Sansevierias and Philodendrons and some other thing

[JohnAndSancho]

I bought a whale fin last year. It's just given me its 3rd pup. 

My "normal" snake plant might have finally outgrown its 6" pot. I moved it to the bathroom window next to what I think is a desert rose and this other thing I got from @DoomsDave that's going nuts and throwing crazy white arial roots everywhere. I honestly don't remember what it is. I think he said it was some kind of Mexican orchid thing or something. 

I don't remember what kind of sansevieria this is. Fernwood? Cylindrical? Anyway it's got its own window entirely to itself since it's so wide and rigid and it got too tall for the shelf I had it on. It's being held up with a piece of a bamboo stake and a plastic fork because that's what I had laying around at the time. Despite its size, it's still so loose in a 6" pot. 

 

I wanted some philodendrons. I googled "fastest growing philodendron," and it said Brazil, so I bought one. It kinda did nothing for months, and I really need to pot it up and Macguyver some kind of trellis or something for it. Being an idiot, I didn't realize it was gonna be a trailing vine. 

3 of my 4 other philos are doing great. L to R are Prince of Orange, Congo Red, McColley's Finale, and Moonlight. The McColley looks sad and droopy, the rest look great. And I don't know why - they're all in the same soil, they all get watered at the same time, I lift the pots when I water them to let the excess drain out, etc etc. I bought a variety bundle specifically for the McColley, so meh. Anyway they're all pushing out new leaves and the Congo just opened one up. Maybe this one is more fragile, maybe it doesn't like my soil mix, maybe it's the crapshoot of mail order plants, who knows. I'm open to suggestions and I'll just pamper it in the meantime and hope it recovers.

 

[JohnAndSancho]

My whale fin was in the corner behind a B. Alfredii that I'm pretty sure is dead. I rearranged things last night and turned it and had no idea how fat the parent plant has got! 

 

And I think I've figured out a solution for the Brazil Philodendron. I can Macguyver a hanging basket, and I took an old curtain rod and bent one side of it around the top of the Palm Condo™. I think it should be able to support the weight of this thing as-is, but I can always throw a couple zip ties on it to be safe. It should catch enough light to be happy.

[JohnAndSancho]

For giggles and grins, I checked the drainage holes of the pot of my sad and droopy McColley's Finale - I figured I was cool because this pot has tons of drainage holes. Welp, I guess the downside of using a really chunky soil mix full of bark means holes get blocked. Hopefully it bounces back and looks as good as its cousins now that it can adequately dry out. 

[happypalms]

Nice little collection for indoors. I couldn’t handle not having the room or freedom to grow as much as i want, iam Australian I need room to grow.

[Mazat]

19 hours ago, happypalms said:

Nice little collection for indoors. I couldn’t handle not having the room or freedom to grow as much as i want, iam Australian I need room to grow.

😄

[JohnAndSancho]

Welp, with all the meds they've got me on, I either sleep for 2 hours or 20 hours. Last night was a 2 hour sleep. Sooooo I took my struggling droopy McColley's Finale philodendron out of its pot. I didn't really pay much attention when I potted it up, I was rushing it - and it's a cutting which isn't a shock, but after getting all of the wet dirt off of it I realized the 6" pot it was in was probably way too big - so I found an old 3" pot and will let it dry out a bit before watering again. 

 

On 5/15/2025 at 6:32 AM, happypalms said:

Nice little collection for indoors. I couldn’t handle not having the room or freedom to grow as much as i want, iam Australian I need room to grow.

What's crazy is I have PLENTY of room here. It's a huge house on about 5 acres of land. The problem I have is my mom has been feeding feral cats for about 20 years or so. And at times there's been as many as 20 inside the house. Every plant is a chew toy and every pot is a toilet. She's had an aloe vera plant growing for god only knows how long, and they've destroyed it. Part of me wants to try and save it but there's more poop than soil in the pot at this point and it grosses me out. Everything that I've put outside of my bedroom has been destroyed. @PalmatierMeg sent me a bunch of rare Sabals and they killed every last one of them. If there was a legal and humane way to get rid of most of them, I'd be on it in a heartbeat. We honestly go through over 200 pounds of cat food a month. 

[happypalms]

45 minutes ago, JohnAndSancho said:

Welp, with all the meds they've got me on, I either sleep for 2 hours or 20 hours. Last night was a 2 hour sleep. Sooooo I took my struggling droopy McColley's Finale philodendron out of its pot. I didn't really pay much attention when I potted it up, I was rushing it - and it's a cutting which isn't a shock, but after getting all of the wet dirt off of it I realized the 6" pot it was in was probably way too big - so I found an old 3" pot and will let it dry out a bit before watering again. 

 

What's crazy is I have PLENTY of room here. It's a huge house on about 5 acres of land. The problem I have is my mom has been feeding feral cats for about 20 years or so. And at times there's been as many as 20 inside the house. Every plant is a chew toy and every pot is a toilet. She's had an aloe vera plant growing for god only knows how long, and they've destroyed it. Part of me wants to try and save it but there's more poop than soil in the pot at this point and it grosses me out. Everything that I've put outside of my bedroom has been destroyed. @PalmatierMeg sent me a bunch of rare Sabals and they killed every last one of them. If there was a legal and humane way to get rid of most of them, I'd be on it in a heartbeat. We honestly go through over 200 pounds of cat food a month. 

Iam on mums side good on her for looking after the cats. But  cats aside I know what  that smell is like once they pee in the pots, time to start growing cat nip let em eat that instead. Or yo7 could just join the masses and become a crazy cat man! 

[JohnAndSancho]

I've got Sancho and he's never terrorized my plants. The closest is when he ate palm food (pelletized chicken 💩) out of my cat palm pot. 

[happypalms]

12 hours ago, JohnAndSancho said:

I've got Sancho and he's never terrorized my plants. The closest is when he ate palm food (pelletized chicken 💩) out of my cat palm pot. 

Love him how could he terrorise anything. I once had a friend who’s dog ate a whole batch of them funny cookies, she took him to vet he just he will be fine the dog slept for 4 days. 

[JohnAndSancho]

On 5/16/2025 at 11:25 PM, happypalms said:

Love him how could he terrorise anything. I once had a friend who’s dog ate a whole batch of them funny cookies, she took him to vet he just he will be fine the dog slept for 4 days. 

Back in the day when I smoked, we had a cat that liked to join me. I named him Stubby because he had a bobtail. Anyway one night Stubby got absolutely wrecked with me and destroyed the kitchen. He ate half a bag of chili cheese Fritos, took a bite out of every slice of bread, tore into a bunch of those dry marinade and gravy mix packets, and when I woke up he was on his back spread eagle laying on the heater grate in the floor with the heat blowing on his uhhh boy parts. Good cat but he was a lightweight. 

 

Anyway, plant stuff. This Congo Red has become my favorite non-palm, this thing is gonna be a unit and I'm really enjoying watching it grow. This new leaf is huge and it's just impossible to photograph properly - it's amazing and there's already another one behind it. 

 

The new whale fin pup is exploding, too. One of the pups looks sad and limp and I hope it's siblings inspire it to stiffen up and grow like they are. 

[happypalms]

32 minutes ago, JohnAndSancho said:

Back in the day when I smoked, we had a cat that liked to join me. I named him Stubby because he had a bobtail. Anyway one night Stubby got absolutely wrecked with me and destroyed the kitchen. He ate half a bag of chili cheese Fritos, took a bite out of every slice of bread, tore into a bunch of those dry marinade and gravy mix packets, and when I woke up he was on his back spread eagle laying on the heater grate in the floor with the heat blowing on his uhhh boy parts. Good cat but he was a lightweight. 

 

Anyway, plant stuff. This Congo Red has become my favorite non-palm, this thing is gonna be a unit and I'm really enjoying watching it grow. This new leaf is huge and it's just impossible to photograph properly - it's amazing and there's already another one behind it. 

 

The new whale fin pup is exploding, too. One of the pups looks sad and limp and I hope it's siblings inspire it to stiffen up and grow like they are. 

Sounds like fat Freddy’s cat the fabulous furry freak brothers 🤣 you can’t blame him. Sargent stadenco lard arse oh those were the days hey🤣 love the whale tail