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As I have said, despite the way it looks, I do not have a green thumb at all. If anything, I have a black thumb. It is a constant of the universe if I have any kind of plant, I will find a way to kill it. If you do a quick Google search, you will find that lucky bamboo is known for being really easy to grow. Well, shocker, I once had a lucky bamboo plant that I proceeded to kill. To be fair, I was able to keep it alive for probably a good decade before it finally died, but honestly, it probably never had a chance with me in charge.
The trees in the opening photo are currently down in our basement. We are trying to keep them watered and alive, but I have my concerns that they will make it through the Winter to see the planter again next Summer. Even if they do, I have a feeling they won't be nearly as lush as they were when we first bought them.
Then we have our little aloe plant that I highlighted in a post a week or so ago. While there is new growth, I feel it has been struggling, so I reached out to the very intelligent folks here on HIVE to see what might be going on. I got a lot of really great replies, and based on the feedback, I decided I needed a couple of things:
- Different Soil
- A Bigger Pot
- A Pot with Drainage Holes
So I jumped on Amazon while we were down in Ohio to order what I needed so it would be sitting at our doorstep when we got back home to Michigan. The first thing I ordered were these little (but still bigger than what I had) four inch pots that have holes in the bottom and come with a small drip tray.
I really didn't need eight of them, but for $10 I couldn't really complain. I honestly think it was more expensive to buy just one pot than it was to buy the eight pack, so this is what I got.
I also picked up this Miracle-Gro potting mix that is made especially for succulent plants. I know a lot of people might look down on me because I went with Miracle-Gro. The thing is, I didn't really know what I was looking for and the price of $10 was right, so I added it to our cart. All in for $20 isn't too bad, so now all I had to do is wait for the stuff to show up.
As you can see, the pot is pretty basic. I have a feeling I am going to end up needing to get a bigger one eventually if everything goes well. That's actually not a bad thing because I still have a ton of that potting soil left after moving the aloe plant to the new pot.
I put a bit of the potting soil in the new pot. I actually ended up having to add a bit more after the fact because I didn't fill it nearly full enough for the size of the plant. I threw down a junk towel on the kitchen table and then some paper towel on top of that to try and minimize the mess as much as possible. It helped a little, but I still made a hot mess all over the kitchen (and myself).
I also put on some nitrile gloves just for a little protection from the dirt and whatever fertilizer might have been in it.
I pulled the plant out of the old smiley face holder and then I pulled it out of the little brown pot that it originally came in.
I was having trouble getting the camera to focus on the roots of the plant versus the big pile of dirt on the paper towel behind me. It might have been easier if I had a third hand, but between holding the phone to take the photo and holding the plant, I wasn't able to get it to focus properly. Plus I was wearing the gloves, so I was actually surprised I was able to take the photo at all.
I jammed the plant down into the soil that I had already put in the pot, and then I filled in the rest with more of the soil. I was having a hard time getting it to not sit in the spots between the leaves like you see above. At one point I blew on it to try and get it out of the grooves, but that was a mistake as soil went flying all over the kitchen.
Like I said, black thumb!
Ultimately, I was able to get it to a point where I was decently happy. You are going to laugh, but I swear when I woke up this morning, it already looks a lot greener and healthier. After it was in the pot, I poured about 15 mL of water into it and I will probably just let that sit for a few weeks and see what happens.
I don't have a lot of hope that those bits that are bent are going to magically get better, but I am hoping that I will start to see some more new growth. I actually wouldn't mind splitting it at some point and using some more of the pots to spread throughout the house.
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Repotting always turns into way more of a mess than you expect, no matter how careful you try to be.Even if the bent leaves don’t recover, as long as new growth comes in healthy you’re doing fine.
Thanks! I'm glad to hear it isn't just me!
Hopefully that aloe does well once it recovers from the transplant shock, usually takes about a week or so. Aloe can get pretty big in the right conditions. Did you wet the soil pretty well after the transplant? It's never a bad idea as potting soil in very dry when you first get it!
I did not wet the soil much. I didn't want to go crazy and shock it too much. Just about 15 mL or so of water is all I put in. I will check it again at the weekend and maybe add more.
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Looks like you did a good job. I don't know — I don't have much of a green thumb either. I've even managed to kill lucky bamboo (tho I recently learned lucky bamboo isn't real bamboo at all and is much more delicate than the real thing, so that at least makes me feel a little better)