5 Planty Things I No Longer Do 🙅🏻‍♀️ 

I have stopped going to big box shops EVERY WEEKEND. I also can actually leave a plant shop without making a purchase. This took awhile to accomplish!

Agree on pre-made soil. As someone living in a space constrained apartment its so nice not having a bunch of half bags of amendments around piling up

I have recently learned I love making my own soil mixes. I have containers for all the parts and the 3 separate mixes (aroid, 5-1-1[-1], and pon). Is it excessive? Probably. Does it still bring me joy? Yes! That’s what I base my plant hobby on, whatever brings me joy I keep or keep doing!

I went the opposite way with soil, stopped buying mixes and started making my own 😂 Worked out cheaper and Soil Ninja never seemed to have everything I wanted in stock at the same time...only issue is that now I have way more aroid and cacti mix than I could ever use 😂 Luckily I have the storage space, otherwise I'd definitely have kept on waiting for a full restock.

The very best tool I have ever used is the little white plastic name tags. I write the month & day I watered each in a list down both sides. OMG, what a game changer!!! I have easily 200+ plants and the amount of time and concern I have spent checking unnecessarily has been mind boggling. Now I just go around looking at the date it was watered to tell me if I should start checking it. I just can't be bothered to try remembering when I watered it or checking it to see when it's not close to needing it. Big, big time saver!

I mostly use my water meter a lot during winter, it’s hard to figure out the moisture in a larger ceramic pot. I also use it now for both my monstera Thai’s and my Albo, for two, the pots are too big and heavy for me so I use my water meter regularly for those. I also use Mycorrhizae granules when I repot and every other month. About mixing your own soil….I love mixing my own soil! In the states, we have RePot Me and they have great soil blends but it can get a little pricey. I get a large bag of base soil and mix in what I want in my soil depending on the plant. My daughter will bring her soil container and I will share with her. I get satisfaction making my soil as airy as needed. Pesticides….systemic granules for 2-3 months upon introducing a new indoor plant. Thrips can live in a plants tissue for months before emerging. So basically I treat 2x a year…spring and fall.

I have a bunch of containers/clear boxes for my soil ingredients sitting on a small shelf. They stack nicely, it looks neat and it is easy to grab whatever I need. For the ingredients that only come in larger amounts, theres the same containers one size bigger hidden away in the storage. It is easy to fill up the smaller containers when needed 😊 I don’t measure ingredients for soil mixes anymore, I now just eyeball them .. I don’t use as many ingredients in soil mixes anymore.. I don’t buy big stashes of things anymore (soil, pots etc) I buy as needed (or add max one or 2 more if that means free shipping).. I don’t put a fan on my Monstera Albo anymore when the white start’s crisping again.. I don’t (try to) propagate everything that falls or breaks off my plants anymore (though I still propagate too many things).. I don’t share water between plants anymore.. I don’t keep “filler plants” anymore, empty spots will be filled with something I do like eventually (Theres probably many more things I stopped doing)

I stopped using soil and moved everything to semi hydro :O hated fungus gnats and couldn't figure out watering, I find that self watering pots make my life so much easier

I will always use my moisturizer meter for my Thia Constallation and i let it go completely dry before I water again. I have had it for years now so it must be ok. Thank you for sharing

it must be really nice if you live in a country where you can buy these quality pre-mixed soils, but where i live this business is still in diapers and so the best thing for my plants, and the most economic thing to do, is to mix my own. i am really jealous tho, my depressed ass would love to be able to just buy a bag like yours 😭 and yeah, finger is the best moisture meter 😁

Moisture meter doesn't work with chunky mix or rocky substrate like pon, I just lift the pots for chunky mix n use self watering for pon

Loved the video!🪴 As I matured in my plant journey I stoped using moss poles, it was fun but required way too much care and I never really loved the vibe 💀 Now my plants are growing wild and I find it so much simpler and cute ahah

That is my favourite gadget... Water meter

Spreading the good word about pesticides! We definitely need to keep encouraging people to be more cautious about what they're spraying in their houses.

Loved my moisture meter in the beginning. As I got more advanced with planting my soil changed and meters don't work at all with chunky aroid soil

My experience is pretty much the same like yours :-) (after 3,5 years of plant collecting) Gone are the days, when I had loads of components everywhere, prepared everything and then the mix was ok, but not really great. I love Soil Ninja products and use them exclusively for everything - both premium mixes, pon and slow-release fertiliser. I recommended Soil Ninja to all my friends too. Also this was the first winter when I continued fertilising my plants (with a more diluted solution) and my plants never looked better after winter 🙂 Moisture meter: same here :-) Experience and esp. transparent pots helped me a lot. However, for larger non-transparent pots, I always use a moisture meter.

North Shore tropicals is in British Columbia Canada. They have awesome plants as well.

I too have moved to all clear pots. I don't use cover pots either. You can't tell what's going on in the pot. I want to get a chop stick or something along those lines, to check if they need watering or not. I find the soil meters don't work for me. I still mix up my own mixture and keep it in a tote, just in case it's a different plant, un-like my cactus and succulents, which I use MOLLY'S CACTUS AND SUCCULENT MIX, It's expensive in one way, but the added growth to my plants, makes it cheaper than losing them. Plants aren't cheap. They have mixes for other types of plants as well. But I recently had a mild flu, and it got very hot around here, my mimosa tree, did not get watered, nor did anything else. But the mimosa suffered the worse, so I cut it back and watered it well. The leaves were still green, but beyond ever standing up again. It will live, but I never would have done that before. I'm getting much braver about cutting things back now, and NOT propagating, the cuttings. I ended up with TWO MANY PLANTS. lol Finding good clear pots has been a problem though.

Good topic! I moisture meter, what's that. LOL! I used one in the beginning and stopped. I no longer use a humidifier because I feel like my plants have adapted to the house humidity. However, we are looking into getting a dehumidifier sometime in the future, so maybe I'll have to go back to using one.

I have never watered my moss poles... my monstera is 6ft tall and very happy. My plants would die without a water meter. I even use it in my pots outside!

I wish Soil Ninja sold in The States! But I'll try Crystal Star Mix! I used to have Japanese moisture meters in every plant - too much $ and I still checked with the moisture meter... So I haven't bought those in a couple years and rarely use the moisture meter. I'm trying to home in on one or two additives (fertilizer, nutrients) that I can use for all my plants whether in semi-hydro, aroid, cactus, or the few snake plants still in soil. I'm getting away from soil to reduce fungus gnats but last winter it worked so well I had to feed my carnivores! I use prop boxes but propagate in separate containers to give individual plants different substrates (some in perlite, some like Pon, some in a mix of sphagnum moss and tree fern fiber) and to keep roots from entangling. So no more directly propagating in a big box with perlite or moss... You've really got me loving semi-hydro! Thanks! I use it with and without reservoirs and find it's fabulous for dessert cacti and succulents sans reservoir, and aroids do great with reservoirs. Moving to that has, to a large extent, let me leave the custom mixes. Woot! Anyone want several bricks of coco coir?

i have nothing positive to say about water metres because the one i bought has never seemed to have worked properly ahah, i just stick to a bamboo skewer or my finger. I love soilninja mixes too I just feel like its better value for money to make up soil mixes yourself so I do that with their components, albeit i have like 2 storage boxes full of components -oop

The water meter is such a game changer for me! I used to constantly over water my plants because I have sensory issues with the soil. Now I just stick this little guy in and he tells me if I should water or not and my hands stay clean. 😅

Soil Ninja needs to come to the US! 😢

On Aloha Plants, she said there is a small amount of water that will remain in the pot after watering and draining; to hold it at an angle for this to drain out. I did it this morning with my Thai's watering and a surprising amount of water drained out after the water stopped coming out of the bottom. Since a Thai is so prone to root rot, this bit of info seemed important, 1st time I'd ever heard it.

2nd on not using moisture meters. It is time consuming and not needed once you learn how to use your finger's own sensitivity to moisture. I do mix my own soil only because I believe it is cheaper. I can get all the ingredients locally, but I would have to order online to get quality soil. It doesn't seem cost effective to order bags of soil. And the shipping cost? I used to purchase cut drip saucers, but found that most of them are not deep enough to catch all the water. I now use anything that is deep enough to keep the mess down.

Hi Emma, I find the moisture metres do not work well with chunky aroid mix. I stopped using it quite a while ago. Thanks for your great videos.

I think I may try a pre mixed soil. It does get quite messy having all the bags of amendments in my storage closet. I’m trying to organize everything better to save space & so my patio is more aesthetically pleasing. Thanks for sharing! 🪴💚

Soil Ninja does not sell in the US. I mix my own soils. I’m going through the process of buffering coco chips, this might break me and I’ll go to a pre-made mix.

Love it I do my own soul because I need to use up wat I have before buying pre done soil. Would like to use the ninja but it’s not sold here in America hopefully one day.

Love this! I've evolved as well and there are many things I no longer do or worry about.

Moisture metres aren't accurate in anything except basically those "peatmoss and perlite only" soils. They don't really work properly in chunky aroid mixes and "soil-less" mixes. If they were more reliable, it would be great though. I have a couple of them and quickly realized after that something wasn't right, and seems there's been a lot of stories of people having the same issues except for in dense soils.

I still use a moisture meter…..OCD….but I no longer plant DIRECTLY in to “cover pots” and I use the netting in the bottom of all pots with holes.

I no longer go to plant shops all the time I'm happy with what I have and have even downsized a bit I use a chopstick for moisture measuring ❤❤your chanels

I feel like mealy bugs will just ALWAYS cause the ick. There's just something about them that's truly so gross! The sticky white fuzz they leave everywhere, their bodies as a whole, they're just icky and feeling grossed out by them is so valid 😂

I react to the pests and rots as fast as I can. I repot less often. I choose plants from wishlist. I don't collect very common plants. I lost my big passion to succulents and got into aroids. I avoid "weed" plants, plants that procreate or grow too fast.

I quit using moisture meters, because all of my plants are in orchid bark mix….they don’t work with plants potted with orchid bark.

Cotton does rot, use a microfibre gloth.

How are you finding the fertiliser your using? We have it in Australia but its called GT foliage focus..maybe that the same..hard to see on mobile lol..I love it and some rootzone on every water 😁

Never thought I would see the day of me squishing mealy bugs with my hands. I always thought they where gross but literally last week without a thought about it I was squishing them on one of my hoyas

I don't empty out my cache pots. It makes watering a lot easier.

Think I have just learnt not to over water which I used to be guilty of 😅

We all change over time 👍🇨🇦

Luckily spider mites are not the size of mealy bugs.

I'm the opposite of the pestacide. I used to use as needed until I got thrips. I could not get rid of them and they were decimating everything. Now I use a liquid root absorbing pestacide. It is just a chemical similar to nicotine that is designed for trees and bushes outside. It only kills insects that bite the plant. And man does it work! Every plant I buy imediatly gets treated. I haven't had pests since. And I don't have to worry about chemicals getting injested by my pets or chemicals in the air.

Do you buy different soil ninja mixes for your different plants? Or do you just use one type of mix for everything?

I just use a chopstick it sucks the moisture so if it’s wet still you will be able to tell plus it’s cheaper but I have a water meter too but never use anymore 😂

My moss poles in pon are full of fungus gnats! I though the pon would stop them, I can't keep treating the moss pole, any ideas??

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