When Doug and I went out to do errands yesterday I told him I wanted some neem oil and some potting soil. We've had a bunch of wee buggies, I think I picked them up at the plant swap at the brewery a few weeks ago. I'm not mad or anything. Wee plant gnats happen.
There are things you can do. You can get sticky thingies that you poke into the soil, and wee gnats fly over and get stuck. You can also get diatomaceous earth, squirt the powder onto the soil. This is a two fold approach, the diatomaceous earth kills the gnats when they hatch out of the soil, and the sticky dealies catch the gnats that are flying about.
The sticky dealies are rather effective. I guess the diatomaceous earth helps. We reduced the amount of gnats that are flying about drastically, but we still have them. A colleague at work recommended neem oil. And fresh potting soil. My soil is contaminated and I should think about doing a complete repotting of all the babies. Well. Let's try the neem oil first. And if I have to repot everyone, I'll do that outside this summer. It's messy.
I also have been watching a couple spider plants that were outgrowing their pots, and new plants that were in temporary pots and could move into new perfect homes.
Today I declared it the day to do some transplanting and plant maintenance. Doug went for a walk at 12:30 and I figured I'd get the dedicated 10. That went quickly, so I kept going, just walking around the house, getting stuff ready to help the plants out. Organized what I'd need for some repotting, and walked back and forth with the plants to the kitchen sink. I got them watered, got some soil into the babies I adopted last week from a co-worker, they were very loose and falling sideways out of their pots.
She had also given me a rather large terra cotta pot, so I eyeballed what could move into that one. Oh. One of the spider plants in need for a bigger house.
It was hard to get it out of the pot, and when I did I said schnikeys! It was all roots.
Damn. I felt badly for this dude! I tried to tease it apart into two but it just wouldn't separate. I was afraid I would cause it distress, so I just put it in the giant pot. Grow baby, grow. Succeed. This is its third pot. And it is the one that gave me 33 babies to take to the first plant swap I went to, and now it has more for me to share with others.
Then to the second spider. I pulled the pot up and noticed the overgrowth situation was the same with this one, only the pot it was in was the same size as the pot I just liberated the other one from.
I had no choice, I was going to have to split it up. I just had to be confident, and strong willed. If I kill it, I guess, that'll be its fate? I should have taken pictures of that one cut in half, and you could imagine me being worried.
It took a long time to split it up. I had to use a knife, and then I rinsed the soil out to make sure there were plenty of roots there to replant with. It had a few babies, so I left the babies on it, and put the soil into the two pots to get the freshly liberated two sections out in. They look pretty good (see below). I think it's going to be okay. I hope it's going to be okay.
Then, I sprayed the leaves and soil of all of the plants with the neem oil. It smells interesting, it's a very clean-ish and unique scent. A little soapy, like everyone just got a fresh shower.
Everyone is looking spiffy and spectacular right now. I've been eyeballing one of the snake plants I have, thinking that may be ready to be split up. It's growing like mad, new shoots coming up all the time. I had taken it apart into two parts last year, and one of the big leaves broke off, so I planted it in a pot by itself. It took months but it now is growing pups. It's going to need a bigger pot before too long.
I have a little string of hearts that needs a transplant pot, but I don't have one for it. Next journey out. Maybe in March when we go back to the brewery that is attached to the nursery. I thought about buying some pots when we were up there last weekend, but restrained myself. Now I have regrets!
Everyone is in very similar sized pots, so I feel like I could use some bricks to give a few of the pots some elevation. Next project. Find some bricks.
Here are the two spiders, and a bunch of my other babies behind. The swiss cheese plant has one leaf that turned yellow. When I removed it from its current pot to place it into a bigger pot, the roots were everywhere so I think this was high time to move it into a new home! I hope it does well. It has some new growth, so I don't think it is dying... let's see how it does!
The white pot in the back has no holes in the bottom so I'd want to put something in there that already has holes, and make sure it can drain well. I don't know the names of some of the babies, but they're mine. And they're doing alright!
Oh and on the window sill is a little enclosed ecosystem. Someone was giving it away at the most recent plant swap, The girl told me to just add water once a month maybe, until the bottom where the moss layer is gets wet. Then, put the lid on and leave it. Two months later, it's still doing good. I asked her if it would outgrow that container and she said no. It'll just exist.
Everyone needs a hobby, right?
digits
exercise:
Dedicated 10+30. Nonstop movement for 40-45 minutes. About 10 solid before the plant work, and then another 30ish during the plant work. Standing at the table, and dancing in place. Christine: Party of One.
12/12 hours of the 250 steps.
blood glucose:
8:30am: 165
4:30pm: 161
9:30pm: 149
food:
coffee, water
10am: 2 eggs scrambled w/ 1/2 the left over stuffed pepper (chorizo, onion, pepper), cheddar cheese
11:30am: metformin
6pm: cheesesteak filling (onion, peppers, mushrooms, meat, cheese) metformin+jardiance; vodka tonic (3)
8pm: mixed nuts; some left over tuna casserole (to make the leftovers fit into a smaller container)
9pm: pbj sandwich on 647 bread
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