Mississippi Squad

[kinzyjr]

You're welcome for it all, @JohnAndSancho.  Get a forest floor of Sabal minor 'Cherokee' going up there for everyone to enjoy.  They should be hardy enough to handle just about anything in the Gulf states when mature since they survived -11F in habitat in 1985.  The Sabal etonia should keep people guessing.  

The Phoenix theophrasti has trouble with cold in wet environments, so it may make a better pot plant until it matures beyond the point where it can be cared for in that manner.  The Brahea dulcis will likely want a larger pot by the end of the year.

[JohnAndSancho]

Let's hope my streak of killing plants that I separate ends here. I grabbed this one because there's 3 big ones and 2 sprouts. And if they survive in @Allen's yard hopefully they can live here. 

[Allen]

Yep I was surprised when one came back here

[JohnAndSancho]

So apparently this is a Cordyline "red sister," and apparently you can take cuttings and propogate them in water. I picked this particular one because it's tall and suckering, I didn't know I can chop it up and make probably 4 or 5 more right now. 

 

I also found a couple ceramic roosters. God they're tacky but rooster statues are everywhere around here. Anyway 

 

I wonder if y'all think this Filibusta is ready for sun. This one came from @Dwarf Fan, and for those that haven't read all 27,000 of my 14 page posts, it was originally in a bathroom window, then put into the Palm Condo™ where it promptly sunburned. I just repotted it and honestly I want the pot back and the space. I guess I can put it next to the droopy Robusta where it'll get a little more shade.

 

Or I can transition it to a brighter window for the time being. It hasn't grown much in a while, but they're terrible houseplants. 

[JohnAndSancho]

Rare outdoorsy stuff for Palms In Pots. 

The camera really doesn't pick up these blue stripes well at all, and they're even more pronounced early in the morning. Sabal Maritimas from @Sabal King

 

And holy jesus this thing is an absolute tank. At this point I can't tell if it's trying to push one deformed spear and one normal spear or what, but we got something peeping on up out of that little hole there. 

 

[JohnAndSancho]

Texas people will understand just how freaking excited I am to get these tortillas. I'm happier about them than the plants right now. 

[JohnAndSancho]

Also meant to add this earlier. The Palm Condo™ is a little fuller now, a couple individual Sabals and a community pot of Mexicana. And I really need to do another community pot or 2 of Mexicana, I have 3 L. Chineseis that have sprouted. And I need to pot up and maybe separate the Sabal Etonias from @kinzyjr, the roots are circling the bottom of the cup and there's gotta be 10 in there. And I honestly don't know what else is coming. More Trachies and whatever @teddytn throws in the next box. 

I also ordered a couple more bulbs and corded sockets. At least one is going in the ceiling over the Future Spider Mite Factory™, so I can move some of the taller stuff over there and free up the Condo space for seedlings. Speaking of bulbs, it's insane how expensive some of them are now. The same ones in the Condo, I think I paid $9 for and my big one with the crazy heatsink... I dunno I think it was $19? Anyway it costs like $50 now. Anyway I ordered these. https://a.co/d/0MfbjLr

I thought about tubes or strips, but you can either buy some garbage that doesn't really do anything or you can pay a grip. I think the other one is gonna go into an old gooseneck lamp I've wedged into a shelf. I really need to spread out my Philodendron, I need to make Ti cuttings, etc. Anyway just pictures of shelves that aren't as empty as they were last week. 

[JohnAndSancho]

I dunno that it's photo worthy, but I just put a couple dozen or so Sabal Mexicana in a 2g pot. The rest of them, I might just say the hell with it and throw them in the ground and whatever happens will happen. I didn't count, so I have no idea how many of these I received but I think just about all of them popped after being thrown in the baggie in mid April. There's probably 15 or 20 more in the baggie, plus I have a couple solo potted. 

[JohnAndSancho]

More Trachies! Refugees from the frozen tundra of Kansas City have made their way to the swampy tundra of East Mississippi. I got 2 princeps and some Waggie x Princeps. I also got a handwritten note and he even spelled it Missippi on the note, like a true southerner pronounces it. I'll get these potted up either tonight or in the morning, depending on how hard the night night meds kick in. Thank you @N8ALLRIGHT

[N8ALLRIGHT]

44 minutes ago, JohnAndSancho said:

More Trachies! Refugees from the frozen tundra of Kansas City have made their way to the swampy tundra of East Mississippi. I got 2 princeps and some Waggie x Princeps. I also got a handwritten note and he even spelled it Missippi on the note, like a true southerner pronounces it. I'll get these potted up either tonight or in the morning, depending on how hard the night night meds kick in. Thank you @N8ALLRIGHT

My mom's side of the family are all Arkansas hillbillies or from Alabama. . So figures I'd spell Missippi right. Pops side is all German immigrant farmers from North Dakota.I guess I'm in the right place. 

[JohnAndSancho]

55 minutes ago, N8ALLRIGHT said:

My mom's side of the family are all Arkansas hillbillies or from Alabama. . So figures I'd spell Missippi right. Pops side is all German immigrant farmers from North Dakota.I guess I'm in the right place. 

I've bounced around so much, where I'm from depends on who's asking and where I'm at. 

 

Anyway I lied. I went ahead and potted these Princeps. It's like 8:45pm and it still feels like 96° outside and the humidity is that stifling "I wish it would just rain and get it over with" kinda humidity but it just won't. Anyway, little green homeys in bottles that spelled homeys wrong. 

[JohnAndSancho]

So, I do mix my own soils. I use the expensive Tanks Green Stuff for my fancy indoor stuff, but for stuff that'll be indoor/outdoor or a little less demanding, I cheap out. Today we're potting up 3 Trachy Waggie x Princeps. I gave the pots to the more developed ones and the Y'all bottle to the smallest. My thought process maybe it'll get more roots in a smaller container, and this one looks a little rougher than the other 2 so I'll give it a special 1 of 1 container. Anyway - this is just cheap potting soil mixed with orchid bark. I added more bark to this btw. 

 

All done and watered and everything drains nice and smooth. These are $1 pots from Dollar General that I poked about 50 holes in with a sharp screwdriver. I had to wipe the cobwebs off of them but it'll work for a minute. 

And my latest adventures in cat proofing. Found this laying around, it was a tier of 2 coco peat baskets with these chained together. Snip snip bend bend and cats can't get to it but sun and water can. There's one more of these so maybe I'll try another community pot of seeds and move these into more light once they get a little bigger and greener. 

Please don't tell me I planted these wrong again 😂

 

I found some more hanging light sockets on Amazon, so I'm gonna move my ghetto floor lamp setup to the ceiling. These are the 2 for $10 Sansi LEDs. I didn't realize the bulbs were gonna be so tiny but it'll fit nicely in the ghetto gooseneck lamp after I move the heat mats and rearrange it like I've been saying I'm gonna do for months now. 

[JohnAndSancho]

Ugh too late to edit. Anyway I do kinda like the color of these lights. It's a warmer more sunlight color than the white ones I've got everywhere else. I'm sure the color shows up just fine on my 6 year old phone camera. 

[JohnAndSancho]

I ain't no Bob Vila, but this cord ain't no 20 feet long either. I think ol' Wyjulonkpkrz on Amazon pulled one over on me. Also might be a good idea for me to swap this bulb out for one of my less heavy ones. They're not as bright but they have a more concave lens. 

 

 

I think this'll work though. I can do what I've been talking about since 2023 and move all the taller stuff over here and use the Condo™ to give them room to get bigger before they go in the yard. And the light is far enough away that it shouldn't hurt the understory stuff. Just more balanced and even and reliable. 

[JohnAndSancho]

My brother found all these drawers out of an old long gone refrigerator, and I'm just like - what the hell am I supposed to do with this? 

 

Welp this one is catching water overflow from some Sabals and the others will probably be really easy for me to mix soil in, so I won't have to bend over and I mix in such small batches anyway. 

[JohnAndSancho]

Last one for tonight, I promise. While I wasn't paying attention, Philodendron... Uhhh I forgot, it's like Moon Glow or Star Fart or something. Anyway it finally opened up that new leaf while the Congo Rojo completely humiliates it. 

[JohnAndSancho]

Palmetto (R) and Mexicana (L)

I know seeds are gonna do what they wanna do but so far I've got like 84,000 Mexicana sprouts and 2 Palmettos. 

I'm being really careful not to overwater, so I've got a spray bottle with a great mist setting and just mist these little ones once or twice a day and then water them every I dunno, week and a half or so. It seems to be working. 

[JohnAndSancho]

I'd like to thank the two of you who still look at my long posts here 😂 

 

Anyway 

Philodendron shelf. I need to I guess figure out a better lighting setup, a couple of them are reaching for the light, I've got some cuttings finally growing roots, some cuttings refusing to grow roots, a cutting that lost all of its leaves but is trying to grow roots, one that's been pushing a new leaf since what feels like 4 years ago, and the Congo Rojo has competition in the Moonlight. They just don't care, they're gonna grow. 

 

I took some cuttings off the Ti plant, too. I got 2 good ones, I don't want to hack them too much. I need to find a spot for them, because I think even my grow light is a bit much for them, and they'll def cook in the Bastard Bed. I can always plop them in the shade of the crape myrtles. 

 

Palm stuff - it's 12:32am and I'm so tempted to go outside right now just because it's finally cool enough but that means the humidity is insane, so I'm just going to take pictures and keep whining. 

Maybe I'm tripping, but it seems like these Sabal Etonia have grown a lot since I got them from @kinzyjr and at least 2 more have sprouted. 

 

FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY THE RED LATAN NEW LEAF HAS OPENED 

Yes all caps on purpose.

 

And C. Renda too. I just watched an old Fairchild tour on YouTube and they had some hybrids that got me wondering and thinking and wanting and lusting. 

 

And... In sadder news, I think the outlook for a couple of these trachies is bleak. The one Princeps ain't pretty, but it's green. The other one and the runt of the hybrids... Well, just think happy thoughts. 

[JohnAndSancho]

I didn't take any pictures, but I've got 4 Livistona Chineseis that have sprouted so far. I guess I need to carve up some Coke bottles for them, I don't want to community pot these. Maybe I'll community the rest when they pop. Sooooo my game plan for tomorrow is to get these in containers and community pot up the rest of the Sabal Mexicana. I don't remember who sent me those seeds, but I got a metric *@#$ ton of them, but still only 2 Palmettos. 

[JohnAndSancho]

[SeanK]

On 7/14/2025 at 4:40 PM, JohnAndSancho said:

Texas people will understand just how freaking excited I am to get these tortillas. I'm happier about them than the plants right now. 

I've never seen butter flavored tortillas. Hope they were good as they "expired" the day you posted the photo 

[JohnAndSancho]

7 hours ago, SeanK said:

I've never seen butter flavored tortillas. Hope they were good as they "expired" the day you posted the photo 

I still ate every last one straight out of the bag. And they were wonderful. 

[JohnAndSancho]

Oh Lord. I know seeds are gonna do whatever they want to do, but I germinated these Mexicana at the same exact time I germinated some Palmettos. Ummm this is my 3rd community pot of Mexicana and so far, after 4 months, I have exactly 2 Palmettos. 

At this point, it's nothing but Wal Mart's finest organic potting soil for these mixed with the coir from the baggie. You know how it's good soil? There's a giant chunk of painted lumber in it. You can't tell because it's covered in dirt, but it's white. Trashcan and 8" pot for scale. 

Anyway, I hope I'm not putting this pot out in the sun too soon. Yeah, I see some seeds have pushed their way up but I have no shortage of these. 

The cats don't mess with these anymore. They do like to chew on the Washies out front for some reason, but I found this old metal hanging basket thing and it's great for keeping cats out of the shaded stuff. The other pot is hybrid Trachy seeds. 

And while I'm outside - am I on crack or is this guy pushing multiple spears? 

[SeanK]

3 hours ago, JohnAndSancho said:

I still ate every last one straight out of the bag. And they were wonderful. 

Corn tortillas fried in a little olive oil are really good.

[JohnAndSancho]

7 minutes ago, SeanK said:

Corn tortillas fried in a little olive oil are really good.

I'm a flour tortilla guy. And I got so spoiled in Texas getting them fresh and warm. The fried chicken and biscuits and gravy are a little bit better here, but it's not a good trade off imo. 

[SeanK]

10 minutes ago, JohnAndSancho said:

I'm a flour tortilla guy. And I got so spoiled in Texas getting them fresh and warm. The fried chicken and biscuits and gravy are a little bit better here, but it's not a good trade off imo. 

Get a toaster-over. Best chicken is Kroger Chicken Strips. 20 minutes @400°. Last 10 minutes, toss in a couple of frozen waffles. 

[JohnAndSancho]

3 minutes ago, SeanK said:

Get a toaster-over. Best chicken is Kroger Chicken Strips. 20 minutes @400°. Last 10 minutes, toss in a couple of frozen waffles. 

Ohhhhhh my god I miss the Kroger chicken strips too. The nearest Kroger is like 80 miles away. I guess I'm punishing myself, because now I'm all about the Fast Fixins brand dino nuggets. They're terrible but in a comforting way, like school lunch pizza. 

One of our 2 grocery stores just rebranded as a Piggly Wiggly so we'll see if they have any decent store brand stuff.