Hello all,
It's been too long since I gave a report on the plants. Things are going well for some, but bad for others. Pardon my ignorance about terminology and the names of specific plants – I've had time to care for them, but not to do much research.
The piano soundboard holds a nice big bushy tropical plant that's doing fine, though many of the leaves are beginning to yellow just recently. We also have what looks like an aloe plant which is doing fine, one succulent with round leaves who is having a hard time recently, turning a bit brown, a spider plant who is doing quite well and has successfully colonized an adjacent patch of soil, and a stiff little plant who is coming along.
The hanging pod with beans is going through very rough times. A combination of under-watering and some sort of fungus or pest infestation has wreaked havoc. Just 3 of the beans seem finally to be thriving again, sporting nice new green leaves only at the top of the stalks. One is reaching all the way up to the ceiling. All of the new ones are withering and dying and many of those that were once doing well have shriveled up, leaving their twisted, dry remains clinging to the string. It's a wasteland and the soil seems to be harboring iridescent yellow mushrooms that stay around for only a few days at a time as well as small flies.
The first plant box is doing ok. The nettle reached about 4 feet and, as it was causing me quite a bit of pain and feeding a large population of mealy bugs, I decided to mercilessly chop it down to the roots. Only a month later, its roots had popped up new seedlings in various parts of the box. These were carrying the same old mealy bugs, so I killed them once again. Perhaps when we're ready to harvest its leaves, we can let it grown again and combat the pests in a more nuanced way. Next door, the evergreen is coming along nicely. There's a fern-like plant that is also doing quite well, though not growing so fast. On the far side of the box we have a been and some ivy. The bean climbed all the way to the ceiling up the shades and wrapped itself around the adjacent hanging succulent, but suddenly died recently. All the leaves are now brown except for just a few. I have a feeling that we have some sort of disease killing the beans. The ivy is doing quite well, winding its way through the neighboring box and its own.
The middle box is another wasteland. Aside from two onions that Laura planted and some grass, it's hard to tell that anything was ever growing there. The surface of the soil is covered in small yellow fungus balls that have been multiplying steadily. They look almost like yellow lichen. I'm not sure if they are harmful to plants are not – Laura and I plan to scoop the top soil and make the box into a 'desert' box for some of the succulents that are getting too much water.
The last box is full of surprises. A nice thorny tree-like vine with dark leaves (don't know the name) has taken off in the last month and is probably 2 feet tall now. I believe it will need to be supported with something quite soon. Next to it is JS's bonzai-tree like succulent. This poor guy dropped many leaves recently due to over-watering. We would like to move him to a different box. One of the leaves was wired to the plant and is now dangling from the trunk! Sorry JS. The daisy's all died and were disposed of and likewise I killed the nettle in this box, but a number of small-leafed plants have started to fill in the cracks. The box is now really starting to thrive and it's fun to watch!
So it seems that we have some rich plant-fungus-insect competition going on. The weak have been weeded out and the strong are thriving. This coming school year, I would like to take a more careful and educated approach to growing in the lab so that we don't end up with so many dying plants. I would also like to shift toward growing more food. I think it would be very fun to grow some vegetables and have a TML feast. The nice thing about growing plants inside is that we can do it all year and, if we play our crops right, be harvesting continuously.
I've been coming in to water the plants every day that I can, but, especially on the weekend, I really appreciate it if others can do a bit of watering. You don't need to do a whole bucket if you don't have time. Just take a look at the plants, feel around for dry soil, and give them a little love.
Morgan
P.S. Laura's back, so the plants should be getting a bit more (medical) attention soon!