Hello, my name is Raj, I am crazy about plants especially tropical ones, I have a semi-jungle of a garden and house is also being taken over by plants. Here will be a portfolio of my videos showcasing my journey as I attempt to create a urban tropical garden for my house and also in garden. There was a time when I was looking for a piece of furniture in every corner of the house but now I am getting rid of furniture and filling with plants!! I have been at this for several years trialing many things that work and that don't. I was encouraged by my family to launch RU-vid channel to share my passion. I am camera shy and this gives me the opportunity to come out of my comfort zone. I will be glad if the videos can be of any help to you.
I promise that I will try to keep my videos very short and informative!
I am going leave a saucer of water out and hope this improves the humidity. Calatheas are beautiful plants but they're very fussy. My Medallion, and Maranta are down to a few leaves. I do see new growth from the Maranta and Makoyana. The Makoyana leaves look terrible so I am hoping the new growth will bring healthy leaves.
I have sprayed every two weeks throughout the summer and even today 15 September as it is set for a warm week and I have seen the moths over the past week. Last year my box were so stripped of leaves I was thinking of grubbing them out. I tried this product and they are fully revived.
That is such a good news! But to mention that do repeat the treatment few times after few weeks and keep an eye. These bugs also travel from nearby gardens I got rid off mine but needed to plant something
Mine only has one runner but from watching youtube videos i don't think you need to get rid of the whole runner. If you just cut the sucker off the end when it is ready it might just disappear
Plants also take infra-red lights. These lights can penetrate layers of leaves and got on your plant, if you put the plant outdoor under other trees. Also opposite as what people used to believe, plants also absorb a lot of green light. So the green light bounce around between leaves since leaves are green too, so the lower plant also absorbs that. However, if you put the plant indoor, all the lights are blocked by thick walls that any lights won’t be able to penetrate. So they actually received far less lights indoor even though your eyes can’t distinguish the difference (actually most of time our eyes also can distinguish the difference. Indoor environment is much darker than outdoor shaded area).
I have 10m of box hedge at the front and have been waging war on the Box Moth caterpillar the last couple of years. Chemical sprays and XenTari both work to an extent, but within several days you get more caterpillars developing, even after repeated treatments. In the end I switched to manual removal and removed over 3000 caterpillars one by one, over a period of 5-7 weeks. We're between cycles at present, but I've bought some butterfly netting to try to cover the hedge in order to reduce the next round of infestation. I think it's probably a war I cannot win, but in the meantime I'll keep trying. I have the XenTari pheromone trap out to spot when the moths come back for laying...
Something I’ve noticed with cannas is that they seem to fry in the full sun lately. For me, at least. I live in San Diego. They do exceptionally well here, and I’ve always seen them as a full sun, water-loving plant. Yet the ones I experimented with, and moved to less sun, seem to grow better and look less ratty and destroyed! They get partial sun still, but not all day… Also, I’m wondering if they’re sensitive to hard water or fluoride, chlorine, etc., because they are in the order Zingiberales, along with gingers, Marantaceae (prayer plants), _Strelitzia_ (bird of paradise), bananas, heliconias, turmeric, etc. all of which are notoriously sensitive to hard or tap water. So I’ve started giving my canna only distilled or reverse osmosis water…and no brown edges! 😆 🙄
I have to repot all of mine today. It’s getting far into the season now. Lol. I have 'Cleopatra', 'Tropicanna' Durban, a black one, a striped one, and some others too. Did you know the common, basal species, _Canna edulis_ (with the red flowers and green leaves), is edible? The bulbs are like potatoes, hence the name _edulis_ apparently. 😂 Maybe more so in ancient history but I have eaten them before. Same with dahlias!
Hello Good to hear from you:) Unfortunately, I have been very unwell and had no energy for the garden, so I just stopped making videos. I might make one next weekend if I get the energy :) I hope all is going well for you and wish you good health :)
As of July 2024, Xen Tari is still not available in the U.S. and unfortunately the Box Moth has arrived. I’ve not seen it here in Michigan but I want to be proactive if I see it in my landscape. My local nursery is no longer warranting new boxwood sales.
Thanks for the videos. Seeing this, I'm never going to plant mine in full soil. I'll keep it in a pot, with a dish under it. Is there a danger of propagation via dropped seed in Western European climate?
I don't get to see that I'm colder country because seeds die before they could ripe. It should be highly unlikely but if seed grows, it's much easier to pull it out. I would definitely grow it and not ne worried about seeds germination. Runners are nightmare!
Can you spray the apple cider vinegar solution while there is aphid infestation? You mention Autumn, Winter or very very early Spring. Can I do it whenever I want?
I just bought Alocasia regal shield for a full sun area in zone 8a in US (north Carolina) . I am planning to put it in ground for a full sun spot and getting nervous if it work out
Odora should be the most hardy ones. I checked on iNaturalist and they grow in their native range up to Shanghai in the map which is zone 8/9. I would protect or store it if it other varieties
I’m here because my pothos’ roots started getting mushy and the tips of their leaves are starting to yellow and brown :( I live in Canada and a couple of days prior to me noticing the rotting of the roots and yellowing of the leaves, sunlight was scarce. I have to move them all to a large window just now facing outside, hoping daylight might save them. I’ll be heartbroken if they die :( It’s been 3 weeks of me propagating them in water and they’re also very slow in rooting. It’s so challenging to take care of tropical plants in a non-tropical country!!
👋 I presume they are still in water. If the stem is long, just take another cutting if it's healthy and start in a different glass. If roots are rotting in water, mostly due to not much light. Keep it in well lit area. Remove the mushy parts. I really hope it works out. If it makes you feel better , I have lost many plants. Recently I lost my 3 meter tall monstera
I bought a bulb and have planted it over a month ago but no results so far. Can you clarify if I need to cover the entire bulb with soil? I currently have the top exposed.
Hi These are quite expensive so I would be very careful. No need to cover it all. If you have planted indoor, it should have done something by now. Try to gently remove the soil from sides and see if it is growing. They have good headstart with moss as they can not rot in moss due to water control air circulation.
It took really long, I don't remember. I found that over wintering in-house is so much better than dry storage for next year, it's faster for next season :)
Yes those red things have seeds inside them. If you are in a hotter country those will fall of the plant and they you can collect them. In UK weather gets cold so I hand picked them. One pod has many seeds
I have already bought enough for 18 litres of spray (£20) and have used it all…..but there are still caterpillars hatching out! I have purchased another £20 supply and will use that in a couple of weeks time. This looks as if it’s going to become an expensive business!!!
I kept my alocasia odoras on balcony with partial sunrays being on them for 12 hours a day and all the leaves got burned :(. I moved it to otherside of the balcony this year and we are going to see how they will perform. If they dont perform very well, il probably get some kind of big cloth for balcony that will filter the light, but still provide direct sunlight.
It turned out ok. Just to say that I am quite chilled out about over winter! This year I didn't over winter and they did well in the ground. I just posted a video
They both get the variegation. One in sun grows much faster (UK sun is not very hot) but still burnt the white bits on the leaf. These were not damaged in the part shaded I would say don't grow in full sun or you can if they are under a large plant and then they can get some shade
Hi! So much thanks for sharing my article and referring to the source. Much appreciated 🙏 This is a robusta indeed. Greenish color and fronts that are not cut out more than half way gives it away. However, there are a lot of hybridizations out there, in different degrees. It could have some filifera blood as the petioles lack the purple color but it has all the other characteristics so clearly that I wouldn’t say that this is a filibusta. Keep up the good work. 👍🏻
