Mississippi Squad

[JohnAndSancho]

I guess it's time for an update.

 

I lost my job in January, lost my car, lost my apartment. Depression hit me really hard. Really hard. Not going into details, but if a friend of mine didn't happen to catch a layover in Texas, I wouldn't be here. He rented me a U-Haul to help me get back to my family's house in Mississippi. I wasn't in the greatest mindset, and I left most of my palms and plants in the apartment. I brought my spindle, C. Plumosa, my L. Weddellaniums, a couple snake plants, a Mangave, and my BxLyto. Everything else was left in the apartment and donated to the staff. They must be happy, because they didn't charge me for breaking the lease or not leaving the apartment barren. 

My mom (she had a stroke last year) wanted to put everything in a window, and dropped one of the Wedds and shattered the pot. She meant well, I'm not upset. Anyway - on to positives. 

 

I threw out a feeler in the Freebies forum, and this community is amazing and wonderful. I'd like to formally and publicly thank @Darold Petty @jimmyt @kinzyjr @DoomsDave @PalmatierMeg @Reyes Vargas for all the seeds and sprouts, and definitely @Barry for all the super awesome and exotic seedlings.

It's an adjustmentment, personally and ummm palmily. My mom and brother have been adopting feral cats for 20 years or so, and one very sick cat has decided my spindle palm makes an excellent toilet. A kitten thinks my Mangave makes an excellent bed. Same kitten pretty much forced me to bring the Plumosa inside. 

Sancho is adjusting well, aside from the fleas since we're deep in the country now. My brother refurbished an old desk and shelf for my green buddies and threw in a grow light, since...well, tbh I've been here for 2 months and I still haven't unpacked and still don't remember what I brought and what I left behind. 

Anyway, the rebuild begins, and if anybody has anything green that they're tired of looking at, I'll give it a home. I'm looking for work and trying to get my life back together. Thanks again to this kind and wonderful community! I'll try to be more active on here and keep y'all updated, and definitely try to keep these exotics going. 

 

[DoomsDave]

Sorry to hear, but glad you’re pushing back!

[PalmsandLiszt]

Sorry to hear of your travails; I've always enjoyed reading your threads. I hope all rights itself.
Your remaining Lyto still looks in fine fettle. Is that a pot of red Areca vestiaria seedlings I see next to the spindle? I wish I had some of those. Hope they grow well for you.

[JohnAndSancho]

1 hour ago, PalmsandLiszt said:

Sorry to hear of your travails; I've always enjoyed reading your threads. I hope all rights itself.
Your remaining Lyto still looks in fine fettle. Is that a pot of red Areca vestiaria seedlings I see next to the spindle? I wish I had some of those. Hope they grow well for you.

The little Lyto is growing, slowly. And yeah, the A. Vestiara were in the goody box from Barry. 

[Barry]

John,

I’m glad your are doing better! And also glad your friend stopped in to see you. I think everyone has had low points in their life, I have. But it does get better, sometimes it just takes time. The plants I sent were the least I could do. I hope it brings joy to you in your time of need! At times my plants are the only thing that keeps me sane. Nice to see your mom takes care of the feral cats. We have 5 rescues inside and 3 outside. They all have unique personalities. Our latest one, we got one month after hurricane Ian. He travel over 20 miles under the hood of my coworkers truck! We figured he was born around the time of hurricane Ian, so I named him ‘Hurricane’. He lives up to his name very well. I attached a video of him. Just about every night he wants to play fetch, thinks he is a dog. He is very entertaining.
We are here for you if you need us.

[jimmyt]

John,

We are all happy to help!   My plants are my therapy and help me keep my sanity in the nutty world we live in.  May they lift you up again.

jimmyt

[kinzyjr]

@JohnAndSancho Glad to help!  Hopefully the situation gradually improves.  Keep in touch and I'll help if possible.

[happypalms]

My garden saved my sanity my pets never left me but the wife did then 4 operations on top of the pandemic now a new girlfriend later and life is a wonderful blessing to have your life situation and feelings you have we all have some of us handle it better than others I said before the back of the mind is a wonderful place to visit just remember to come back from that mind space sorry you had to leave your plants I live for my garden and my garden lives for me 🌱the Palm community is a wonderful community to have in our lives we all can relate to situations plants teach us that don’t give up 

[JohnAndSancho]

Here's what I've got outside - def a scale back from Tiny Apartment Jungle.

 

B. Alfreidii seedling - should be a monster in like 20 years lol. Those are actual spider web/eggs, not mites or mealybugs. 

Ol' Spindly Bob is doing well here. One leaf opened right after we got here and another new one is pushing. I hope this cat-proofing works. If she can poop past all of this, I'm taking her to America's Got Talent. 

 

BxLyto - also cat-proofed this morning, since it was knocked over with half the soil dug out. 

 

And my Mangave - I forgot the exact one, like Tango Sunfire or something that sounds like a Bath and Body Works candle scent. Anyway it needs a bigger pot and less cats. 

 

Yeah, the grass is horribly overgrown. My brothers lawnmower broke down. Mom's been paying a neighbor to do it but he works offshore, so he's gone for weeks at a time. 

[JohnAndSancho]

Newest spear on the Butia x Lyto looks a little yellow. I guess I'll feed it again after it dries out. Spiders have already laid eggs on these bricks, and another spider lives in the water reservoir of this pot. Big spiders weren't something I really had to contend with in Huntsville... I'm not a fan 😤

[JohnAndSancho]

Did a couple little things. Gonna do a few more. 

First - (didn't bring my phone for pics) took Sancho on a really long walk and found some bamboo growing - like, really tall beautiful bamboo. I'll take some pics when we go in that direction again, maybe take a shovel and dig some rhizomes. 

Then after Pal Meir's L. Weddellanium post showed up, I realized mine looked kind of small after buying it almost 3 years ago. So I took his advice and repotted it to make sure there was enough drainage. Tiny but gorgeous. 

 

Then, I repotted these C. Seifrizii. Well, I guess technically I poked a whole bunch of holes in Solo cups first. These were a gift from Reyes Vargas, and a palm I've wanted for a long time. Hopefully they'll eventually be as beastly as my cat palm was. 

 

Then I threw some dirt in some cups for some P. Coranata seeds. 

 

I also need to repot these Licuala Spinosas. These are another palm I've wanted to try forever. Love their fan shape. And their roots are coming out the bottom of their baby pots. These, the Coronata seeds, and - hell everything in this picture was a gift from Barry. I've never even thought about growing a Plumeria, but this Plumeria Singapore seems pretty happy in it's window adjacent milk jug. It seems like every time I look at it, it's grown a smidge. 

 

Also need to throw these Bottle Palm seeds in some dirt. I soaked both them and the P. Coronata for 3 days, changing the water daily and making sure the fruit was all cleared off. 

 

Seems like a good day to do palmy things. Mental health day? In the words of RickyBobby, Palm Sunday? Windows open, football on TV, dirty hands. 

[JohnAndSancho]

My brother did some stuff too - cleared out a bunch of thorny little saplings and (I think) maple branches. 

Making it way easier to see the native Sabal. It's got 2 inflorescences and the fruit is blue/black. I have no idea if they're viable but there's gotta be another one close enough to pollinate? Maybe? 

Sancho dragged me for a lot of long walks today, and I finally brought my phone. My Granny loved Crepe Myrtles, there's probably 20 in the yard. All are over the house. I planted a row of them for her when I was in my 20s. Also pictured are some well hidden kittens. 

 

I didn't get too close since it's "fixin to storm," and I had a dog with me - but check out this branch that's laying on the grass, from about 12 feet up, flowering. 

[JohnAndSancho]

Mangave HomeDepotsis is looking rough and full of cat bite marks. It also was set way low in it's pot so the leaves were all folded up and broken at the bottom. 

 

At some point in the past, my mom bought some ferns and hung them in a tree to I guess keep the cats out, or let them soak up more sun or what. Anyway, these fern corpses were very very dead and very very dry. I went to one of my grandfather's old barns and dug up some gravel, rinsed it, mixed it in with the Mangave and hung it up out of reach of the feral colony. Hopefully it'll recover from its diagnosis of being apparently tasty. 

[JohnAndSancho]

C. Sefrizii - always wanted one of these, but they were always unavailable, way too expensive, or I was broke. 

 

Areca Vestiaria - gonna try really hard to keep this one happy. 

C. Renda - samesies. Living in a tray of water. 

 

L. Weddellanium - rearranged the soil yesterday and pulled out the dumb little plastic screens that I thought were super important when I first got into plants for more drainage. Maybe it's just me but it looks perkier. 

 

Super dainty Cuban Plumeria from seed. Tag says they were planted February 2023

 

Kentiopsis Olivformis. I've always wanted one of these just to see how they do indoors. 

 

Dypsis Cabadae. Love the color on these. 

 

Thrinax Radiata - I think he wants into one of the nursery pots on the patio. This one should love the summers here. 

 

Licuala Spinosa - I think these are my favorite non-Lyto plant on this table. Their roots were poking way through the bottom of their tiny pots, so I gave them the extra fancy blue Solo cups. Threw a smidge of slow release Carl Pool in with them too, they seem a little light to me. Me, who knows nothing about Licualas other than "don't mail order them in January."

 

Plumeria Singapore seems really happy. There's more leaf every time I walk past it. 

 

C. Plumosa recovering indoors from being a kitten toy. 3 of the 4 stems are still tall. 

 

Variegated Rhapis, VERY cool. 

 

Hedyscepe sprout. These seeds are gigantic! Working on a nice little nub.

 

I forgot the hybrid cross he said this was, so it's a Phoenix ReyesVargasii 

 

Stole a cut off my mom's Ficus. It hasn't started to root yet after a week or so. There's a video online that says plants root crazy if you dip the tip of your cutting in cinnamon. Mississippi fire ants also hate cinnamon. It's a shame they'll never know why kids love the taste of Cinnamon Toast Crunch. 

 

DUCK. 

 

 

I can't say it enough, but thanks y'all. 

[Rivera]

 

Old thread makes mention of Licuala spinosa cold hardiness. Not sure how cold it gets where you are. 

If you have any bottom heat going, that can sometimes help with root formation on cuttings. If I have ideal supplies, I start mine in a mix of mostly pumice with something moisture retentive added (coir, peat, orchid bark, whatever) and keep it moist. I use rooting hormone if I have it, but have started more cuttings without than with. In a pinch, I've also successfully started many cuttings in beach sand mixed with pine bark and twig bits. Some take quite a while, but I don't give up unless they go brown. 👍

[Barry]

John,

Looks like you are doing good with the plants sent to you, glad to hear. I don’t let my C. Renda’s go below 48 degrees, they are brought into garage or greenhouse. I also spray with fungicide once a month during Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb, and Mar. They can get a cold weather fungus. My 2 biggest ones will have to go into greenhouse this year, too big for garage. The L. Spinosa’s seem to have good cold tolerance and will take full sun, unusual for Licuala’s. 

Barry

[JohnAndSancho]

@Rivera - great info! I just took a cutting of Mom's ficus out of boredom, really. She's had it since I was a kid and I'm uh..... It's been a really long time since I was a kid. I guess it just got neglected until she thought it was dead and chucked it into the woods. My brother found it and saved it but man it's rough. 

 

@Barry - 48 for the Lipstick? I dunno why, but I always thought these would wither away at like, 65°. Maybe it'll do better than I thought... it gets plenty of natural and LED light and lord knows there's humidity here. 

[JohnAndSancho]

Hedyscepe is opening up @Darold Petty

 

Was also checking my seed pots to see if they needed water and accidentally ripped up roots, so I'm just going to leave the heat on and leave them alone until I see green. 

[JohnAndSancho]

Still no green from the Hood Rich Germination Station™ (feat Pinanga Coronata, bottle palm, and Livistonia Decora sprouts from @D. Morrowii)

Baby Alfie was rescued from the outdoors then rescued from the laundry room. I re-centered it and re-staked it after some critter wanted to eat the chicken poop fertilizer a week or so ago. Don't mind my Tums and regular PalmTalk advertiser Mike and Ikes. 

Hedyscepe opens a little more each day. 

And for those of you that wanna hear me mispronounce the name of everything while I fumble through a late night anxiety attack and get a glimpse of my dirty laundry and empty soda bottles (aka future planters), here's a YouTube link. 

https://youtu.be/eHW3UmfEsq0?si=LezFF4upiba262fl

[JohnAndSancho]

L. Decora sprouts from @D. Morrowii finally showing me some green! 

 

@Dwarf Fan sent me a big Washie and some babies. This one looks ready to go in the yard. 

[Dwarf Fan]

16 minutes ago, JohnAndSancho said:

L. Decora sprouts from @D. Morrowii finally showing me some green! 

 

@Dwarf Fan sent me a big Washie and some babies. This one looks ready to go in the yard. 

Glad to see that your Washy arrived safely it was a very robust grower and it should grow very fast, you could probably go in ground sooner than later, but I would baby it and keep it in the pot for a little while, but as soon as it starts to take off it should be ready to go back in the ground.

[Dwarf Fan]

On 9/30/2023 at 6:57 PM, jimmyt said:

John,

We are all happy to help!   My plants are my therapy and help me keep my sanity in the nutty world we live in.  May they lift you up again.

jimmyt

Amen, I joined Palm Talk because Palms and having a tropical backyard has always been a life long passion of mine, but I too have found them to be therapeutic and a healthy alternative to less positive ways of dealing with life’s challenges. 
 

“why do we grow palms , but to be happy”  -Patrix Schafer

[JohnAndSancho]

Not pictured - some Dypsis Lastelliana seeds in a baggie with some coco peat. 

 

Big picture of everything, which I can only assume will become a spider mite factory soon 😂

Variegated Rhapis Excelsia isn't happy. Spear pulled but the roots seem ok, so we'll see what happens. The non-varigated one died. 

Spindly Bob has been in the laundry room for a few weeks. It's kind of chilly here at night and it wasn't getting much light, and it's cold in the laundry room too so... It's in the bedroom with everyone else now. The newest spear is taaaallllllllllll. 

 

Filifera seedling is sulking pretty hard. I pulled it out of the pot, cleaned up some roots and repotted it. I think it misses Texas and Whataburger. 

B. Alfreidii has been inside for about a month or so now. 

L. Weddellanium seems to have perked up since I rearranged its roots and cleared out it's drainage hole. 

 

I'm just gonna post pics and quit typing captions, y'all know what these are lol 

 

[JohnAndSancho]

Got a care package from the world famous La Habra Death Camp. Thanks @DoomsDave! I'll def be asking you for IDs on some plants in the next day or so. Time to go scrounge up some soil and soil adjacent stuff. I figured out a few from the DMs and Google image. 

[DoomsDave]

Good to see! I just checked.

Those funny "black flower" things are Aoneums, which are a kind of succulent.

Ask away for the rest!

[BeyondTheGarden]

@JohnAndSancho Sorry I was oblivious to your recent life changes; I hope all is going well.  What is your new growing zone?

[JohnAndSancho]

3 hours ago, DoomsDave said:

Good to see! I just checked.

Those funny "black flower" things are Aoneums, which are a kind of succulent.

Ask away for the rest!

I figured out those, and I could tell the orchids by their roots. And the Brom is great! What's the one that looks like an aloe? 

I've got a little bit of potting soil left, and roughly a gallon of coco coir. Anything in this box more forgiving that would tolerate some genuine Mississippi yard dirt? 

Also how soon do I need to plop those Arenga seeds into a baggie? They're a little damp 😂

 

2 hours ago, Jesse PNW said:

@JohnAndSancho Sorry I was oblivious to your recent life changes; I hope all is going well.  What is your new growing zone?

I'm back with family. Love them, but after 3 months I quickly remembered why I lived so far away from them. Anyway I'm in East Mississippi and I think it's 8B with the new maps here. 

[DoomsDave]

11 hours ago, JohnAndSancho said:

I figured out those, and I could tell the orchids by their roots. And the Brom is great! What's the one that looks like an aloe? 

I've got a little bit of potting soil left, and roughly a gallon of coco coir. Anything in this box more forgiving that would tolerate some genuine Mississippi yard dirt? 

Also how soon do I need to plop those Arenga seeds into a baggie? They're a little damp 😂

 

I'm back with family. Love them, but after 3 months I quickly remembered why I lived so far away from them. Anyway I'm in East Mississippi and I think it's 8B with the new maps here. 

Don’t really know the names of the bromeliads, honestly. Friends here gave them to me, I stuck em in the ground and they just grew. 
 

Not sure what your MS dirt is; delta silt or upland red dirt or? I’d try to lay in some more potting soil if you can, maybe a two cubic foot sack or two? I’ve generally done badly with regular dirt in pots, but I’m far from being the last word on that.
 

Those Arenga seeds are gross, with that goo all over them. Ick! But they’re fresh, from a brand new cluster on one of my monsters; if you soak a few days and plant them they should come up in a few months. 
 

The Arenga and Chamadorea radicalis and microspadix might be hardy outside where you are,  elegans too. Trithrinax too. Nannorrhops as well. Worth a shot in the ground eventually.

Any more questions, ask!

And give Sancho a nice scratching for all of us.

[JohnAndSancho]

Welp, I did stuff today. One of our local dollar stores is converting into a different dollar store, so they had some soil on clearance for like 5 bucks a bag. I snagged 2 bags of MG Palm and Cactus and a bag of MG Orchid mix. The orchid stuff actually looks pretty nice, I think this and Turface as a mix would be wonderful. Anyway moving along. 

Bromeliad potted up. 

Little orchid potted up. 

Big orchid potted up. This one is in a Slurpee cup so you know it's gonna be a winner. I don't think there's a 7-11 for 500 miles from here. 

 

@DoomsDave buddy I need an ID on this one. Looks like an aloe but it's a lot more... I dunno, crispy?

Not 100% sure on what the 2 in the blue pot are either. More broms? I didn't even realize they were 2 different plants until I got them in there, but I was running out of pots anyway. 

 

And some seed soaking. C. Microspadix and C. Macrocarpa. Is it bad that all the Macros are floating? 

After doing what I do and reading hundreds of threads on here, I realized that I've got plenty of little Styrofoam boxes that I could use w/my ghetto germination heating pad setup since - I'm realizing that maybe community pots next to a window in November might not be the fastest way to germinate palms. And I can get a bunch of baggies in this box and be ready for spring. And lord knows y'all have sent me thousands of seeds to sprout! 

 

And Sancho is getting all the scratches and scritches he can handle. He's my little space heater now that we're hitting lows in the 30s. 

[D. Morrowii]

Not a bad way to spend the day! I was doing the same over here. I found a bunch of stuff that needed to moved or up potted. 
 

I wouldn't worry about the floaters unless they float after you clean them. Theres probably a little air trapped in the mesocarp somewhere. 

[DoomsDave]

Senor @JohnAndSancho this is a Clivia, which should be potted in heavier soil, or at least regular potting soil.

I sent you two of them. They get the most awesomente orange flowers in the winter.

[DoomsDave]

Senor @JohnAndSancho Eees a spiny bromeliad, gets a spiny flower, so cool! Good in potting soil or potting soil mixed with bark.

 

[JohnAndSancho]

4 minutes ago, DoomsDave said:

Senor @JohnAndSancho this is a Clivia, which should be potted in heavier soil, or at least regular potting soil.

I sent you two of them. They get the most awesomente orange flowers in the winter.

Lol so what I labelled as the big orchid is a bigger clivia? Welp. Whoopsiedoodle. The spiny brom is in the last bit of cheapo potting soil and some bark and genuine Mississippi Driveway Gravel in the bottom

[DoomsDave]

4 minutes ago, JohnAndSancho said:

Lol so what I labelled as the big orchid is a bigger clivia? Welp. Whoopsiedoodle. The spiny brom is in the last bit of cheapo potting soil and some bark and genuine Mississippi Driveway Gravel in the bottom

Plant the Erythrinas in regular potting soil and the Bauhinias, too. Let @Marius and me know how they do! Marius sent me a bunch of Erythrina seeds, from South Africa, in the High Veldt; they might be hardy where you are! When the babies of both get a bit of size, give them deep pots; they make big roots. The Bauhinias used to survive San Bernardino CA winters (mid to low 20s F) and come back from the roots.

That spiny brom's flower looks like something one of the operatic chicks might have worn on her head in "Amedeus." Like a spiny wedding cake, pink or purple or white.

[DoomsDave]

@JohnAndSancho just plant those Chambeyronias 

You have nothing to lose! I’ve grown hundreds from seeds by now. 
 

Soak em then put them all together in a gallon pot with regular potting soil and try to keep as warm as you can; they’ll usually sprout in four months but if they don’t, dig down in the dirt and if they’re not rotten cover and keep waiting.

Here’s my Multitude of Chambeyronia Babies, amen.