Mississippi Squad

[JohnAndSancho]

Lol

 

I just sprayed everything with neem oil twice. And I sprayed the baseboards and the corners and around the pots, everything. And I bumped the humidity way up by filling up one of my new 27g totes with water and there's no place I can put it where the heater won't hit it, so it's a freaking sauna in there right now. And I have no idea how hot or how humid it is because my $6 meter 💩 the bed and died on me so I'm guessing it's pretty damn humid. Plants should love it but I'm def gonna have to dial that back a bit. 

[JohnAndSancho]

This palmetto is pushing a new frond after this MASSIVE strap leaf. I should be more like @kinzyjr and put dates and labels on these things instead of having to dig through this thread to figure out when I potted it. 

Honestly had no idea if these would even sprout, this was just a FAFO experiment. Large variety clementines from Peru I bought at a Mexican market. 

 

I really hope it wasn't too premature of me to bring these all out here after yesterday's spider mite spray bombing. Dragonfruits Bien Hoa, Condor, and Laverne Red plus Red Lady papaya and a Mona Lisa banana. I think they'll all be a lot happier in this sweat lodge. 

 

Poor little things died before they ever had a chance. Pour one out for this week's dead homies, a couple grocery store papayas and some mango seeds that rotted. 

Big mama colocasia is pupping again and so are her pups - so onto this 

 

This damn thing just doesn't want to be built and it's adamant about it. I literally need to buy a new set of drill bits because I've broken all of the small ones. I really miss the good old days when Craftsman was sold by Sears and you could go in there with like, a wrench that has been floating in the ocean for 11 years and on the spot they'd give you a replacement. Anyway that still wouldn't matter because these came from Harbor Freight and they're probably made out of glitter and yak farts. 

[kinzyjr]

1 hour ago, JohnAndSancho said:

I should be more like @kinzyjr and put dates and labels on these things instead of having to dig through this thread to figure out when I potted it. 

It certainly saves your memory as you age.

[JohnAndSancho]

47 minutes ago, kinzyjr said:

It certainly saves your memory as you age.

At least I wrote SP in sharpie on the cup so I'd remember it was a palmetto. I mean, between the mistings and the light and the clear cup, it's pretty faded but it was still legible. 

[JohnAndSancho]

 

Now it's ready for soil, bulbs and cuttings. 

This one should be easier. Just clean it up and lay out heat mats and hang a light. 

 

Then I have this corner to clear out and build up. 

 

Still need to adjust a few lights, refractor experiments, but right now I just want to eat something and take a shower. I figured out why my mango seeds kept rotting so we're good there and I'm learning to like the smell of this neem. 

 

And I got La Chancla for the haters

 

[JohnAndSancho]

Baby Mango, 10 baby palmettos (from the tree I swung a shop light at from the ground) and 5 more Silver Saws from @Boca Palms. 

 

Still waiting on one batch of minors, still need to clean and germinate 2 more batches of minors, and then pull the weevil infested palmetto seeds out of the freezer. Also have 2 varieties of kiwi marinating, uhh like a dozen more mangos, God only knows how many white guava seeds, more clementines, God only knows how many more papaya seeds, still need to cut holes in the totes for the 15 pounds of bulbs, still need to split up community pots, I think I killed most of the Sabal Etonia that @kinzyjr sent me, 2 pineapple crowns rooting, I want to root propagate more of the pink guava, banana and more papaya seeds are somewhere in the mail, I'm pretty sure what's left of my mom's Ficus Elastica is toast but this thing has come back from the dead twice before, uhhhh - split up the ti plants as soon as they don't look dead, eat more mangos, grow stuff. 

 

Collect underwear 

Step 2

Profit. 

[JohnAndSancho]

Bench. 

 

Screw Bama. 

[kinzyjr]

@JohnAndSancho I've tried to figure out how the profit happens, but haven't seen it materialize yet. LOL

[JohnAndSancho]

3 hours ago, kinzyjr said:

@JohnAndSancho I've tried to figure out how the profit happens, but haven't seen it materialize yet. LOL

You gotta collect the underpants. Just like the old South Park episode. Nobody knows what step 2 is. But step 3 is profit. 

[JohnAndSancho]

And this morning I got a visit from the MS Dept of Agriculture, and all is well. Plus he got to meet Sancho. He said he wondered about the name of the nursery, but it makes sense now. Next up is grant applications. 

[JohnAndSancho]

Guava 'sperimentin!

 

 

 

[JohnAndSancho]

Gonna throw these pics on here too since this is my all-encompassing plant thread. 

Tfw duct tape won't stick to brick but you realize there's like 93 sets of curtain rods in your house for some reason. Anyway. 

[JohnAndSancho]

Today I started soaking some Sungold Kiwi seeds (delicious! I should have fruit by the time I'm 60), another mango, pulled out a crap ton of native Sabal Minor seeds and put them in cups, refilled all my water bins, and that was enough for me today. Still have soooo much to do. 

[JohnAndSancho]

Baby mango. Now that I've figured out how to handle them, this should be the start of many more. 

[JohnAndSancho]

The wifi at the house is horrible, so these are already out of date lol. Anyway youtube.com/dbljzzl 

 

I'm going to finish my refractors and shower curtain ghetto tent and carve up the tote bulb factory this week, and try to get the rest of the bananas in buckets. I found another plastic tote that fits perfectly in the corner and holds a 5g bucket and a kitty litter bucket so EVERY banana (....so far) can get space. 

 

A friend of mine sent me an invite link to PalmStreet and a live show - a bit fast for my taste, it's kinda like plant tiktok on cocaine - but I got some tissue culture bananas with winter shipping for a total of $16 so I can't be too mad. I've never played with tissue culture before so it'll be interesting. 

[JohnAndSancho]

Posted a couple more YouTube vids while I had the hospital Wi-Fi. 

Stills for y'all for now. 

Monstera's first fenestration 

 

Ti plants recovering. God these things are drama queens. 

 

New frond opening on the Red Latan, finally. Which is nice because I had to cut all the other ones off. 

 

WALL OF BANANAS. ALL CAPS BECAUSE I'M PRETTY DAMN PROUD OF THIS AND MY GHETTO LIGHT HACKS AND THE FERTILIZER ARE ONLY GOING TO MAKE THEM BIGGER. WALL OF BANANAS. 

Mat of mangos. Not nearly as exciting and I think one of them is dead, but I will keep eating them and keep planting the seeds as long as I can get them for $1 each. Or get the good Kietts from the Guatemalan market in Waynesboro. 

It's time to buy more coir and perlite. I think my mix comes out to 3 bricks of coir to 4 cu ft of perlite and I'm not doing math right now. 5 gallons of water per brick, whatever. 

Heater is working. I guess one of the fans was magically bouncing into something that was just enough to blow the pilot light out, so I've got yellow tote lids scattered around the room and it's working. We hit 19 degrees twice and it didn't drop below 75 in here. 

 

We'll be getting better Internet soon so I can do more YouTube for all 3 of the people that watch. 

[JohnAndSancho]

I guess I didn't take pictures of everything. But I potted up this yellow mango seed and these 2 Sabal Uresana, another Brahea Edulis sprout, and a handful of Sabal Minors. I also, sadly, cleared out a lot of what I'm calling the "papaya learning curve." 

 

I'd love to say I needed the space, and - I might? - but I've still got a folding table to clean off, a light to hang over it still in the box, 2 48x20 heat mats still in the box - ok, I have tons of community pots I need to split up before they get crazy so yeah we'll run with needing the space. 

[JohnAndSancho]

Well 💩 

 

There are worse problems to have, but I've got tons of stuff pushing roots out the bottom of their 1g pots. Mangos, papayas, the freaking Loquats are pushing roots out the bottom. 

[JohnAndSancho]

Ok. Lots of pics inbound. 

Pilot light in the heater keeps going out, there's a gap by the door. I doubt it's wind since it faces southeast, I think it's the box fans bouncing something. Anyway here's my ghetto hot box humidifier. It works. 

 

White Princess. Yeah, the $5 one that came with a free baby. So pretty, and I'm wondering now if it's the super variegated one since it gets red and pink on the stems? I dunno. 

Pink Princess. Soooooo many nodes. I still can't decide if I should chop and prop or just sell it for a healthy profit once it hits 3 gallon size. It doesn't seem too far from there. 

 

If you know who this is, you're a real one. And it's time to get your prostate checked. 

 

Whale fin getting fat. Maybe it's time to give it a bigger pot so it has room to make babies again. 

I think this is gonna be my setup for Sabal seedlings (say that 3 times fast) Just surround the bananas with the cups and let them bottom water from the overflow, the shade shouldn't phase them. 

This dragonfruit looks like it's suffering from symptoms they advertise on sports shows, and I don't mean plaque psoriasis. But it's rooting. 

Papaya survivors. I still haven't given up hope for the Kahuka that didn't sprout and I've got 2 more varieties germinating on the mats as we speak. 

Mango leaves are starting to turn green! And it's pushing roots out the bottom of the 1g pot. 

 

@5am this is the banana pup from the pottery shop that had no roots. The Orinoco. 

 

Mr. Mekong Giant is fixing to throw a MASSIVE leaf. 

 

 

 

This blue Java - I don't know how long I've had it 2 months. 2 months!!!!! I checked Etsy. 

Maybe a 13 foot wide wall of bananas in the winter time wasn't the greatest idea? But you know what? We get crazy down here in the south. There's probably a reason nobody else can say "hey, I've got a 13 foot wide wall of bananas indoors," but the fact is they can't say it and I can. 

One day. One day, this table will be cleaned off and it'll have heat mats and a shop light above it. One day. A clean desk means a cluttered mind, remember that. My mind is still very cluttered, but at least my desk is messy. 

 

Looking north towards the house. That light needs to be brought down a couple feet and brought back about one foot. Ceiling gonna look like Swiss cheese. 

I think I'm gonna use this table for the Butia hybrid and the Butias and just hang a pendant lamp over them. They'll be happy. Next to La Chancla. 

I'm ready for seeds. Cups for days. Just kidding, I need another 100 pack easy. I was gonna use cut down coke bottles but pulling roots out of those little notches at the bottom completely sucks. 

 

FINALLY brought this bench back here. It's gonna go under the back window, ordered a shop light for it, plastic totes with one gallons. It's 49.5" wide so I still have room to get stupid and build another table. 

Tote Row. I'm probably gonna hold off on more bulbs but just put really tall stuff here for now so I don't give myself any more anxiety attacks. 

WALL OF BANANAS© - I'm scared what they're gonna do when I hang that other curtain and start giving them more fert. The tables might have to come out and just put them on the floor. The shower curtain looks ghetto as hell, but a) so does everything else in here and b) it gave me a measured and confirmed 50% boost in PPFD. 

Dirt supply is looking kinda sparse there. 20 lbs of coir and 4 cu ft of perlite will be here late this week. That'll make me roughly 75 gallons of soil give or take depending on how much I'm spending the pots with compost and other goodies. I do not wear size 18 Crocs, these are size 11 Ooh-Ahh by Oofos and yeah they sound kinda whatevery but they're comfy and great for my neuropathy. 

 

Okie dokie. 

[Phoenikakias]

I think your soil blend needs more perlite.

[JohnAndSancho]

8 hours ago, Phoenikakias said:

I think your soil blend needs more perlite.

It's pretty much 55/45, this is just the very bottom of the tote. 

[JohnAndSancho]

Perlite and another shop light showed up today. I guess the porch pirates aren't just limited to porches anymore, since all of the packing tape on the perlite box was sliced open. I dunno what they expected to find in a box that big that weighs nothing - clothes? Purses? I know it didn't happen at the house because we're in BFE my nearest neighbor is 1/4 mile away and we woulda heard and seen them coming up the driveway. But whatever. Coir will be here Sunday. 

 

I haven't done much of anything other than sleep for like a week, I dunno if I'm sick or just exhausted or what, but I finally hauled the last bag of garbage out last night. I think my Ensete Marrelli is unhappy from getting too much light, the 3rd pineapple crown I was gonna attempt pretty much crumbled into nothing but I'm still gonna stick it in some dirt and see what happens. I got nothing to lose but time. Aside from needing a big pile of larger pots, we're doing well - and I'm gonna order those soon. 5g pots for the keepers and try to limit stuff to 3g for what I want to sell. 

The bedroom jungle is pretty sparse now, I need to work on that again. Because, you know, I just don't have enough stuff growing right now or whatever. I have dozens of Sabal Minors to pot, there's probably another Brahea or 2 ready too. And hundreds of more Sabal seeds to sprout. 

[JohnAndSancho]

Ok. After 2 weeks of doing nothing, I just lugged about 40 gallons of water in here to refill the humidifier tote, 2 humidity buckets, and mix up some more soil. The FedEx lady dropped off the Chewy packages and I'm telling her to stay warm as I'm like, wearing basketball shorts and slides and it's 40°. Tbf it's hot in the grow room, but not big enough, the heater crapped out again so I guess I need to step up and get an Inkbird wifi thermometer since I've already got one of their thermostats. 

 

Anyway, foliage. I planted these what, not even a week ago? 

 

And my bananas have officially hit canoe paddle leaf status. 

[JohnAndSancho]

Massive pic dump from today 

Man, I don't know what the hell to do with this cycad. I really don't. It's still throwing single leaf flushes, but just for perspective that bench is 5ft wide. Anyway I cleaned out the boxes, set the bench there, hung a light, and put a bunch of stuff in a tote and repotted the cycad. Yeah the one leaf looks dead but it's pushing another and I lowkey dread it cuz - where's it gonna go this time? It's like a damn vine. 

I *think* the bulb in the big pot on the left is the canna Pretoria from @N8ALLRIGHT. All the pots on the left are Sabal Louisiana separated from a community pot. Everything on the right are community pots of my first batch of Sabal minors. I still have 2 baggies I haven't even touched. 

 

 

Why tf did I plant these already? 

OG mango sprout. Guava cuttings are rooting. 

Red Ladies waiting on bigger pots. 

Kahukas and Mexican papayas. Community pot of the Mexican papayas is also blowing up (not pictured) 

Mango farm. They can't decide if they want humidity domes or not, and it's pissing me off so whatever, I'll just halfway throw stuff on top. 

3 more of them have sprouted 

 

Condor dragonfruit is indeed flying. The others are rooting but this one is _growing_. 

Ok. So. This was full earlier. So between filling 2 buckets for humidity, mixing this up, and changing and refilling the ghetto humidifier, I carried 50 gallons of water in here. No wait, it was more cuz I watered bananas too. Anyway I got mad cardio today. 

 

So ok overshare or whatever. I'm shirtless in here and sweating. Walked outside. It's 35°F. Oof. 

[JohnAndSancho]

Germination attempt in coffee filters was a failure. So let's do this. Sunrise papayas. Gonna do the same thing with the rainbow seeds. 

Gonna hunt down some clear plastic to build a tent and cover this. Ohhh wait. Somewhere I have a huge plastic drop cloth for painting. I can cut that up. Plenty to cover at least 2 totes. 

[JohnAndSancho]

 

 

2026 update 

[JohnAndSancho]

I'll take pics later, I sprayed for spider mites again so it's like a freaking sauna in there right now - 

Rainbow papaya seeds - took them out of the coffee filter. Put them in cups, covered with little domes from bakery cakes. Ended up with a total of 10 seeds that didn't squish. The coffee filters suck, kids. 

 

Bananas are freaking monsters. At least 2 are gonna have to go on the floor. 

 

Got some store credit from Wally World for some terrible customer service, so more lights coming. 5g squat pots already ordered. 

 

Princess philedendron (pink and white) look A MAZE ING right now. I still can't decide whether to sell them whole (they're already legit 3g size) or chop and prop. I've got a few more varieties I NEED to chop and prop. 

5 more sprouts of the silver saw palmetto potted up. 

Bought a bunch of Poblano Peppers to make some gringos rellenos.... Gonna sow some seeds. Why not? I've basically created endless summer in here. 

Still have eleventy kajillion Sabal seeds to go through... Pineapple is rooting, so many more mangos to eat and plant. I just realized I've got a bunch of stalled out palm seeds in the bedroom too, need to move them to the grow room. 

Good times. 

 

 

[JohnAndSancho]

Aforementioned Silver Saws, seeds from @Boca Palms that were so fresh I could still smell the flowers when I got them. 

Oh just a 19 inch leaf on a 4 foot tall Blue Java banana that was literally a tissue culture pup 3 months ago. I had to put it on the floor. 

 

Cuban Red Dacca wants to play the Big Leaf game now with the others. 

 

A few more mangos grown from fruit that I pooped out. 

 

I'm obsessed with these right now and I still can't believe I paid $5 each for them.... White and Pink princess. I'm wondering if they might be the double variegated too, the pink has a little white and the white has a little red. 

 

 

[JohnAndSancho]

 

 

 

Totally in over my head. 

 

 

[JohnAndSancho]

Not posting a pic of the bokashi because it's disgusting, but I bought a tote and some cheap potting soil and cheap compost to mix it all up. It's in the YouTube though. Ok I just don't wanna open it again. 

 

5 gallon pots showed up. 

30 pack..ugh when I put them in my shopping cart they were like $35, they went up to like 50. 

 

Another baby mango. This is a Keitt and it's kinda wild how different the initial leaves are on this one from the Tommy Atkins. 

 

I guess I need to join PhilodendronTalk because I came home with 2 more today. Golden Crocodile and uhhh Caramel Pluto. 

 

One of my bananas is pregnant! 

Look at the size of this aerial root on my monstera! 

Humidity is nice in here right now. 

[JohnAndSancho]

https://youtube.com/shorts/-NzpQ1olDOI?si=p031jzp5QpcCFvAi

 

Philodendrons. Thanks @MrTropical for the continued upvotes in this thread while I feel I'm just farting into the void 😂

[MrTropical]

4 minutes ago, JohnAndSancho said:

https://youtube.com/shorts/-NzpQ1olDOI?si=p031jzp5QpcCFvAi

 

Philodendrons. Thanks @MrTropical for the continued upvotes in this thread while I feel I'm just farting into the void 😂

No problem. I enjoy this thread. 

[JohnAndSancho]

The same algo that won't let me make a Facebook account let me make an Instagram account? Ok whatever *""********", but it's SanchosGreenPaws 

[JohnAndSancho]

A couple longer videos, if you're a Ned Flanders about the sailor talk these might not be for you. Bokashi Soil Factory, coco coir explanation for beginners, and basically 11 minutes of a tour with some words I wouldn't say in front of most children. 

 

 

[JohnAndSancho]

Sick

Sprouts 

Soil

Sancho 

Science 

 

 

 

[JohnAndSancho]

I'm SICK sick and haven't been out here in a few days so here's some videos.

 

 

 

Y'all are missing out. I'm informative and entertaining. 

[JohnAndSancho]

I dunno if it's covid again or the flu but my butt is being thoroughly kicked. I got up to do stuff and totally regret it, but the babies needed attention. 

 

 

[JohnAndSancho]

More YouTube Shenanigans. 

One day I'll get a helper to film me actually doing stuff or something, or just figure out a way to set up the camera to watch my methodology and listen to me talking to the plants. But please, if I ever turn into one of those dorks with a crazy expensive camera and a $200 microphone and an Amazon storefront who says "please like and subscribe" every 3 minutes, I need someone to make the drive to Clarke County and kick me in the junk. I'll send you home with plants. 

 

 

 

[JohnAndSancho]

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DTuSLu6Dpfh/?igsh=MTJkdWhhenI2NzJycw==

 

One day I'll also learn how to edit videos so the music plays through the whole thing cuz I was kinda jamming there for a minute. Anyway. 

[JohnAndSancho]

Another @DoomsDave Brahea Edulis sprouted. 4 now. 

 

Potted up a couple philos. The caramel Pluto.... Man I did my best. It's in moss and it's packed. Did my best to spread it out but Jesus. Congo Rojo too. 

 

Ofc more Sabal minors sprouted, I think I have about a billion of them with 2 more untouched baggies and still have those freezer palmetto seeds. Oh snap need to check the kiwis.

And this tote is nothing but sunrise papaya from @WaianaeCrider, took the lid off and wrapped it with some old heavy clear plastic. .  a few rainbow sprouts on the other side of the room too. 

 

And just for LOLs my shipping department is ready for warm weather. Clearly a professional outfit here.