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5 Tips to Keep your Succulents Alive

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Succulents are a popular choice for indoor plants because they are easy to care for and require minimal maintenance. These hardy plants are native to arid climates, so they are well-suited to life indoors. With proper care, succulents can thrive and provide a beautiful addition to your home. Here are some tips for caring for succulent plants:

Photo by Designecologist on Pexels.com
  1. Choose the right pot.

Succulent plants prefer to be grown in pots that have drainage holes, as this allows excess water to drain out of the soil and prevents the roots from becoming waterlogged.

Avoid using pots that do not have drainage holes, as this can lead to root rot and other problems.

In general, a pot that is slightly larger than the plant’s root system is a good choice

2. Use the right soil.

The type of soil that you use can have a big impact on your succulent’s health.

Succulents prefer well-draining soil that contains a mix of organic matter and inorganic materials.

Avoid using potting soil that is too dense or heavy, as this can retain too much moisture and harm the plant.

Instead, look for a soil mix that is specifically designed for succulents or cacti.

3. Provide adequate light

Succulent plants need light to photosynthesize and grow, so it is important to provide them with enough light to thrive.

The amount of light that a succulent needs depends on the species, but most succulents do best in bright, indirect light.

Avoid placing your succulent in a location that is too dark or too sunny, as this can harm the plant.

If you are unsure about the light requirements for your succulent, you can consult a gardening guide or ask a plant expert for advice.

4. Water your succulent properly

Overwatering and underwatering are two of the most common mistakes that people make when caring for succulent plants.

To avoid these issues, make sure to water your succulent according to its specific needs.

Most succulents prefer to be watered deeply and then allowed to dry out completely before watering again.

A good rule of thumb is to water your succulent when the top inch of soil feels dry to the touch.

Avoid watering the plant too frequently, as this can lead to root rot and other problems.

5. Prune and groom your succulent

Regular pruning and grooming can help your succulent stay healthy and look its best.

Pruning can remove dead or damaged growth and encourage new, healthy growth.

To prune your succulent, use clean, sharp scissors or pruning shears to cut off any dead or damaged leaves or stems.

Groom your succulent by removing any yellow or wilted leaves, and dusting off the leaves to keep them clean.

This will help your succulent to absorb more light and look more attractive.

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Easy Plant Care Tips for Beginners

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You may think that you just aren’t meant to be a plant owner. Perhaps you end up killing your plant every time you try to have a green thumb. Consistently asking yourself “how can I keep this plant alive?” while cursing into the air. Or maybe you just picked up a plant and want to know what you should do.

You may think that you just aren’t meant to be a plant owner. Perhaps you end up killing your plant every time you try to have a green thumb. Consistently asking yourself “how can I keep this plant alive?” while cursing into the air. Or maybe you just picked up a plant and want to know what you should do.

I started out thinking I was horrible with plants. That I could never be the person with a bunch of beautiful hanging greenery in my living room. Always thinking “how much do I water?” or “does this orchid need nutrients?”

I started out thinking I was horrible with plants. That I could never be the person with a bunch of beautiful hanging greenery in my living room. Always thinking “how much do I water?” or “does this orchid need nutrients?”

I’ve also talked to so many different people who just stopped trying because it seemed like too much.

So unless you are buying some rare finicky plant. You can do it. Have you ever thought you may be doing too much?

Stop Watering Your Plant Every Day

If your first step to plant care is watering it every day. STOP… Your plant most likely does not need to be watered every day. In fact, I can get away with watering some of my plants once a week or week and a half.

I know it’s time to water when the soil is dry. At least this goes for a lot of my plants. I treat my Monsteras, ferns, Alocacias, and other like this. They sometimes look a little thirsty and I make sure to soak the soil completely with water to fill that need.

Heck I have some String of Pearl, and two orchids that are healthy by just being in the bathroom shower mist.

My point is that; your plants will tell you when they need water. They won’t just die instantly.

On the other hand… If you water your plant too much it can lead to root rot, and fungus growth which can be a pain to get rid of.

A lot of people think that you need to water every day. Just avoid doing it. Set a reminder on your phone or something to check the soil dryness twice a week to start off.

Here is my article about overwatered plants in case you suspect it has been overwatered.

How To Know When Your Plant Is Overwatered: What To Do.

Another common issue with overwatering is dealing with powdery mildew which I wrote about below.

Identifying Powdery Mildew: Treat in a natural way

Let there be light

If your plant is recommended to have indirect light. It doesn’t mean keep it in the shade or closet. You can put your plant behind light curtains, or in the open. Just don’t let it get blazing direct sunlight all day. I have been able to tell when my plants get too much sun usually when the ends of their leaves get a bit crisp.

Don’t be afraid to find a spot that your plant loves.

I have one plant that hated to be moved. Every single time I moved it, the leaves would droop and it would look sad. Until I found the spot for it. It took some experimenting but it was worth it and now it’s thriving.

Don’t give up on your plant

You may be asking yourself “is this plant ever going to come back to life”. I say, give it as much of a chance as you can.

I had an alocasia in the corner of my office. It started dripping black stuff out of it’s leaves. Every part of it looked dead besides the little stem that was poking out. I didn’t water that plant for months. It was in the worst unlit area of my office.

One day I walk in, and what do I notice? About 5 little things poking up from the soil. Over the next few days, they grow exponentially.

I have no clue how that plant survived but it is a miracle plant, that survived against all odds.

My point is. Don’t give up on your plant until it gives up. Because it may just be your own miracle plant.

Have fun, Don’t get discouraged

Being a plant parent shouldn’t be a stressful thing. Plants are supposed to make your space look comfortable, and relaxing. Don’t get upset if it doesn’t work out the first time.

Start out small, don’t go overboard. Once you know how to take care of one or two plants, get another.

Don’t be afraid to experiment. Whether it’s with different areas in the house, or perhaps supplemental lighting. If your plant doesn’t like what you are doing, it will tell you. And then experiment some more. If worse comes to worse, you have to get another plant and try again.

But please… Stop overwatering your plants as the first sign of an issue.

Plant Dummy’s thoughts of the day

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I have been contemplating for the last few days. On how much I need the elephant ear Alocasia. Heck, I don’t even know what kind of variety of the plant I want yet. I just know that I will get it eventually.

Photo by Macau Photo Agency on Unsplash

It is going to take some good strength to not drive down to the nursery and pick on up this next week. I know it would look good in my office, and we are just finishing it up to where I can move my desk into it.

On the other hand, the silver dragon Alocasia we picked up seems to be doing well. There is some slight new growth coming from the base of the plant. I am hoping that the area that I chose will be consistently humid enough for it. I know the lady mentioned that I should have a glass container for it to adjust, but I still haven’t gotten it (shame on me). I might get it tomorrow, there’s a 50% chance I will go get one tomorrow I promise.

Another thing that I am very excited to have my own office. We I re-did the floor again, then painted the walls. Well my girlfriend mainly painted the walls because of my burnt hand. But still, I kind of helped. I really want to get in by the end of next week. The original goal was the end of this week, but that is not happening.

The new office basically is an excuse to fill it up with plants. The room gets bright shaded sun from the sunrise until about mid day where it tapers off above the house. It will be perfect I think, then I will have an excuse to buy the big guy, and probably pair it with a Monstera.

I should probably wait because someone I know said they have to work on their Monstera and would propagate me a little one. I just don’t know if I am patient enough… But two Monsteras would be better than one.

If you don’t want to miss out on what I have to say, you can sign up for my email list where you can keep up to date. If I get too annoying you can always take yourself off the list as well.

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Thank you for reading and have a wonderful day,

-Plant Dummy

I got the Alocasia Silver Dragon

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Finally we have it. I had ordered it about two weeks ago. And then due to the snow, I was unable to pick it up because the nursery it was at wasn’t open. But after a quick drive, and talk to the nice lady who helped me choose the best one, it’s home.

Silver Dragon Alocasia – Plant Dummy

I asked the lady at the nursery which one she recommended out of probably 50 different ones. I am not particularly experienced with any Alocasia. Which in hind site, I probably should have been better prepared for what she had said.

The lady mentioned that even though this was slightly smaller than the rest of the other Alocasias. It was one that she would pick because of the amount of leaves, and the fresh growth. Which is the lighter green leaf. Another portion looks like it is growing in as well, which is something I am excited to see.

The lady did mention that I really need to keep the humidity up, and suggested a glass tube that would be able to go around the container. Think the beauty and the beast rose. She mentioned a place to pick it up, but I have yet to get it. For now, it lives in the bathroom.

Once I read up on this Alocasia, I may release a post about what I found is good types of care for this plant. I know the basics I think now. And in all honestly, from what I can tell it seems similar to orchid care. Medium shaded light, they like humidity, like even a little more than some orchids I believe. And then they also like air flow for their root system and to be in soil that is able to drain properly, to prevent the roots from sitting in water, and getting root rot.

However that is mainly off the top of my head from the conversation I made, and about 1 or 2 googles to make sure I was not killing it at a certain point. A much deeper delve into what the Alocasia needs to prosper is much needed.

If you want to keep up to date with the things that I post, you can enter your email. I am not going to spam you, and if you want off of it, it’s very easy.

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the Plant Dummy. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

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Thank you for reading this short post about my day,

I have something in the works, hopefully for this week. I just want to make sure it is up to my standards,

-Plant Dummy

Sometimes you just don’t know

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Obviously I am very new to this. But sometimes it surprises me what posts get views and what don’t. Or what posts get likes and what don’t. You may think you wrote the best yet, but it isn’t received as well as one that just came super easy to you.

It’s fun to try to see what people will like. Or maybe I am just bad at guessing. I just know I have been having fun trying to come up with ideas, and learning along the way. Sometimes it scares me though if someone who is really into plants looks at my blog and I get something wrong. That is why I try to always make a note of saying that if I got anything wrong, to please let me know.

This last article I wanted to be sure on the succulent names that I had so I looked in depth of the pictures to make sure that is what I had. But I still feel like there is a possibility that my Echeveria picture may be a slight variation of something else. Please let me know if I am wrong. I know it’s a stupid thing to worry about because it can just be changed and doesn’t hurt anyone.

My Echeveria succulent plant.
The Echeveria of Doubts

I guess we all have certain things that we worry about for little reason. Maybe it will change, maybe it won’t. But there is one thing that I got from that worry. It makes me more confident on the things I am able to write about because I don’t want to look dumb, and I don’t want to give the wrong information. So I try to research with resources that are trustworthy, or back up my ideas with other evidence of why.

That’s just my thought of the day. I am happy, I was able to write and use a lot of my own pictures today! I will hopefully be able to add more of my own in the future.

Thank you for reading!

-Plant Dummy

Who is Plant Dummy?

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I want give some sort of insight of who I am as a person. I understand that most people want to feel some sort of connection, or relation of who someone is behind the screen, to get a feel whether they like them or not.

Currently I am a full time college student studying business. I am a senior, who is very excited to work get further into the workforce (fingers crossed). I want to continue to build my skills when it comes to creativity, writing, and design. Creating something that is completely mine, being able to see where I started and how to improve upon it will help my editorial skills, as well as decision skills on what I think people may want or need to learn as I learn it myself.

I thought of creating of a blog a while back (at least couple of years ago) but never really deciding to take the plunge. It honestly was/is scary to me. Like what if I did it wrong, or people didn’t like me. Deciding that in my mind there was never going to be a better opportunity to do it then right now is what got me to go forward. Putting something out there that is mine, that I think would be interesting and useful for other people was the only think my mind should have been focusing on rather than the fear of failing something I never attempted.

Creating something that is unique is important to me. Having something have my personality as well as voice means a lot to me. There lot of different blogs that I see that come across as all knowing, or they are the keepers of what is right in the plant world. Plus I just like plants! Here’s one one of our (what I believe to be) White Nerve plants. Featuring a Burro’s tail peaking out in the back.

White Nerve Plant – PlantDummy

It is important to me to get information that is accurate across to the reader, however I won’t pretend like I solely know the exact truths and ways. Doing my due diligence on finding sources that are legitimate is one of my main goals.

A lot of people churn and burn blog posts to get the maximum volume. I really want to try to avoid that unless there is a part in a blog that I think needs a particular spotlight. I want to focus on quality rather than rehashing old ideas.

I realized that that I just need to do it if I think it, and just go for it. I obviously am not perfect, but I would regret not doing something like this, and building upon my skills, and knowledge that I am able to spread while learning myself. This blog may adopt things here and there that I think will add to the quality. Who knows, I may even add certain extra types of things that I enjoy writing about. Maybe even include my opinion on certain things, or just my process of how the blog is going, or what I plan to be working on in the future.

I will be back and write updates like this because I think people may want to see the me evolve and my thought process on things. Even if it is just a couple people, I think it would be good for me to be able to just have a voice for someone who may want to listen.

Thank you for reading, and as always. If you have any suggestions or things that you want to hear about please let me know. I really do take your considerations into play when I decide what I am going to write about.