It’s Monday at #TheWateringHole and I’m unmotivated… thin...
It’s Monday at #TheWateringHole and I’m unmotivated… thinking I need a new hashtag like #UnMotivatedMonday or #MopeyMonday 😮💨 We’ve got #untidyTuesday so why not!?!🥴Typically I’ve got pics of pretty new things doin’ their thang, but lately not so much 🤷♀️ 🤪. I think the recent mealy bug/thrip discovery has left me feeling deflated. It won’t last but it’s a real thing for me, now & then. Figuring others probably feel this way too sometimes. It’s not always ☀️ 🌈 & 💐 people, right? 🤪 So rant over (I’m feeling better already 🫣) and here’s a pic of one of my plants that’s got his #UnMotivatedMonday going on too! Syngoniums were OG plants for me, 💚 them! Then slowly they all turned into long stringy, pathetic vines. I got rid of all but this bitty Panda. We both have #MopeyMonday. I need motivation. She never gets long enough to chop & prop. She did pop a new leaf up at the soil line so I’m hopeful there🤞. Anything going on in your oasis that’s got you feeling frustrated or defeated? It’s officially #MopeyMonday!! 🤪 😆 😂 #HappyPlants #PlantsMakePeopleHappy #NewGrowth #PlantTherapy #Syngonium #SyngoniumSquad
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@CutePolypremum @AC73LoveCats @theloveofplants @ILoveMyPlants @TheOddAsity @SweetAzurebluet @MariansOasis @Babevila @MusicalRedmint @Ms.Persnickety @FitBrowallia @JenniferNoel @SuperbRaspfern @LaLaslovlies @debbiedo @PrizedShadscale @AmusingRedhill @Pineapplemom @Popcornjoness @idplantthat @preciousplants1 @Sassylimey @TRose @Shells_Garden @GracedStrapwort @Prentyce @Motheroforchids @BuffCaperspurge @PrincessPitStop @Plants_Galore @PioneerRutabaga @blueberrypie @motheroforchids @refinedsandwort @elk @baobab_zig @dogs-equal-joy @TheConservator @littlesongbird @toounique1 @PHILO @DreamMachine @ponytailmom @GreenPurpose @4leatbec @SunflowerSunset @Dawgfreak @MockingJay @Luckeecharm1 @IWantThatPlant @antsinurplants
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@MariansOasis I'm sorry you're feeling down in the dumps. It feels almost like every other day for me so you're not alone. 😔 But the good thing is we're here for each other and it really does help to vent and get it out. 🫶 I've lived in San Antonio for almost 3 years and I still don't have any real life friends. But I've got you and all the other wonderful planty people here. 💚🪴 And about the plants...Have you ever seen one of these?? Hahaha I cringe every time I look in its direction. 🫤 It is what it is but I'm not going to give up until it's brown and bald!! 😂
@princesspitstop lololololol I had a scindapsus that could’ve been its twin I gave up on it and rehomed it. It was actually 3 that I gave away because I kept trying to chop & prop 😑 🤪
My heart goes out to you too regarding lack of real friends. I didn’t realize how much I shared and confided in with my work friends until I was retired about a year. Conversations with my husband just aren’t the same haha. He’s great at the small talk but anything deeper, unless it’s fishing ofc, I get the glazed eyes 😵💫 look. We’ve been in our house 30 years but in So CA, long term relationships are tough. So many people move away especially our retired friends and family due to housing prices, cost of living etc. We have 1 nephew close by. Our daughter and SIL too but they’re going to WA to check out places to live 😬. So it gets a little lonely sometimes. Wish we planty friends were all closer together!!
My heart goes out to you too regarding lack of real friends. I didn’t realize how much I shared and confided in with my work friends until I was retired about a year. Conversations with my husband just aren’t the same haha. He’s great at the small talk but anything deeper, unless it’s fishing ofc, I get the glazed eyes 😵💫 look. We’ve been in our house 30 years but in So CA, long term relationships are tough. So many people move away especially our retired friends and family due to housing prices, cost of living etc. We have 1 nephew close by. Our daughter and SIL too but they’re going to WA to check out places to live 😬. So it gets a little lonely sometimes. Wish we planty friends were all closer together!!
@MariansOasis I know what you mean about the husband haha they try ❤️ I get the same glazed look when he talks about golf or bit coin! hahaha It does seem like all of you guys that I wish I lived near are on the West Coast. 🫤
@MariansOasis @princesspitstop
Oof, I feel you two! I’ve also been noticing watering notification inconsistencies like we were talking about in that other thread. I have some plants absolutely wilting from dehydration and then I check their page and think there’s no way that I watered them only two weeks ago, this looks like it’s been way longer!
I also have three identical in every way coffee plants that will eventually end up getting water notifications on different days 😵💫
ANYHOO. I was feeling very upset about my broadmite infestation, but the thing that’s giving me my motivation back is setting up all these cultures or breeding containers for my predatory mites (N. cucumeris) that got here on Friday. I now have 10 individual containers for them to breed in plus one BIG BOI Tupperware container that contains multiple.
I also just got my new microscope. I was feeling very frustrated with my last one because it was supposed to connect to my computer for picture downloading, but neither my PC nor my laptop recognized it as a device!! 😠😤 So this new one is supposed to connect to my phone… I am feeling very excited to get some good pictures here momentarily!!
Oof, I feel you two! I’ve also been noticing watering notification inconsistencies like we were talking about in that other thread. I have some plants absolutely wilting from dehydration and then I check their page and think there’s no way that I watered them only two weeks ago, this looks like it’s been way longer!
I also have three identical in every way coffee plants that will eventually end up getting water notifications on different days 😵💫
ANYHOO. I was feeling very upset about my broadmite infestation, but the thing that’s giving me my motivation back is setting up all these cultures or breeding containers for my predatory mites (N. cucumeris) that got here on Friday. I now have 10 individual containers for them to breed in plus one BIG BOI Tupperware container that contains multiple.
I also just got my new microscope. I was feeling very frustrated with my last one because it was supposed to connect to my computer for picture downloading, but neither my PC nor my laptop recognized it as a device!! 😠😤 So this new one is supposed to connect to my phone… I am feeling very excited to get some good pictures here momentarily!!
@capsong Of course I had to look too after Heidi said that @princesspitstop 😂😂 And OMG!! What variety of tradescantia is this?? 😱🤯🤩😍
@DreamMachine 😵💫 yes, identical plants in identical exposures getting watered on different days or different volumes 😑😬!
I’ll be do interested to see how things go with the predatory mites! Do they like yeast and bee pollen 🐝?? I might have to try out a microscope 🔬 It could go either way for me though- either excited to see there’s nothing there, or freaking out that I’ve been missing!! 🤣🤪😜😆😝
I’ll be do interested to see how things go with the predatory mites! Do they like yeast and bee pollen 🐝?? I might have to try out a microscope 🔬 It could go either way for me though- either excited to see there’s nothing there, or freaking out that I’ve been missing!! 🤣🤪😜😆😝
@DreamMachine YES!!! Just like my 4 Monstera!!! I water them on the same day and the next water notification they are on different days!!! What the heck???
@DreamMachine Wait though, what are we doing with bee pollen and yeast?? I mean besides baking some killer bread ☺️
@princesspitstop @MariansOasis also, I really like #MopeyMonday 😂 It works perfectly for me because it’s always my first day off after my work week and I always have very little energy 🥱😵💫 I mean, still enough to be setting up a new microscope and checking on my predatory mites…🤣 But I am still Le Tired! 😴
@princesspitstop @MariansOasis yes! So each packet of predatory mites has those bran flakes (you can see on my cotton rounds), then in that bran are bran mites which are feeder mites, and cucumeris mites which feed on the bran mites. So the bran feeds the bran mites, and the bran mites feed the cucumeris mites so they’re not dead upon arrival.
So when you are culturing predatory mites like I am and trying to raise them so they have nice happy lives and get married and settle down and have babies and stick around for me, my cultures need something to feed the bran mites and the cucumeris mites just in case they want an extra snack.
So the bran mites love yeast, and the cucumeris mites will also feed on pollen if needed!
A lovely predatory mite cultured bread recipe 🤣🤣
So when you are culturing predatory mites like I am and trying to raise them so they have nice happy lives and get married and settle down and have babies and stick around for me, my cultures need something to feed the bran mites and the cucumeris mites just in case they want an extra snack.
So the bran mites love yeast, and the cucumeris mites will also feed on pollen if needed!
A lovely predatory mite cultured bread recipe 🤣🤣
@DreamMachine wow the backbone’s connected to the thigh bone, the thigh bone’s connected to the hip bone…. Lots of steps for the mites. Interesting how it all works!
@MariansOasis right? Sounds like lots of steps, but after making 10 culture containers it seems like a very simple and easy way to continuously have a predatory mite population for use!
I soldered some holes in the lids so they can ‘escape’ (onto my plants). @MusicalRedmint gave me the idea, and sent me this fabulous video about it.
(If you’re interested of course): https://youtu.be/syXq5D-dhbI?is=pt3N7gDq4yF-AbEE
For me, it makes the part about beneficial insects that I got hung up about (the cost, and having to keep buying them) all the more accessible and affordable!
I soldered some holes in the lids so they can ‘escape’ (onto my plants). @MusicalRedmint gave me the idea, and sent me this fabulous video about it.
(If you’re interested of course): https://youtu.be/syXq5D-dhbI?is=pt3N7gDq4yF-AbEE
For me, it makes the part about beneficial insects that I got hung up about (the cost, and having to keep buying them) all the more accessible and affordable!
Happy #unmotivatedmonday! I’ve got a migraine today so am slogging along like a sloth-turtle. I know that failure feeling- I’ve recently collapsed my second caladium, and am trying to rehab two expensive hoyas after a dumb moisture mishap on one, and the hubby accident with the other. It can be very discouraging! I set my hoyas up in a little greenhouse that makes it feel more like a science experiment rather than a failure. And I chopped all the leaves off the caladium and actually thinking of sticking it outside to see if it has the will to live! In happier news, we had some epic storms in Colorado last night and the skies were incredible! The horse is “Blucifer,” a piece of art near our airport that killed its maker during construction and now holds all of Colorado in a trance with its blue paint and LED red eyes.
@MamaLinne omg I was thinking that was THAT horse! It’s funny because right outside PDX airport we have a couple horse ‘statues’ too…but they’re made out of driftwood. First time I flew into Denver I thought—does every airport have horse statues? 🤔😂
@MamaLinne @MariansOasis @princesspitstop and remember! You are allowed to rename any struggling plant, a “rehab plant.” Absolve yourself of any and all guilt. You tried!! 🏆 🏅 but, it was a rehab plant, so 🤷♀️
(Doesn’t at ALL matter if you are rehabbing it from yourself 🤭😂🤣😜🤪)
(Doesn’t at ALL matter if you are rehabbing it from yourself 🤭😂🤣😜🤪)
I find myself in this head space frequently… but thankfully it doesn’t last long. It just takes a new leaf or a new plant to lift my spirits. That said, I do have a few challenging “kids” in my oasis. For example… I’ve just about given up on my tri color fitonia. She started out so cute…red, pink and green. Now she’s barely hanging on and no trace of red or pink left. 🥺😢.
@MamaLinne I had a similar situation with a caladium. I thought she was a goner. I put her in direct sun and staked up some of her drooping limbs and she made a comeback. Don’t give up… 🥰
@MariansOasis she might be mopey but she’s beautiful 🤩. We all feel that way more often than we admit. Cheer up tomorrow will be better 🌈
@MariansOasis @MamaLinne @princesspitstop @Idplantthat @MusicalRedmint they’re…ALIIIIIIVE 🙌
I just spent way too long with my new microscope looking at my cultures. I was a bit worried because I didn’t see obvious movement with the naked eye.
But they’re there! It was wild being able to see bran flake movement under the microscope and then look with my eye and not see anything move! (Those columnar pieces are indivual grains of yeast by the way.)
I also very enthusiastically put down lots of the bran in each culture, so they’re a bit hard to make out at the moment. As the bran gets eaten and goes away, it will be easier to see the mites themselves.
I can’t quite tell who is who by glancing yet, but I think the bran mites are supposed to be clear bodies with darker heads and legs and oval shaped, and the predatory cucumeris mites are more tan-ish colored and pear shaped?
Also, PRO TIP: don’t forget where you put them all, if you do spread them out among different plants 🤪 I totally forgot that I put one way up high in my pothos…above eye level 🙃
I just spent way too long with my new microscope looking at my cultures. I was a bit worried because I didn’t see obvious movement with the naked eye.
But they’re there! It was wild being able to see bran flake movement under the microscope and then look with my eye and not see anything move! (Those columnar pieces are indivual grains of yeast by the way.)
I also very enthusiastically put down lots of the bran in each culture, so they’re a bit hard to make out at the moment. As the bran gets eaten and goes away, it will be easier to see the mites themselves.
I can’t quite tell who is who by glancing yet, but I think the bran mites are supposed to be clear bodies with darker heads and legs and oval shaped, and the predatory cucumeris mites are more tan-ish colored and pear shaped?
Also, PRO TIP: don’t forget where you put them all, if you do spread them out among different plants 🤪 I totally forgot that I put one way up high in my pothos…above eye level 🙃
@MamaLinne I’ve SEEN that horse! Freaked me out the 1st time!! I was a buyer and would travel to Denver every January for the big WESA show - everything for horse & rider. I didn’t know the story behind the horse and his red eyes! 👁️
@MamaLinne oh and I love the sky photo 🌅 So sorry about the migraine 😑. And thanks for sharing your caladium dilemma. My daughter got one and it was nothing but trouble for her. I think she ended up showing it the door🚪
@Forbes57 yes fortunately for me the funk doesn’t last long either. And I’m sure it’s related to the mealies on the Hoya and thrips on a favorite orchid. The Hoya recovered without even a hiccup. The orchid however is devastated after the treatment 😱😳. I’m hoping she’s gonna be okay 😮💨
That’s frustrating about your fitonia. I had one years ago and it was barely holding on so I planted it outside. It’s going strong, in my climate it gets sad looking over winter but then comes back strong in the summer.
That’s frustrating about your fitonia. I had one years ago and it was barely holding on so I planted it outside. It’s going strong, in my climate it gets sad looking over winter but then comes back strong in the summer.
@FitBrowallia thanks Jonchel, yes fortunately it doesn’t last very long. Something will motivate me again and I’ll be back at it in a snap 🫰 Today I took a nice nap and when I woke up I was all ready to get watering! I even repotted an anthurium 🙌😆
@MariansOasis @princesspitstop Heidi and Marian, I totally understand because I have the same issue. I had close friends where I came from in Toledo. We moved to a town near Dayton when we got married in 1985 (husband’s home town) and I have found some friends along the way, but none like I had before and it is harder keeping the ones here since they are not lifelong friends. Also I was so involved in my work, out of the necessary demands of the work, for the last 16 1/2 years, and made friends there, so that now I feel at loose ends again though I am enjoying not having to get up early for work or do the difficult work, AND loving 🥰 having lots more time for this year’s outside garden planting and anticipating what indoor potting I want to do. I plan to call some of the friends I have made here and used to see. I do have a good Toledo friend who is an eager e-mailer with me. Also I fully enjoy reading and occasionally writing on Greg. I realize I am a work in progress because I have only been retired since the end of February this year. But you both (and others, probably) are not alone!
BTW my email is on my oasis if you want to use it. Take care and remember you are not the only ones in this situation. Hopefully it will get better for all of us.
BTW my email is on my oasis if you want to use it. Take care and remember you are not the only ones in this situation. Hopefully it will get better for all of us.
@MariansOasis amen girl!! I thought I was the only one killing my plants in the spring time, like, what the…..!?
I’m currently in a funk and desperately need to wash my pots so I can repot, but it’s over 10 pots (by like 50+), so it’s not getting done. In the meantime I’m dealing with fungus gnats (introduced by some BOPs) in my kitchen and upstairs and mealys on my ponytail palm. The ponytail palm has been getting treatments weekly since April and every time I go to check it out it’s worse than it was the last time 🤦♀️. It may never leave the basement at this rate🤣😂.
So my current schedule notifications are at 91 and I’m just not feeling it right now.
But I’ll get back to it eventually, just not today.
Retirement is crazy. You go from talking all day and sweating small stuff to silence and undesirable house tasks, it’s easy to get isolated. After being retired for 7 years, I spend most of my time running errands, watercolor painting, reading and trying to solve Murdle logic puzzles, well and of course, plants and Greg.
Thankfully I’m introverted and people are a lot most of the time, but I’ve met some great people in my neighborhood and I keep my friend group small.
You’ll figure it out. It just takes some time to reset. In the meantime you have all of us!!
But thanks for the post and letting us “keep it real”😘
I’m currently in a funk and desperately need to wash my pots so I can repot, but it’s over 10 pots (by like 50+), so it’s not getting done. In the meantime I’m dealing with fungus gnats (introduced by some BOPs) in my kitchen and upstairs and mealys on my ponytail palm. The ponytail palm has been getting treatments weekly since April and every time I go to check it out it’s worse than it was the last time 🤦♀️. It may never leave the basement at this rate🤣😂.
So my current schedule notifications are at 91 and I’m just not feeling it right now.
But I’ll get back to it eventually, just not today.
Retirement is crazy. You go from talking all day and sweating small stuff to silence and undesirable house tasks, it’s easy to get isolated. After being retired for 7 years, I spend most of my time running errands, watercolor painting, reading and trying to solve Murdle logic puzzles, well and of course, plants and Greg.
Thankfully I’m introverted and people are a lot most of the time, but I’ve met some great people in my neighborhood and I keep my friend group small.
You’ll figure it out. It just takes some time to reset. In the meantime you have all of us!!
But thanks for the post and letting us “keep it real”😘
@AC73LoveCats @princesspitstop @IWantThatPlant looks like we need a hashtag for the retired planty friends! Maybe #RetiredRooters 🤪 or #RetiredAndRooting 🤭 or #Gotalldayforplantstuffyay 😆
@AC73LoveCats @princesspitstop thanks for sharing. It seems we all have a lot in common. My best friends are from school days back in CT and I haven’t lived there in decades! And neither do they, we’re all spread out across the countryside 🗺️. Like you I made some good friends at work, but they’re still working 40 hour weeks and I know how difficult it can be to carve out time when you’re still employed. I’m determined to stay in touch with them though. We are getting together this week!
I DEFINITELY 💯 love not having to be up early and having lots of leisurely time for plants, gardens, my dog 🐕 and horse. Greg and Reddit are my guilty time killers where I dig into plants, chihuahuas and the Big Bear eagles cam with Jackie & Shadow and family 🦅 🦅 🐥 🐥 And I like challenging games like Sudoku, Free Cell and Pyramid. Oh and MLB ⚾️ go Padres and Red Sox! 😆
I DEFINITELY 💯 love not having to be up early and having lots of leisurely time for plants, gardens, my dog 🐕 and horse. Greg and Reddit are my guilty time killers where I dig into plants, chihuahuas and the Big Bear eagles cam with Jackie & Shadow and family 🦅 🦅 🐥 🐥 And I like challenging games like Sudoku, Free Cell and Pyramid. Oh and MLB ⚾️ go Padres and Red Sox! 😆
@IWantThatPlant lol I can kill plants any time of year!!! 🥀 🪦💀.
It funny as I was preparing to retire I had the silly idea that all these projects I had in mind would be done ✅ in no time! Because I’d have all this time!!!🤪 But what I didn’t count on was the comradery we had at work to accomplish things together wasn’t nearly so much fun when you’re alone. Oh my husband is here but you know, I finish a project and often it’s met with a “that’s nice” lol.
So sorry about the fungus gnats and mealy bugs 🫤. I have a ponytail palm I still won’t allow near others 🪴 due to thrips from a couple of years ago. Haven’t seen any sign of recurrence 😮💨 But I’m convinced that the day I move her near the others they’ll be back!! 🫨
I laughed at “people are a lot most of the time”. Made me think of this meme 😊
It funny as I was preparing to retire I had the silly idea that all these projects I had in mind would be done ✅ in no time! Because I’d have all this time!!!🤪 But what I didn’t count on was the comradery we had at work to accomplish things together wasn’t nearly so much fun when you’re alone. Oh my husband is here but you know, I finish a project and often it’s met with a “that’s nice” lol.
So sorry about the fungus gnats and mealy bugs 🫤. I have a ponytail palm I still won’t allow near others 🪴 due to thrips from a couple of years ago. Haven’t seen any sign of recurrence 😮💨 But I’m convinced that the day I move her near the others they’ll be back!! 🫨
I laughed at “people are a lot most of the time”. Made me think of this meme 😊
