My son brought home a spider plant he grew in school, when he first brought it home it was full and beautiful. Now, it looks as if it is dying, there aren't as many leaves and it seems wilted. I know nothing about houseplants. Can someone give me some help. My son is austitic and is DEVASTED that his "friend" is dying.

ECrazyFan8,

Hello there!!!

I'm not too big into house plants, just wanted to let you know that someone will be through to answer your questions,

I'll ask a few more for you to answer before they get here and that'll narrow it down a bit faster for you!!!

What type of container is it in???
(ie; plastic pot, paper cup, hanging, etc.)
Where in the house do you have it???
(ie; by window with direct sunlight, in a room with no windows, drafty area, too hot, by the heater, etc.)
What are you doing to it???
(ie; straight water from the tap (cholrine), fertilizers?? Too many??? Not enough????)

That should help the gardeners when they come through if you answer those questions...

Does your son garden alot (or you)
I'll bet he's absolutely fascinated with plants,
Have you tried other flowers/plants with him??

Marigolds' are one of the easiest to grow, and if you just throw the heads of the discarded dead flowers right on top of the soil they sprout right from there....
So many plants are magical to watch for children!

Weezie

By the way, Welcome to The Garden Helpers Forum,
There's really a great bunch of gardeners here, and they are really a nice group.. We love to answer gardening questions, so, don't hestitate to keep asking them!!!

MO., is Missouri??? I have relatives down there, something like Wildwood or somewhere's, they just moved there, close or not cigar?????

* * * *
Weezie

Don't forget to be kind to strangers. For some who have
done this have entertained angels without realizing it.
- Bible - Hebrews 13:2





http://photobucket.com/albums/y250/weezie13/

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Well, it's a hanging plant and we had it hanging on the curtain rod off of our french doors (South Side Light - I believe) the heater vent was directly above the plant, so we moved it to (north side window) oops there too - heater vent directly below it. My son was watering it every couple of days then I told him to wait now the soil is probably "moist" Put fertizler spikes (2) in today. It's in a big round hanging pot (I would say maybe 8 inches in diameter) he began growing it around the first of December. This morning I moved it to the ledge above the kitchen sink (no window directly in front of it or heater vent) but the french door windows are opposite of the ledge. Yes, watering directly from tap and our water is pretty bad - we don't drink it!!!!

So what should I do with the plant now?

Thanks for all the advice. I tend to garden outdoors with stuff that is easy you know petunias, cucumbers, pansy flowers, stuff you can't really mess up.

I want to get into more gardening but don't know the first thing about it so I am excited to be here. Thanks for the advice on Marigolds - when exactly do you plant those and are those flowers that come back year after year - I have alot of questions about that too but will start small otherwise I will have a book of questions. As it is this post is quite long. Sorry!

Not a problem on the long posts,
you are talking to the girl the forum hostesses coined the phrase on, "Got the Weezie's today" from.
We love the Weezie's, and Rellie~got the Rellie's, and Jiffy's gets the Jiffy's........
NOT A PROBLEM< we love gardening, talking gardening and meeting nice gardeners, no matter their statis in their growing abilities.
REMEMBER, WE WERE ALL THERE ONCE.....
AND when it's time you feel comfortable with something you've learned, you come and pass it on to the next generation of gardeners!!!!
Even like your son, you'll pass on the love of flowers to him too!!!

Marigolds, are so easy, I don't actually start mine from seed inside the house, so, other's would have to tell you the time table for that, if you live in say zone, 6 or 7, I'm guessing, I'm a 5... start them in say, April, I'm guessing at the time table as you don't want to start them too early indoors, as they tend to get spindley going for some light. When would you start to plant annuals in your area???
For mine, I wouldn't until May(ish), you may be earlier than me.
If you start them indoors, don't forget to harden them off, but putting them outside for just a bit, every day, first time, in the shade to get used to the out doors. Then little by little let them get used to a whold day out side, and a little morning sun, small steps, as not to burn them.
They are an annual, they will bloom your summer and then die off at snow time.
Save the flower heads, and just throw them on top of the dirt again the following year.
When I grow them in the summer, after the flowers been out for a while and starts to fade, just clip it off or dead head it as it's called, and I just lay it on the top of the soil, and the seeds will send roots right down into the soil and start from there.
I had to railing window boxes one for my son, and one for the tenants boy upstairs, I let them pick out what ever they wanted. We got several different marigolds,~big gold ones, rust and yellow, little yellow ones, and big yellow ones.
And we got
Ageratums (very easy to plant, as it doesn't really matter how deep you seem to plant them, they seem to root along the stem....good for boys )
we got cherry tomatoes,
cherry tomatoes green peppers, several different petunia's...
At first I looked at the color combo and wanted to say something, but they were picking them out..
I helped them in the placement of their planting, and you know it came out great looking.
And they were up in a tree house railing, back in WIND ALLEY we call it, and they got wind whipped, and they did beautifully!!!

Weezie,

Oh, just read your other post, that's neat,
Karen and I (Catlover) have a little thing going here about getting more people from her own state here,
so, here' you go Karen , a transplanted Californian!!!)

Keep those questions coming and someone who more into the houseplants will be through!!!

* * * *
Weezie

Don't forget to be kind to strangers. For some who have
done this have entertained angels without realizing it.
- Bible - Hebrews 13:2





http://photobucket.com/albums/y250/weezie13/

Thanks for the help Will!

Question on the baby plants - how do you know that there are "babies"

He has said he wants to plant the babies to make a new plant, but I don't know the first thing about how to do that.

Will the plant ever get back to the fullness it first had? When he brought it home it was a huge plant with lots of leaves but now you can see through the plant so many of the leaves have died off.

This old thread might be of some help?......

spider plants

Wandering Jew????

Weezie

You said they planted these in school???
Can you ask the teacher??
Probably would know, or the package where it came from??

* * * *
Weezie

Don't forget to be kind to strangers. For some who have
done this have entertained angels without realizing it.
- Bible - Hebrews 13:2





http://photobucket.com/albums/y250/weezie13/

welcome to the garden helper
that is easy to do with wandering jews.

first, cut all the brown stuff off.
next, anything that is leggy (long stems, leaves only at the bottom) cut off, but do not discard (more on those later)
then, make sure that the soil isn't "dried out" as in rock hard. if it is, soak it in a pot of water for about two hours, then let drain well. if you have the opposit problem and it is soggy, tip the pot over the sink to get all the excess water out of it. do this several times over the course of a couple of hourse.
finally, put it where it gets good light, and the air vent does not blow down on it. up is ok, just like will said.

now, about the leggy parts you cut off. gather however many you have, put them im bunches of 4-6, put them in clear bottles of water where the water covers the stem over at least 2 nodes (or joints) from the bottom. change the water weekly (i use the "discard" water to water my other plants) and rinse the stems. you should soon have roots and new growth. i don't remember how long, but seems like not more than a couple of weeks. when you have a good bunch, plant them in a small/med pot and viola! you have a new wandering jew for another room in the house!!