5 Plant Fails & what they taught me
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- Опубліковано 7 лют 2025
- I've learned heaps through trial & error and in this video, I am sharing 5 things that went wrong, and the lessons learnt :)
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brad being like “bro r u ok, who r u talking to?” in the intro 😂
You have to give things a go to find out, you have the courage to do that which gives us confidence to do it too. Many thanks Jan 👍👍👍
Trial & error is where it’s at 🙌
This is what I love about Jan and this channel too 😊🪴
I learned some lessons over the last couple of years, a couple of which were soil mixes, pot sizes ,watering, the one lesson I haven't learnt yet is to give up on plants that have died in my care more than once!! (calathea zabrina, string of anything, maiden hair ferns)
Haha same !! Sometimes it takes 3-4 attempts till I give up :D
Such intelligent content. Love that you don't "phone it in" ... the ol' plant mail > repot > purge routine. Thank you, Jan.
I'm glad you liked it! 🙏
I would loooooove if you could do like an ugly plant hall of fame of some failures you’ve had in the past. That video of you shaking your micans had me cracking up. I think it’s such a good reminder that failure is part of the hobby and you have such a good attitude about it that I think a lot of folks (including me) appreciate.
First I want to say Thank you Jan!
I came across your channel years ago, and after watching my first video well...... lets just say that I have had a moss pole obsession for years 🥰.
I think fail and learn makes me a better plant Mom 😊. Most of my failures have turned into beautiful success stories that I have learned from.
Some have not 🤷♀️😁.
Thank you :)!! I think learning from failures and getting better at growing is the most rewatding part :) if it was easy & would never involve failure it would kinda be boring right?! :P
Jan, I have around 300 plants in Pon. I go straight from soil to Pon and rarely get shock. They only thrive. The stuff is amazing. You have mastered Philos on poles, done very well with Anthurium, you could also be a master with Alocasia. I say give a couple of plants, specifically Alocasia, a try in Pon and I know you'd love it. This is a whole new endeavor that your audience would follow you in and it would give you a lot more material for lives. Only so many videos you can do with Philos on poles. There is a learning curve, but I'd give you as much info as you need. I double dare you 😂. Btw ... I love your videos 😊
There's always a lesson to be learned. Love seeing Little Braddles - he loves you so much!😻😽😽😽
I love him back even more !!:P
Thanks so much. I love that you’re so open about your processes. No failures, only lessons learned.
Exactly! 🎉
Hey Jan wanted to send a note about how helpful this video was for me!
I've been thinking about cutting between nodes on my moss pole. Now I have some specifics to consider 💚💚💚
That’s awesome :) happy growing :)
Hi Jan! Try repotting your frydek with a standard airoid mix and add roughly 30% VERMICULITE. I saved my Tandurusa this way. The vermiculite holds tons of water while keeping the substrate light and airy. Also all alocasia are HEAVY feeders so use a high npk fertilizer like 20-20-20.
I recently chopped my Pink princess into many many 2 node chunks (it got very leggy). The only cutting I had die was my one single node cutting. Since then, I've done two node cuttings just to be on the safe side and it has worked great.
Love from Bendigo/ Victoria! Thanks for sharing the lessons 💐💐💐
Thank you 😊
Jan, love you and I’m gonna hold your hand while I say this…you need to just submit to the PON for your frydek 😅. I also adore the chunkiest of chunky mix and only keep 2 alocasia because they are annoying AF. But I’m successful with frydek (and the green velvet version) growing them in ambient because of PON. Set it and forget it, self watering pot with wicking system: done ✅
Haha NEVEEEER!! Determined to make it work without using pon, just because 😅😅
I really appreciate the honesty of SPG. I keep my plants outdoors in the summer to fall. Some plants, for examples, ficus benjamina, stephanotis, schefflera arbicola trinette /ivory, do not fear being brought in late. Others, for examples red colored Chinese evergreen and angelonia, need to be brought in early. I place them in additional transparent bags to keep them outside longer. I find calatheas in plastic bags under my deck can tolerate close to freezing temperature. This also eliminate the eggs of many common pest in greenhouse. Philodendron Branditium requires warmth and bright light in winter, similarly required by Philodendron Brazil and Pothos neon.
Lastly, for alocasias, I don't need to buy expensive moss or pon. I just sit the original pot with normal potting mix on top of a bottom pot filled with water. let the roots grow into the water. The water surface must be very close but do not touch the bottom of the inner pot. This way, alocasia is care free and an easy plant. I have a video of this subject.
Great tips :) thanks for sharing :)
Love your advice, it really helps me being a year in to plant parent. I am laughing while watching your kitty looking at you as if to say"can you stop waving your hands around I am trying to take a nap" he is so beautiful.😺
Haha ‘why u moving ur hands so much when u talk!! Dad u are sooo annoying’ 😂
A real video
Winter is a little enemy of ours when it comes to plants...and a learning lesson with the
different ways to cut them to propagate ...thank you dr Jan
💚🍀🌵🌿💚
Cheers :)
I have all my Anthuriums in glass no drainage and about 1/4 of my philos, alocasias I’ll never go back to drainage lol I went on holiday for 3 weeks and my son took care of the 200+ plants with no casualties. It’s so easy when the Leca reservoir is empty fill it again. The anthurium really love it. I love that I can watch the roots for any issues. Hope your Frydek bounces back
That sounds promising :) cheers :)
I love how Brad is just chilling behind you lol
For Alocassias in the tropics, I use peat moss (35%), mixed with perlite and any type of mineral you have available (pumice, lava rock) (65%). You can also add a bit of charcoal. With this blend they can take water everyday, and they shoot out pups for me.
Thank you for this info! Very useful for us in the states just going into winter. ❄️
Great video as usual. I totally agree that through experimentation and trying new things brings a lot of great lessons. Thank you for sharing your learnings it sure does bring me some well needed insight.🙏💚
Thanks :)
Soooo important to find the positive lesson in failures being the teacher. Goes along well with dealing with inevitable change ( nothing is set and forget). I crave routine, yet the planty conditions continue to change with the seasons ( which also can no longer be reliable to be similar year to year). Autopilot plant care is not an option, which now feels like a nice escape to focus my attention considering the uncertainty in the state of the World today.😻
Well said !!! Could not agree more :)
Love the lessons. I've learned from my failures. Love that sweet Brad ❤
Thanks :)
I have a number of Alocasia variegated frydeks and they are in regular potting soil with perlite mix and just water when it’s half dry. Maybe it’s too humid in the cabinet and too much moisture is being retained.
Idk if anyone has mentioed it yet but i have found that w/ the Cleopatra its best to use a 13-13-13 slow release to keep the purple color & red flowers.
I came across a video about pruning pothos and how we should cut 2 nodes from the soil to encourage branching. I’m testing this on my n’joy pothos and it is looking more full without having to replant more cuttings.
Keep us informed :)
I am surprised that so many people have luck with the chunky mixes. I have tried so many variations over the past 2 years and the roots rot in so many plants. It has been so frustrating. Even though it drains super fast, the substrate still stays quite wet, especially the big chunks of orchid bark. I’ve grown to hate that stuff. Adding moss poles forces me to do pots a bit bigger than I normally would so I stopped doing that. I just add small stakes now until the roots get much bigger. I also gave up on chunky mixes. I focus on light and fluffy like coco coir/perlite and I add slow release fertilizer. I’ve also added some small wood chips that I buy from the reptile area in pet stores. That wood I love! My plants seem to love that and I use clear pots and can see tons of roots. I recently started buying tree fern fiber to replace coco coir and the plants that are in that are thriving, so I think I’ll just switch over to that combo for good.
i've recently started on alocasias myself and i've found that moss is a no go for me( in denmark). i don't have a set up like your ikea cupboard but i keep corms and babies in pure perlite. from they have roots and the first leaf i have them in tiny see through pots with drainage holes and some sort of shallow outer pot, also see through, with water in it. this works so so well and i just top them up when the water gets too low. for the corms i just put the little pot in a glass container with cling wrap over and make sure to open every morning for a bit of fresh air. i don't water just make sure there's high humidity. i don't have growlights. they just stand near a southfacing window and for about a year now this has worked perfectly. they get a bit of direct evening sun and indirect the rest of the day. i have about 15 -16 alocasias of different types, and they all seem to be happy living like this. i dunno if this is helpful to anyone but i figured i'd leave a message just in case other people this far north can't get moss to work for them, perlite and pon in selfwatering set ups works amazingly 😊
hi, I also live in denmark.
I have my alocasia in lechuza pon. mine have growlights, most are small and in a cabinet. only a few big ones get natural light morning to midday.
moss works for other plants for me, i had a small adinsonii in moss living it´s best live until I gave it away.
@regi985 awesome 😊 it might just be me or the conditions i can offer that doesn't work with moss.
I use lechuza too. It's such a nice way to keep alocasia.
I grow all my plants in moss and alocasias have been the most successful!! I’m glad you finally have been converted. I do recommend using some perlite just so the moss doesn’t get too compacted.
Good idea :) cheers :)!
One of the things I learned over many years is that, as you say, conditions are different for different places. I grow indoors in Norway. In the winter there is a LOT of supplemental light. Humidity drops sharply so I run humidifiers 24/7 for my own sake as well as the plants.
I have to use more water-retentive medium than a lot of people in warmer climates, because things WILL dry out and do very poorly for me if the mix is too chunky. Which is not to say it needs to be compacted compost, just that the mixes with whole large leca balls and huge chunks of bark and nothing much to hold water do not work for me - I use small size crushed leca, perlite, chopped coco coir and the like to make a well-draining mix that still holds water, or plants die.
Another lesson is - some are just not meant for this world. I once bought the same plant (Syngonium Neon) from same supplier 3x times. It died/nearly died every time despite my best efforts. Got same plant from another supplier, it's growing fine. If something just dies despite things being seemingly ideal, it could just be that plant.
Good lessons !! :)
Thank you for the lessons! I might have to learn from experience for at least three times before it sticks, though. 😬
Haha same !!:D
I made the mistake of starting my plant parent journey with 5 alocacias…. Hopefully I’ve learned enough from your videos to keep them happy🤞🏻
Thanks so much I do recall that video now have a good day
I am going into my first ever winter with rare and variegated plants currently. I can already see how much I'll learn😅
I am in love with your philodendron Billiecosom 😍😍 but her in denmark i cant find one , hopping thet Will come too Europa 🤞😍😍
The pain I got seeing your Brandi philo, I had a beautiful 7 leaf one and weeks later I’m down to a node hahaha 😅
I’ve just started experimenting with semi hydro with my own cuttings,using a mineral substrate,that way I’m not wasting money if it doesn’t work out,plus they already have water roots.Great video Jan. 💚💚🪴🌿 Natalie
the moss in your alocasia setup looks so wet?
I have a lot of alocasia and they are all in lechuza pon and self-watering pots with a wick, some did struggle when I transferred them from soil to pon, others didn´t miss a beat.
I´m very curious to see if the frydek bounces back, please keep us updated as always.
this also reminds me that I still have a few plants I need to pot up and put on mosspoles, not the best for beginning of winter in denmark, wish me luck :D
It’s actually started to show some nice root growth now :) so I think it’ll be a success :)
Regarding the single node cutting, I wonder if it would help if you wrapped the cutting with plastic wrap. I bought ‘plant tape’ to help keep my pothos nodes on my first moss pole attempt. It was essentially a narrow strip of plastic wrap. It definitely kept the node moistened and helped them grow faster. The only down side is that they didn’t necessarily go deep into the pole at first because it was so moist on the surface.
I rotted the roots in the pot of my pole. I saved it by chopping the pole and repotting before the rot spread😅
The pole is like an insurance policy 🙌
Poor Jan and Alocasia’s 😂 I have a Frydek and it’s a slow grower and its variegation is very unstable. I am not a fan of that plant, but I haven’t given up on it yet. I put it in a Naked Root Planter and it is happy there, so semi-hydro would be a good choice probably.
thanks nice to the fails or projects in progress if you want to call them that. Have some issues with a pothos and lord it is ugly.
This happened to my plants mainly anthuriums too. The leaves would turn yellow whenever I gave it the normal dosage of Gt foliage focus. I stopped for a while but recently started back giving it to them again but I did cut back on the dosage of GT fert in the water and now they are fine with it. I believe it was causing the leaves to burn from strong fertilizers.
Hey Jaan! I know you’ve said you don’t want to do a completely new system when doing semi-hydro, but really it is not as fussy as some make it out to be. Just use the right substrate (I prefer pafcal chips with a wick due to its high water retention), and use your GT water as nutrient solution. I also do a few drops of stress coat (water conditioner used for aquariums). It is the best way of growing alocasia.
My two cents.
It’s true, semi hydro is very easy and no fungal gnats. I just use sea kelp solution and add water to the reservoir.
I love your cat! So friendly and always wants to be near you! (And well behaved with the plants) Most cats I meet are skiddish, but I love friendly kitties ☺️
- Dog mom of 4 big dogs 😂
He’s the best !! I’m so lucky to have him 🥰
For some reason unknown to me, my Albo fredek didn’t do well until I potted it with other alocasias, it thrived.
hi Jan - i enjoyed (and enpathised) with this video - I was wondering if you have ever tried cutting part way through a stem above the node to encourage branching rather than propogation. I have seen some others try this on videos and have a few candidates i would like to try it on 😀and was hoping you might have some experience with this. best wishes from Auckland
Never tried it but have chopped all the way through many times :)
Also, remember that the lower parts of the plant have fewer hormones like cytokinin, which are concentrated at the top and yet important for growing and making new shoots easily when you chop them to propagate.
It’s good to know even the experts don’t always get it right. Growing plants is a bit of trial 😢and era
Manjula Pothos is showing nice leaves on top too.
So I decided to test Leca vs soil (peat,perlite, earth worm castings, mycorrhizae and lava rock). I used 2 marble queen pothos, 2 alocasia 2 Dragon scales and 2 atabapoense. Leca won all 3 tests by a long shot. It gives them consistency and like you say "they love consistency "
Alocasias are definitely extremely dramatic and usually shed their leaves in a theatrical display of "abuse" caused by repotting them esp in a new medium 😅 but mine end up way happier once I convert them to pon, they grow explosively and push out really big leaves really quick. Don't give up on your frydek ! I'm sure it'll bounce back beautifully once it gets over it.
Lesson Learnt @ 2:45 - Brad can teleport 🐈 🐈⬛🐈
i did the same style before , a cutting of verrucosum in s. moss (constantly wet ) in a glass pot, didnt do too well , maybe oxygen is not getting in , one thing i notice about semi hydro , most are using the pon media which are rocky
I’ve had really good success propagating verrus in just moss! U just gotta be careful with watering :)
Yes we do learn with them!
Hi Jan, i have a white birds of paradise plant that grew a purple stem/partial leaf - have you seen this before??? Not brown, no rot it's purple!
Thank you for sharing 😻🌱🌿😻
Thanks for watching :)
Because of you I just bought my first two rare-ish aroids, a philodendron splendid that’s already on a moss pole, and an anthurium crystallinum. I aspire to get plants even half as nice as yours! Should the crystallinum be on a moss pole too?
Same thing is happening to my rap tetra it's rotting in one spot in the middle and the new shoots are beginning aswel. The reports on stem rot are getting hard to ignore now,this is why aroid mix would be better,or woodchip. I love my sphagnum but having a plant climb up and reach maturity then to be done in by to much water via the stem definitely because of the moss.
I’ve been meaning to say… The sunburnt Billiecosum kinda looks nicer this way 😜
Haha it looks special hey :D hahaha
losing plants that you've put so much time into is a kick in the pants, but it saves you the effort of figuring out what to get rid of if you need to thin the collection. Or, it gives you the opportunity to buy something newer and more exciting.
It’s just part of the hobby unfortunately! The less u stress anout it the more joy you can get out of the hobby :) love ur attitude !
Jan would the leaves on the billie recover after the water/humidity damage once you remove it from cabinet/go back to more green?
No-usually once they’re cells blast they remain blast. Closest I’ve come to any improvement on something like that is a leaf one single time seemed to get “less yellow” otherwise usually what happens is the discolored areas will crisp off and the remaining green will stop discoloring(best case)… but usually you just slowly loose those leaves
I removed it from the cabinet a few weeks ago already & no change. Some damage cannot be reversed so it’s more about avoiding the same damage on future leaves
Hi there, you may have answered this question already but when you make several cuts and each cut or every second cut has a nice long route can you then carefully pull that cut out of the pole and put in its own pot and if so, do you normally put aroid mix in the pot thanks from Canada 🇨🇦
Pulling will rip the roots. You will need to properly take the pole apart to free up the cuttings :) like I did in this video: How to propagate your Monstera with 100% success (includes results after 4 months)
ua-cam.com/video/S_gBM5pON9A/v-deo.html
Interested in the substrate mix you use
I have a tutorial linked in the description :)
Habe ü 20 Alocasien in Gläser, mit Moos und Blähton. Funktioniert sehr gut. Was mir aufgefallen ist, je dünner die Zylinder, je schneller erholen sich die Pflanzen. Je schneller bilden sie neue (Wasser) Wurzeln, die erst ans Glas und dann in die Tiefe wachsen. Ist der Durchmesser des Zylinders zu groß, wachsen die Wurzel mehr Waagerecht, verbleiben mehr im Moos, und die Erholung braucht ewig.
Gut zu wissen!!:) danke :)
Hey! I message you on insta regarding the alocasias, maybe you could do a video on growing alocasias in these two mediums and compare the outcome. That would make for an interesting experiment as many people struggle with alocasias.
I too like to use my mixture for all my plants and prefer my chunky soil mix💚🌱
Sorry my IG is a mess :) definitely experimenting with alocasias a bit atm :)
My alocasia frydek (variegated) is the only alocasia I own that is THRIVING, hasn’t lost any leaf and it became massive, produced lots of babies and I really don’t do anything specific with this plant, I put it in a chunky mix and I never let it dry out. My other alocasias tho (that are not even variegated) are a nightmare, no matter what I do or what I try they just keep losing leaves and refuse to grow and I just don’t get it 😭 they’re in a greenhouse with constant light, humidity and air flow but still they’re drama queens 🥲
You need to read The Secret Life of Plants by Peter Tompkins.
Yup, failures teach, I should be an expert! 😂 I made the mistake of misting my Florida ghost a few times and the white leaves started melting, sensitive variegation !
Oh yeah that happened to me in my greenhouse !!
bradley kills me every time oh my godddd i am weakkkk
😻😻
I learned to not hydrate the plants by pouring the water directly next to the stem. Lost a couple due to stem rot. And me being an overwaterer certainly didn't help. Now I hydrate the substrate close to the pot edge and haven't had any casualties lately.
Good one :)
Hey Jan, I’m having trouble getting my Manjula Pothos to root into my moss pole. Any ideas on this? Every other plant I have has just latched on and thrived but the pothos just doesn’t seem to want it!
Just stay patient :) it’ll happen eventually :)!
Any recommendations for d-shaped Moss poles not based in Australia that cost $60 for shipping?
Verrucosum tend to like it cooler so...mayne thats why the billiecosum doesnt like the higher humidity??
I think that's more the billie parentage coming through. Verrus enjoy high humidity as they are high altitude cloud forest plants (and with cooler temps comes high humidity) either way, lesson learnt hehe :)
Yes, it is too much water, and also the dark slime that is taking over the moss is also bad for the plant. It is fighting against it.
ze proof is in ze pudding! happy times!
The bulbs of variegated Alocasias don't always produce a new variegated plant. So you better buy a baby plant instead of a bulb.
Hit the empty nodes with keiki paste. I have great luck with this
Do I see a camera pointed at what I guess is your Dioscorea Discolor? :)
Yes :)
@@sydneyplantguy😎 My Elephantipes has some time to go before it has that much growing potential, I will for sure enjoy seeing it grip itself on to the trellis again
💚💚
Lesson learnt: I cut the top of my mini monestra in winters and it started yellowing from the top. Also the top leaves are turning brown .
So I will never Chop any plant in the winter in future.
Is it even correct do semi hydro with moss?
Hope I didn’t break the rules here ;)
That chair isn't big enough for you and Brad 😹
You did a major surgery on it. And left it to recover in the attic? 😢
Haha there’s a nice skylight there :)
💜💜
From my experience, alocasia will do that anytime you do anything with their roots
❤
When hearing the accent.. not sure wether australian or german XD
Why not both?;)
💚😻💚
You are too scared of semihydro 😂. Just put that alocasia in leca, increase humidity to allow better rootting, and once it is stablished, it will become one of the easiest plants.
Yup one small bag of leca or pon would really
Help his alocasia. Even my amazonica behaves like it wants to go dormant but then she pushes out like 6 leaves. I have no humidity conditions for her right now.
I tried just leca before ! I didn’t like it ! Ultimately when it comes to care there’s many ways of achieving success ! Even just in this comment sections there’s already 5-6 different comments about different mediums people are using all claiming to have great success :)
I cannot stand the Alocasia Frydek. Mine just constantly die and grow back no matter the medium I use. I’m sick of them.
They are definitely testing my patience 😅
😼