of mixed emotions. You are happy when you see a fresh flower or leaf and sad when a leaf turns brown or fall off. This journey started 2 years back when we shifted to Pune and saw that the last owner left 7 to 8 pots. We were too lazy to plant them or even discard them so kept them aside. Then one fine day we went to Nursery and bought my first 5 to 6 plants. 

The starting months were fine easy to care and water them, the actual pain started when we went to native and there was no one to water them for a week. We came back to square one, every plant dried up. I gave fresh life to 1 or 2, but others could not revive. That day, I felt like a mom who gets worried about every minor thing happen to her child. Really??, you will get to know once you become a plant mom like me. 

Gardening is an art that requires a lot of patience and analysis. You cannot keep watering daily to all your plants or keep all of them in the Sun. Every plant has its features and needs the right amount of light, water, humidity, temperature, soil, fertilizer, etc. It needs years of experience after growing distinct types of plants, taking care, experimenting, and trying out techniques to bring them to bloom. 

Ever faced a situation, what to do with those brown tips at the end, those soggy roots, the not so flowering plant, and many more. House plants can seem like a mystery if you don’t know how to care for them. So if you have plants who died because of over or under watering, extreme or very low light, or need tips to know the best soil mixture, stay tuned. We will deliver all the plant-related information in our blogs. Our blogs will be all about getting to know your plants so you can bring out their best. 

Here are the first few tips. 

• Do not water daily, water only when the top 1 inch is dry. 
• Not all plants need sunlight, there are plants that need very little light or no light. 
• Never re-pot plants as soon as you bring them from the Nursery. Let them adapt to your house environment. 
• Fertilize them at regular intervals to boost growth. Try out our homemade fertilizer blogs. 
• When re-potting to a bigger pot do not shake the roots much, as it gives the plant a shock and it will die eventually. 
• Water in the morning only.

As a starter, we will introduce 7 most common Indoor Plants and their care tips in coming blogs. Stay connected with us during this quarantine and learn to be a plant mom. 

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Homemade Fertilizer Series Part 4 - Egg Shells

Hi everyone !!

I hope you are liking this series of homemade fertilizers. Comment below if you have tried the first 3. Today we will be discussing the 4th homemade fertilizer, which is from EGG shells!! 

Though I haven't personally tried this fertilizer as we do not consume eggs, but I have researched this and they offer surprising benefits to a wide array of plants. They are organic, natural, and a rich source of calcium which helps plant growth. So this time instead of tossing them to the dustbin, toss them to your garden!! 

Detailed Process: Eggshells can be used in many forms. One could use it as a powder, tea, seed starter, or directly in the compost. Let's discuss each process in detail. 

• Eggshell tea: Rinse the eggshells in warm water, make sure you clean the yolk residue with a finger. Dry them in the sun for a day. Grind them into a fine powder. Take 2 spoons of this powder and mix with 4 liters of water. Boil it for a few minutes, it helps the shells release nutrients faster. Strain the water into a jar and leave it outside for 2 days. Make sure you sealed the jar. Dilute it with water and pour it to your plants. Make sure you give this twice a month to your plants. 
• Eggshell as Seed starters: Crack a raw egg in 3/4 portion and remove the yolk part. Rinse the eggshells in warm water, make sure you clean the yolk residue with a finger. Dry them in the sun for a day. Make a small drainage hole at the bottom using a pin to prevent overwatering. Add some seed starting soil to shell and add 2 to 3 seeds in one shell, make sure you cover the seeds with more soil and sparkle some water. Place the egg in a holder and place it on a sunny windowsill where it won't be disturbed. Transplant the egg shell to new pots as it is when the seedling has 1 to 2 sets of true leaves. 
• Compost: One can toss these eggshells for compost making at home. It helps to speed up the decomposition. 
• Powder eggshell fertilizer: Rinse the eggshells in warm water, make sure you clean the yolk residue with a finger. Dry them in the sun for a day. Grind them into a fine powder. One can use them directly, but crushing helps in the decomposition faster. Store them in a sealed container and sprinkle them whenever you want to add some fertilizer to your plants. Mix crushed eggshells directly into potting soil when re-potting or transplanting plants. One can mix this eggshell powder with tea/coffee grounds or banana peel powder to boost the growth. 
• Snail Repellent: Crushed eggshells can help repel pests naturally in the garden thanks to their sharp edges. Instead of grinding the shells into a fine powder, crush them loosely by hand, leaving the sharp edges intact. Spread the shells on the soil around plants that are being attacked by snails and cutworms to deter these pests.

Benefits: Eggshells are made almost entirely of calcium carbonate crystals. The average eggshell also has other nutrients the soil needs, including phosphorus, magnesium, and traces of sodium, potassium, zinc, manganese, iron, and copper. Since many plants take calcium out of the soil during the growing process, you might want to add some back. Calcium is essential for helping plants absorb nitrogen, which is an essential nutrient for most garden vegetables.

Questions:

1) What should be the quantity and how frequently one should give them to plants?
Ans: 1 spoon for medium-sized plants and 2 spoons for big plants. Frequency should be once a month. 

2) Will increasing the frequency of this fertilizer will enhance growth?
Ans: No, this will ultimately reduce the growth as it will increase the acidity of the soil, which plants might not support and eventually die. 

Thanks for reading!! 
Comment below if you have any more queries. Do follow us for future updates
Stay home Stay safe Stay connected. 
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Homemade Fertilizer Series Part 3 - Banana

Hi everyone !! 

I hope you like my first 2 blogs. So today we will discuss the 3rd most effective homemade fertilizer, which is BANANA!! 

Did you know banana peels make one of the best fertilizers for plants? I didn’t until I started using it and saw my plants responding. They turn out to bloom healthier, greener, more flowery. Banana peels are a rich source of nutrients like Potassium, phosphorus, and calcium, along with a host of other minerals your plants need.

Detailed Process: Banana peels can be used in many forms. One could use it as a powder, tea, or directly in the compost. Let's discuss each process in detail. 

• Banana peels tea: This fertilizer uses nutrients leached from banana peels to give your plants a mineral boost. To make it, chop 2 to 3 banana peel and place them in a jar filled with water. Let it sit for 3 to 4 days. After 4 days, strain the banana peel from liquid, mix the liquid with a half bucket of water. Water your plants or spray them as usual with your banana tea. 
• Chopped Banana peels: One can bury them at the bottom of the pot when repotting a plant. 
• Compost: One can use these peels for compost making at home. It helps to speed up the decomposition. 
• Powder fertilizer: Dry some banana peels in the sun for 2 to 3 days. Grind them and your banana fertilizer is ready. Store them in a sealed container and sprinkle them whenever you want to add some fertilizer to your plants. One can mix eggshell or tea/coffee grounds with it to boost the growth.

So the bottom line is never to throw your ripe bananas or banana peel. Freeze them in a self-seal bag until you are ready to use them. 

Benefits: Banana peels contain some of the highest concentrations of potassium, more than 40%, that you can find in most compost items. They are also high in calcium, manganese, magnesium, sulfur, and sodium.  Sodium helps plants to exchange water at the cellular level, magnesium, and sulfur help to produce chlorophyll, the most beneficial part of plants, and essential to the process of photosynthesis. Calcium is essential for helping plants absorb nitrogen, which is an essential nutrient for most garden vegetables.

Questions:

1) Can we use it directly without fermentation?

Ans: No, fermentation helps in the decomposition of banana peel.

2) What should be the quantity and how frequently one should give them to plants?

Ans: Quantity is similar to the amount you pour water to plants. Frequency should be twice a week. 

Thanks for reading!! 

Comment below if you have any more queries. Do follow us for future updates

Stay home Stay safe Stay connected. 

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Homemade Fertilizer Series Part 2 - Starch Water

Hi everyone !! 

Do you have plants stuck for fertilizer due to lockdown?? 

Yesterday we talked about homemade NPK fertilizer, today we will talk about what more your plants need. So here goes our second homemade fertilizer for plants, STARCH WATER. 

Starch water is basically the residual water left after rinsing and boiling eatables like potatoes, rice, macaroni, or pasta. The white residual water is a rich source of Starch. The next time you boil or steam some vegetables on the stovetop, don’t pour the water down the drain. Once the water has cooled, pour the vegetable water in your garden or planting containers to “fertilize” your plants instead of wasting it.  

Detailed Process: Cool down the starch water if it is boiled water. Leave it in a jar or a bowl for 5 to 6 days to ferment. Also, cover the jar or bowl with cotton cloth, allow air to pass through. After 5 days shake it, take 1/10 of this fermented starch water and mix with 9/10 portion of mil and again leave this for 5 to 6 days to ferment. After the complete process takes this mixture and mix with 20 parts of water and pour them to your plants.  

Benefits: Starch water mainly has lactic acid and very minimal NPK qualities. Starch water + Milk + Time = Lactic Acid Bacteria. It creates lactic acid bacteria, which significantly improves soil health by decomposing any organic matter and reducing any chance of unwanted pathogens associated with decaying material. It will also remove foul odors associated with composting and manure. This starchy water will allow the growth of indigenous bacteria. Milk will be used to isolate the desired bacteria needed for the best fertilizer possible while the unwanted bacteria will die off. 

Questions

1) Can we use it directly without fermentation?
Ans: Yes, one can pour this starch water without the fermentation process, but only after cooling and dilution.

2) What should be the quantity and how frequently one should give them to plants?
Ans: Quantity is similar to the amount you pour water to plants. Frequency should be twice a week. 

3) I usually add little salt while boiling macaroni. Can I use this starch water?
Ans: Never use salted starchy water as it may harm plants.

Thanks for reading !! 
Comment below if you have any more queries. Do follow us for future updates
Stay home Stay safe Stay connected. 
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Home Made Fertilizer Series Part 1 - Tea/Coffee Grounds

Hi everyone!! Do you have plants stuck for fertilizer due to lockdown?? 

Tada!! This series is for you, as we will be discussing 7 homemade fertilizers, which shows very good results in a little time. 

Plants need three things to survive and thrive: Potassium, Phosphorus, and Nitrogen. That's why people buy NPK fertilizer, mostly to enhance the growth of plants. I have never been a fan of chemicals in the environment. In fact, I do organic whenever I can, and that includes the fertilizers that I use for my plants. The great thing about organic fertilizers is you don’t have to worry about your plants containing harmful chemicals plus, it saves your money. Most of them can be made with things that you already have. What is garbage in your kitchen can actually turn into treasure into your garden. DIYing your fertilizer is a great idea, and we all love to DIY, right? 

The first and the easiest is the tea/coffee grounds leftover or used tea leaves. We all prepare chai/tea/coffee in the morning and always throw the chai patti after we are done, but little we know that it is the best fertilizer for plants. So next time when you make chai, take the used chai patti to fertilize your plants. 

Benefits: Tea/coffee grounds leftover or used Tea leaves are a rich source of Tannin and other nutrients like Nitrogen, Phosphorous, and Potassium. Tannin generates tannic acid, which maintains the PH level of your soil and acidic soil loving plants love it. Nitrogen generally helps in the photosynthesis of plants. They also help in weed suppression. Adding iron/calcium tablets or eggshell residue with tea residue will be a lot more beneficial. 

Detailed Process: Collect your tea/coffee grounds, leaves, or bags for a week in a vessel. Rinse this leftover 2 to 3 times in water to remove the milk and sugar from it. Dry it in the sun for 1 to 2 days. Now one can use it on plants like tomatoes, roses, blueberries, or acidic soil loving plants. 

Some Common Questions

1) I usually add ginger and cardamom in tea, so can I use that tea powder for plants?
Ans: Yes, one after rinsing the residue 2 to 3 times in water can use it.

2) What should be the quantity and how frequently one should give them to plants?
Ans: 2 to 3 spoons for medium-sized plants and 4 to 5 spoons for big plants. The frequency should be twice a month.

3) Will increasing the frequency of this fertilizer will enhance growth?
Ans: No, this will ultimately reduce the growth as it will increase the acidity of soil which plants might not support and eventually die.

4) Can we give only for acidic soil loving plants like tomatoes or roses etc.?
Ans: No, this can be given to all types of plants but give in a very small amount.

5) Can we give unused tea leaves or tea/coffee grounds directly to plants?
Ans: Tea/Coffee leaves or grounds contain tannin in them. It is reduced once they are "cooked" (the brewing process) which is believed to make it less harmful to the plants. So never use it directly.

6) Can we use it in the potting mix?
Ans: Yes Tea/Coffee leaves or grounds can be used in the potting mix as a replacement of per-lite. 

Thanks for reading!! 
Comment below if you have any more queries. Do follow us for future updates
Stay home Stay safe Stay connected. 
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The Janta Curfew Day

Amidst all the information, myths, pros, and cons, memes, criticism of government regarding the unbeatable CORONA, somewhere the bottom of my heart say thank you CORONA for coming. I know many of you have already raised your eyebrows thinking why is she thanking this contagious and unbeatable pandemic. 

But do you know why?? 

Because it's a GOD call to recover all. We were the viruses all along. The air and water pollution we gave to our mother Earth. The closet we gave to our animals and birds. The unstoppable Lifestyle we gave to us. The hatred we have for each other. The time we didn't give to our loved ones.  

Today everyone is frightened and locked down in a shell with a fear to lose their loved ones. It has given us the chance to slow down our pace and rethink the way we live our lives.  

On the other hand, it has given the freedom to enjoy a fresh environment for some. Birds can enjoy chemical-free air, animals can roam outside, fishes and sea animals can enjoy new aquatic life without fear of losing a life on a plate. Today is a HAPPY DAY for them, let us create a happy new environment for them. 

The virus came with a lesson!! Today on the Janta curfew day, let us rethink the wrongs we have done, and let's pledge not to continue it. The time is given to enjoy with your loved ones!! To think that we need more doctors, hospitals, researchers and many more. The virus doesn't die in 12 hours and doesn't kill with clapping. The clapping should be for the doctors, nurses, air force helping people in-spite of fearing about their lives and for all those who are doing double duties staying at home. This time the race is with yourself. Stay home, stay safe!! 

Thanks for reading!! 
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