When my daughter was in the second grade she went to the Botanical Gardens and they had her plant seeds into a plastic dish. They told her they would grow but probably not last more than a week or two. She is a senior in college now and these two plants have made numerous cross country moves and are still around. I don't know what the one is, the other is a fern. The fern gets brown, drops all its leaves and then regrows from the stem but I want to know how to just make it keep growing. The other plant is leafy but I have no idea what it is and for the first time, its getting droopy and brownish. What can I do to help these things? I have gotten too attached to let go now!
Hi Grace. The fern is a Plumosa fern and it likes low light/filtered or dappled if it is outside but not direct light in a window unless it is a north facing one, and high humidity. I have about 10 of them in my greenhouse and they are beautiful and lush with very soft foliage. I water mine regularly and fertilize every now and then... not really on any schedule, just when I remember to do it. They like the potting mix to be moist at all times. It isn't normal for them to lose all their foliage and then regrow. That happens when they get really dry and stressed. Not sure what the other one is. It looks like a strappy succulent type foliage but I don't' think it is. I am guessing it is a dreacena marginata, though. they like more light and dryer conditions than a fern.
The ferny one looks like Asparagus sprengeri (asparagus fern.) Are the stems thorny near where they emerge from the soil? The other looks like D. marginata to me too. A pic from the side could help confirm. Dracaenas are sensitive to chemicals in tap water. From the angle of the newest leaves at the top, looks like it's been in very low light for a while. Rain, distilled, and condensate from a dehumidifier or A/C are sources of water with no added chemicals or minerals. How long have these plants been in the same soil?
I just repotted them both with Miracle Grow, and yes they were in low light for about 6 weeks. I travelled across the country with them twice since April and just got to my new location so I watered them well and put them on the back deck in the sun. I used tap water. Should I drench them with bottled water to cleanse the soil? Also, I purchased Miracle Grow All Purpose Plant food, should I use it? Yes the stems are thorny. Thanks so much for all your help, I really appreciate it from everyone
Sounds like quite a ride for your plants, wow! Very cool. Bottled drinking water is ground water from somewhere that's as likely to have minerals or fluoride as tap. I wouldn't spend extra to give plants that instead of tap. Distilled is captured steam from boiling water, only ever says distilled on the label, usually very inexpensive in gallon jugs. Not all tap water is the same, some have no trouble giving it to their plants for decades. I use tap water for plants while they're inside for a few months for winter. Our water has a lot of lime in it, but getting flushed with rain water during summer seems to keep Dracaenas from looking too bad, though my plants could probably look better if I made the effort to supply rain water all of the time. But everyone has to draw the line somewhere about what they can & can't reasonably do for plants. Hope that gives you some info to consider to decide for your plants. The Dracaena would probably enjoy a weak (diluted from recommended mix rate on package) shot of fertilizer. I would hold off giving any to the asparagus until it (hopefully) has grown some new foliage. While unable to photosynthesize, fertilizer could do more harm than good. That pot may take longer than usual to dry out, depending on your weather & how much sun is shining on it. I would wait until it's quite dry before watering again. That plant makes potato-like structures on its' roots that can store moisture.
