What Plants Should You Bring To College?

Hey there guys! Today I wanted to do a video where I talk about the plants I'm bringing to college, and what other plants would make a good houseplant if you're living in a dorm. Please watch the video, but I will outline some of what I talked about here as well. Here are some common plants that make great houseplants.

1) Succulents: Succulents are plants that hold water inside some part of them, such as the leaves or stems. They do this because they usually they are from a climate that is very arid; very dry and hot. Some common succulent plants are most cacti, jade plants, and sedum. All these plants can be grown indoors, and require very little watering. One caveat for these plants is that they do need moderate to high sunlight. I don't have much experience with cacti, but both jade plants and sedum will get very leggy and sick looking if they do not get enough sun. You could choose to supplement this with artificial lighting, if you really wished to though. They are very nice plants because of the low maintenance, and because to many people, they are aesthetically pleasing and striking. You also can propagate most through cuttings very easily, and they usually are very rapid growing. I chose some Jade plant cuttings because I knew they would look nice in the containers I bought, and I also could train them as future bonsai, another one of my botanical passions.

2)Bamboo: Bamboo is another plant that to many is somewhat aesthetically pleasing. One pro to Bamboo that is not the case for most succulents is that they can actually do fine without much sunlight. In the video I said that they don't really flower, which is kinda true. Indoors lucky bamboo will not usually flower. Bamboo is honestly not my expertise, so feel free to research into it if you are interested.

3) Terrariums: Terrariums are a really cool addition to any indoor house. The idea is that they plants are in a closed system, and therefore in their own little ecosystem. Depending on how closed the system is, they can go amazingly long times without any care at all! Here's a link to a story about a man who had a terrarium that he didn't water since the 70s! Just make sure it gets enough light, which, compared to the previous two, is most likely the least amount. Some common Terrarium plants are moss, Miniature ferns, Hypoestes phyllostachya, aluminum plant, miniature orchids, etc. There are open-system terrariums you can do which you could put different plants into as well.

One more quick suggestion is indoor bonsai. While they do require the most care out of all of these, they can really be satisfying to grow and mold. I know some popular ones are olive trees and ficus trees. Jade plants also can make great bonsai, which since they are a succulent, can be perfect for a novice!

Anyways, here's the video. I would really appreciate you taking a look, and possibly liking, commenting, and/subscribing if you enjoy it. The video can give you a good visual on what you might be looking at, and I have some information in there that is not on here. Please also share this, it would mean a lot. Hope this helps, Good luck in all your endeavors, and I hope you come visit again!

How To Take A Cutting Off A Plant (Video)

Hey guys so today I made this video today after work, I hope you enjoy it. Most of the information can be found on my "How to take cuttings from plants" post, but some of you I know are visual learners and/or just want to hear my smooth voice. ;) One thing I forget to mention in both post and video (because I rarely follow it myself) is to sterilize your blade that you are taking the cutting with. I've never had a cutting fail because of this, or really any other reason, but it's just one more trick to avoid contamination. Another thing to be noted here is I have most of my cutting experience with succulents, which are notoriously hardy plants. With others plants you might have to be more careful to get the same rate of sucess. Anyways, here is the link to the video. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did making it, and please like, subscribe, and comment to show support for me and my efforts. I will try and post things more consistently,and of course hopefully get better as I do. Thanks and have fun growing!

Crassula sarcocaulis or Ming Jade

Hey guys! so I made a new YouTube video, a sort of impromptu review of a Crassula sarcocaulis bonsai I had gotten after taking my SATs in Janurary of 2016. It's a wonderful plant and I would suggest these for anyone who wants a bonsai or houseplant that's easy to take care of.

As you can tell from the video, when they bloom they are stunning. The flowers on mine does exude a strong odor that isn't exactly appealing, but isn't horrible, so be warned. As with most succulents, this plant doesn't require much water, so try not to over water.  Do water whenever the soil is dry, and make sure it gets lots of sunlight.

 I cover quite a bit of information in my video, so try and watch the whole thing and comment any questions you might have left! I'm still working on being less awkward on camera, and making my videos as short and interesting as possible. It would mean a lot to me if you could also share the video and like it. You may subscribe if you feel the need. Hope you enjoy it!


Click this link to watch my video

Mushrooms of Northwest North America Review

     Hi guys! So I have been reading this book,  "Mushrooms of Northwest North America" and I've got to say it's pretty great. It's not your typical field guide. I've actually had it for a few years, but I didn't give it a chance until a few weeks ago. The reason why was because I skimmed through it, and thought "this won't help me I.D. a mushroom right away". And maybe that's true. If you're looking for a field guide with clear photographs, then you should probably just get an Audubon field guide, or some other quick I.D. Field guide.

     The book I'm reviewing does not actually have photographs of mushrooms. Instead, it has very nice illustrations. While they are very nice pieces of art, they are probably not as helpful as an actual photograph. But what this book lacks in that aspect, it more than makes up for in knowledge. It contains a species description section in the second half of the book, which is chalk-full of fun and useful facts for the different groups of mushrooms. It breaks down each class, order, family, genus, and lists several different species for each group. It tells you which genera are usually safe to eat, which ones are dangerous, and which ones are intoxicating. It gives you characteristics of each genera. with this information, you can almost tell if a mushroom is edible or not just from background knowledge.

     Basically, this book is a must-have for anyone seriously interested in mycology or mushroom hunting. I've learned a lot on Identification just from reading this book, and I still could learn so much more! Keep in mind, this was written in the early 90's so some information is a little outdated. For example, is lists the class "Hymenomycetes", however this is no longer relevant, and many of the orders have been moved to Agaricomycetes. But it still has a plethora of useful information, and is worth at least a looking into. Well that about wraps up this review, hope it is helpful! Lone Pine, the company that published this book, also has a book on Mushrooms of Northeast North America, which I have not read, though I assume it is also helpful and worth a look.

Back from Hiatus, and Ready to Rock (and a terrarium review)

    Hello! I'm back from my months long Hiatus from this blog, so yay! Things got crazy because I visited Alaska for the summer, and I've just been super busy with school. So for my first post back, I decided to do something new. Instead of Writing and posting photos, which is always frustrating because of the way Blogger is formatted, I am going to post a YouTube video I uploaded. It's a terrarium, I used pretty much the same technique as all my other ones, so without further ado, here is the video! Hope you like it, and make sure to like, comment, and subscribe!

Japanese Maples Update 3

Hey sorry for the hiatus! For this post I'm just going to show some pictures and give you guys an update on the Acer palmatum (also known as Japanese Maple) seedlings. So without further ado, here are the pictures. This is the fifth week since I took them home.

Big Bubba

Sadly some of the maples did die, but a majority of them did make it through, and a couple have made giant leaps of growth since then! I think part of the reason why some of them died was overcrowding. I had them in 4" pots, and some plants were 2-3 per pot. I did transplant quite a few into their own pots, but not before some died. The one labeled in the pictures as "Big Bubba" definantly won the award for most growth. most seem to be at about the same growth as before, though several show little new growth buds, so that's good. I have been keeping them pretty well watered, though I try to let them dry out before waterings, which is what most tree like.

   Anyways, today is just a short little update, but I hoped you like it! I know I really love to see plants growth, it's just kinda cool to see things get bigger and change. Please share this post with a friend, anyone who might be interested. Thanks for reading, bye!

Succulent cuttings

Moss Stonecrop Sedum 

Hey, so, as promised, I'm going to post some pictures of the cuttings that I took. This post is just going to be the Succulent cuttings that I took, Sedum to be specific.

Rooting Hormone

Trailing Sedum

Cutting 

Cutting Dipped in Hormone

Flowering

So I followed the steps from my How to take cuttings Post. They are doing well, And I expect to see growth in a few weeks to a month.

That's about all I have for now, Please comment if you have any questions, concerns, and comments. Please Share this with a friend, and thanks for reading!