davidsevit said:i just put the glue this evening it looks a little bit bulky and not natural.maybe i will give it another coating and then take a picture of it.actualy it needs to go with the plant.syngonium
david
dirtdorphins said:Hi David!
Concerning humidity loving plants--I am just guessing we are primarily talking about tropical plants then?
My thoughts are that the plants would prefer to be warmer and humid during the day when they receive light and have their cool period at night --still with humidity-- because that is what they would get in their natural environment.
As far as I know, they like humidity all the time regardless of the temperature--but I think that they need it more when it is warmer. Probably they could tolerate lower humidity when it is cooler, but humidity loving plants don't really like to be cold and dry either.
How are your plants doing? with cool days and warm nights and whatever humidity you do provide?
If they seem to be suffering a little I would suspect that the problem is not so much a lack of humidity when it is cool in the day but more the fact that it is cool in the day...
If they are doing fine, then humidity probably does not play a significant role when they are cool in the day...
Matches--I have heard of people using a book of paper matches at the bottom of the planting hole and covered with soil for peppers--some rave about their success with this method and others claim it makes no difference.
The chemistry:
http://www.cengage.com/chemist...
The tip of a strike-anywhere match is made from a mixture of powdered glass, binder, and tetraphosphorus trisulfide (P4S3). When the match is struck, friction ignites the combustion reaction of P4S3. The heat from this reaction causes an oxidizing agent such as potassium chlorate to decompose, which in turn causes solid sulfur to melt and react with oxygen, producing sulfur dioxide and more heat. This then ignites a paraffin wax that helps to “light” the wooden stem of the match. The chemistry of a safety match is quite similar, but the location of the reactants is different. The phosphorus needed to initiate all the reactions is found on the striking surface of the box. Thus, in theory, a safety match is able to ignite only when used with the box. For a safety match, the striking surface contains red phosphorus, which is easily converted to white phosphorus by the friction of the match head on the striking surface. White phosphorus ignites spontaneously in air and generates enough heat to initiate all the other reactions to ignite the match stem.
Personally, I use matches to ignite fire but not as fertilizer because there are so many better, balanced, cheaper, and legitimately beneficial fertilizer options available that are not very useful for starting fires
(I find it funny that we here speculate first that the matches were confiscated from students and you are right Lin--fire hazards and safety rules would certainly prohibit playing with matches in schools here!)
Anyway, what to do with all those matches? Since they are the thing with value as matches, perhaps you could return them to the match manufacturer in exchange for empty boxes which are the thing of value to you and your students. In the future, perhaps you could even figure out how to acquire the boxes themselves without the matches from the manufacturer of the boxes? I'll bet you could get a lot more empty boxes for the same investment without the disposal problem on the back end.
plantladylin said:David, I think you will function fine here at All Things Plants; just hang in there and don't hesitate to share your experiences. We all have different climate conditions and sometimes different issues with our indoor and outdoor plants and we try to help each other out as much as possible.
If your indoor temperature remains @ 10ºC (50ºF) without a lot of fluctuation during the day, I think the plants will do just fine. The humidity created by the water filled pebble trays will help increase the temperature a little more around your plants to keep them happy but just remember that during cooler months plants do not require as much water as during the heat of summer. The combination of cold combined with wet can promote fungal infections and I'd reduce water greatly during the cold months.
I will be curious to hear how your totem pole with sawdust glued to the styrofoam works for your Syngonium but I think Syngonium's will attach to and grow on almost any structure! I hope you will share photos when your project is finished.
You might find this page interesting where someone shared their step by step instructios on making a totem pole for a Philodendron to climb on: The thread "Need climbing stake for my philodendron" in All Things Gardening forum
And, here you will see photo's from members who've used Coconut Fiber etc: The thread "Succulent Balls, Globes and Topiary" in Containers forum
dyzzypyxxy said:David, if I may chime in a bit late on the humidity question - yes, all tropical plants love humidity and the more the better. Cold air holds less moisture than warm air, though. So when you let your temperatures fall during the day while you're at work, as the air cools off the humidity drops.
That being said, lots of "indoor" plants grow outdoors down here in Florida and we do have some cold nights in the winter, and lower humidity days that accompany the cold nights. The plants will slow down and possibly go dormant but it won't hurt them for the most part. Just don't expect them to grow and thrive the same as in summer. You should also ease back on watering and fertilizing for the months when the temperature drops in your house.
If you want to keep them growing and lush looking, you will need to keep them warmer, and in good light.
dyzzypyxxy said: I agree, you don't want a dead-looking plant. If they get brown and mushy and droopy, it's definitely getting a little too cold for them. Or you might be overwatering if they start looking like that.
Most will just sit, and not grow when the weather gets cold. (you are making cool weather happen in your apartment, right?) They should still look nice, they're just growing very slowly, or not at all.
dyzzypyxxy said:Just meant that by turning the heat down during the day, it sort of simulates a cool day for your plants.
plantladylin said:Here's a link to an article written by an All Things Plants member a couple of years ago, showing step by step instructions for making a Moss Pole: http://garden.org/ideas/view/t...