Category:

plants + gardening

how’s it growing!

by Kaylah Stroup February 13, 2020

Back again with another edition of how’s it growing!

avocados!

I’ve been feeling very encouraged by my baby avocado trees lately. I go through spells with these dudes. Love them for a period of time, then get mad at them for not growing well then I’m back in love.

I would like to do a better job documenting them and how they’re growing though. I’m thinking about numbering the bottom of each planter so I can more easily keep track of each one. Despite the fact they’re all in different looking planters, I still get confused which is which in older photos.

Winter is supposed to be a more chill season for growth but I feel like in the last month or so all of these have really taken off. I’m considering pruning back my two largest (especially that one on the right side below). I don’t know though, I hate losing leaves and height. We’ll see!

above – February 12th below – January 22nd

I’m experimenting with Joyful Dirt currently. I don’t really know much about fertilizer and house plants. In the past I’ve used fertilizers for outdoor plants but I almost feel like that’s a whole different thing.

I do think it will be hard to tell whether or not it’s making a difference. The one consistent thing I’ve found with growing avocado trees is that they are all wildly different. Some start to grow roots in a few weeks, some literally take months. Some pop out leaves immediately, others seem to be very stingy with leaf growth.

Joyful Dirt has two different ways you can use it. You can mix it with your water or you can apply it directly to the soil. I opted to sprinkle a bit at the base of one of my newly planted avocado pits and then water that thoroughly.

As long as I don’t see any negative effects, I’ll probably start to use this on all my avocados.

exciting things –

My new trellis! I mentioned in my last plant post that I had purchased this small trellis for my swiss cheese plant and wow, it did not disappoint. I’ve already been eyeing up the rest of my plants to see if anyone else would benefit from one.

In the past, I would plant things in just about any container but now I’m realizing how much more I love all my plants when they’re growing in something I actually enjoy looking at. I had considered buying a cheaper trellis or even some plain stakes but I’m glad I opted for this one. I love looking at it.

My Watermelon Peperomia is flowering! Not the most spectacular flowers, I’ll give you that but still, any type of flower is exciting to me!

Even more flowers! This dumb cane, which I rescued from my parent’s house after my mom passed, is flowering. This feels so special, especially since it opened up the day after my mom’s birthday. It has two buds. Currently only one is open but I’ve been anxiously checking the other one approximately every ten minutes since realizing it was there. You can see a photo of the whole plant here.

new arrivals –

I had a tough week. Okay? That’s my excuse for five new plants when I had just recently told myself “you have no more room, stop it!” I purchased another orchid to experiment with (It was on clearance! How could I resist for five bucks!?) Also, from L to R; Peperomia San Marino, Sansevieria Starfish, mystery yard find, and cyclamen.

My mystery plant! I don’t know what this is (and to be fair, I haven’t tried to ID it yet.) It was growing in an old, unmaintained planter outside my house. I don’t grow anything outside here, and in the time that I’ve lived here, no one else has either so I figured snagging this was fair game. I just thought the leaves were neat looking. The fact that it had survived the winter outside so far makes me think it’s super resilient. It already has some new growth starting to sprout! I’m curious to see what happens with it over the next couple months.

Cyclamen leaves are just SO pretty!

I really do try not to purchase larger plants. I don’t have the space. Period. BUT I could not resist this guy. The top side of the leaves is gorgeous but that bright red underside!? Ugh. I couldn’t stop myself.

sources

striped planters // trellis // face planters

If you’re local, stop by Suncrest Gardens. I just discovered them this week. Easily my new favorite plant store! I’m used to nurseries only having a very small selection of house plants to choose from but they had so many things I had never seen in person! I already can’t wait to go back.

Professor says ‘Youz lucky I let you have dees.”

Check out my instagram hashtag for more photos of my plant collection – #kaylahheartsplants.

how’s it growing!

by Kaylah Stroup January 30, 2020

My kitchen table. Purchased so we didn’t have to eat on the couch but now covered in plants. Whoops.

I’m back to blogging about plants. No apologies. I love plants. Growing things is my favorite just for fun hobby and in this day and age of turning everything into some sort of side hustle – I am really really thankful for it.

I want to create a series – How’s it growing? – that is just for keeping tabs on what I’m growing, how it’s doing, what I’m experimenting with, etc.

The internet is FILLED with articles on how to grow this and that properly but really, my favorite way to learn is just to try different methods and find what works for me. This series will be a great way to document that and maybe give some tips I’ve found helpful.

I also think that taking photos of your plants is the best way to document growth. When you see the same plant every single day it’s easy to not really notice changes. Being able to look back on photos from a month ago can be really encouraging!

So, without further ado, let’s get started!

My pilea was getting pretty tall which I didn’t really love the look of. I chopped off the top, let it heal for a day and then popped it in a small container with water. As you can see, it definitely grew roots and fairly quickly too. (This is six week’s progress.)

Right now, I have no plans to put this in dirt – partially because I already have two others in pots – but also because I really love watching roots grow!

What was left in the dirt, a short stem, grew new leaves at the same incredible rate. The plant seems much happier now without this huge piece on the top. Cutting things off always seems a bit counterproductive but this definitely proves that it’s worth it sometimes.

My pothos, shown above on the mannequin legs, is just thriving. Gosh, I feel like I shouldn’t say that or I’ll jinx it but look how long! I spent a bit of time trying to find an older photo of it to show how much it’s grown but could only find this one where it’s in the background. The wild thing is though, that photo is from almost exactly a year ago and it had barely any length to it.

Sitting on top of the legs, it reaches the ground but since I don’t want it to be an easy target for my pets, I have it draped across my curiosity cabinet to it’s left and reaching up to my wall on the right. Two months ago, it only reached the horns.

For Christmas, my mother-in-law bought me an AeroGarden. It’s a neat little contraption that you grow plants in. It has an LED grow light that’s on a timer and everything grows in the water that is cycled throughout. Mine has thyme, two varieties of basil, dill, mint and parsley. It’s basically THE coolest.

I was shocked by how quickly everything sprouted. I set it up on December 30th and I was already able to harvest some dill and basil. I’m super impressed so far. Actually, even though this photo isn’t old at all it looks super out of date. I swear, you can see a difference in it every single day. I have never seen anything grow so fast.

They have different seed pods (and you can grow whatever you have seeds for as well) so obviously my brain is full of ideas. I’d love to do flowers in here so that I could have a fun little garden indoors. I was browsing photos of flowers that people had grown in the AeroGarden and it has me questioning how much I really love basil. (I love basil a lot a lot a lot but….flowers!)

Here’s a shot of the one closest to the wall from August 2019.

Avocados! I currently have six trees growing right now. My two largest are beside my coffee maker. I had to move them there because they were getting too much sun. It didn’t seem like it was a lot but every day at the sunniest point of the day, they’d wilt. They definitely are much happier not being directly in front of the window. As you can see on the one on the left in the white pot, we’re getting new leaves fairly consistently so that’s reassuring.

Below is one of my most recently planted avocados. I wanted to get rid of all the ones I had in water for the winter since it’s so chilly right up against the window where I keep them. Since none of them had any growth on the top, just roots, I decided to pop five of them in the same pot. If something doesn’t have any leaves, it’s basically inevitable I’m going to forget to water it. I figured putting multiples in one pot would give me a better shot at remembering to water it. Ya know, that or I’d kill them all at once!

I guess it was a great idea to plant them though. Within a week I had the shown below which is just wild! Maybe I need to reevaluate at what point I put things into dirt…

Striped pot found here. It’s a set of three for under $30.

I bought this holey lil dude on Amazon back in September and wow! has it grown! The earliest photo I could find of it was this one. I don’t really think my photos show how much larger it is now. More exciting than that is that my leaves have more holes! The first few leaves it put out once I got it were solid but now, more often than not, they have holes (which is desired despite the fact it doesn’t sound like it should be!)

It’s getting a bit tall. I can tell that it wants to start laying down and stretching but I think I’d rather it grow up. This morning I purchased this super cool mini trellis that I’m excited to weave the plant around.

One last thing for this giant post, my first orchid. Okay, not my first orchid but my first attempt in at least ten years. For the longest time, I’ve just thought that orchids were really hard to grow but I now realize that I probably just never read anything on how to take care of them. They definitely require a bit of knowledge to grow properly.

On my instagram explore page, I stumbled upon a photo of someone growing an orchid in water which sent me down a rabbit hole of research on the subject. I LOVE growing things in water so this seemed like the perfect excuse to give orchids another whirl. Definitely not super confident in this method yet but I’m excited to learn.

It seems like everyone has a different opinion of the best way to grow them in water. Some folks even recommend water for a few days, drying them for a few days and repeating but gosh, that seems like too much work. I’m opting to go the route of just leaving it in water all the time. I removed all the dirt, moss and other stuff from the plant and trimmed off almost all the roots. I read that the smaller the number of roots at first, the better since that way any new roots will be accustomed to growing in water. Instead of water from the tap, I gathered some freshly fallen snow, let it melt and warm up a bit and then placed my orchid in that. It hasn’t been very long but I already have a tiny bit of root growth.

This could turn out two ways. One – a dead orchid. Two – a full-blown orchid obsession!

That is just a small sampling of the plants I have in my apartment right now. I guess this is the stuff I’ve really been tending to the most and keeping my eye on recently. I definitely go through spells where certain plants get more attention than others – mostly based on how much they’re growing and how pleased I am with them. Fingers crossed all these babies continue to thrive!

PS. Get in the habit of photographing your plants! You’ll thank yourself later!

Check out my instagram hashtag for more photos of my plant collection – #kaylahheartsplants.

#1 houseplant care must have!

by Kaylah Stroup September 26, 2019

Okay, so maybe this isn’t the “#1 houseplant care must have”. I’d say that goes to proper lighting or pots with drainage. BUT, holy cow, it’s been a major game changer for me!

The Dr. meter moisture meter! *cue angels singing in the background*

It is a small device that you poke into the soil of your plants (indoor, outdoor, potted or not) that gives you a reading of the moisture level immediately. It doesn’t need a battery and is ready to use as soon as you take it out of the packaging. The back of the box includes a list of some plants and what moisture level they like to be at.

It’s obviously way more accurate (and less messy!) than poking your finger into the dirt. Previously, that’s how I’d check if my plants needed water but I quickly realized how much more of a superior method was. Not to mention, it’s small and easily fits in places my hand wouldn’t – like into the pot of a spiky cactus!

From the day I got it, I was very into it. About a week after starting to use it though? OBSESSED.

Here’s my little success story about the moisture meter: So, I have this chenille plant. This is what it looked like when I brought it home. Gorgeous, right!? The first few weeks I had it, it started dropping it’s fuzzy pink chenilles. I wasn’t too worried, figuring that maybe I bought it during its showy season and now it was going to kind of just chill for a while before blooming again in a few months. Then my leaves started to look kind of icky. I wasn’t really sure what I was doing wrong. I felt like I was following all the stuff I’d been reading online about it but still, it wasn’t improving.

The first time I used my moisture meter I poked it into my chenille plant. It read as a “1” meaning very dry which was weird because I had watered it that morning. I watered it, waited until morning and checked again. The meter yet again said “1”! It took a few days of this cycle before I realized that that plant just LOVES to drink. I don’t water anything else in my collection that often or even close to that often but the moisture meter helped me figure out that where I had my chenille plant placed made it really, really thirsty and that it was a plant that liked to be moist all the time.

It’s a been a little under two months since I’ve had the Dr. meter moisture meter. Every single one of my plants has benefited from this silly little thing. I honestly really thought I was good at knowing when to water my plants and how much moisture they liked but this has shown me otherwise.

My chenille plant still is nowhere near as fluffy pink as it was when I brought it home but each week its producing larger and larger chenilles. It’s on the up and up all because the moisture meter helped me figure out how quickly it drank.

I use my moisture meter at least once a day on some of my more high maintenance plants. It’s a bit addicting for me to see what their moisture level is at different points in the day. It’s helped me learn a lot more about my plants which of course, helps me take better care of them.

For the price (currently under $10!) you can’t beat it! The Dr. meter moisture meter will be a staple in my plant supplies for life.

*You don’t leave the meter in the plant. This is just me showing you a thirsty plant!* 😉

my mother’s plants

by Kaylah Stroup July 29, 2019

Grief for me has been cycling through the polar opposites of ‘save everything!’ and ‘throw it all away!’ Sorting through her storage room in my dad’s garage a few weekends back with my sister-in-law, I found myself when asked what to do with something, more often than not, answering “Goodwill pile!”

Guess it was just the mood I was in because I’ve kept so many random things that had she’d of offered me I’d have said ‘no’ to. Recipes she printed and wrote her own notes on, her flannel shirts, her pajama pants (most of which I recognized from our shopping trips together), her fuzzy socks and so much more stuff I 100% do not need. Buuut my grieving brain insists it’s all special.

*June 25th* – The day I brought it home. I had already trimmed off all the dead leaves.

One Sunday, while the guys worked on the bus, I walked down to the house and did a little housework for my dad. I noticed three dead looking plants on the staircase landing. I figured I should ask before tossing them despite already knowing that my dad wouldn’t be interested in caring for houseplants. After confirming he didn’t want them, I climbed back onto the landing and got a closer look. They were definitely hurting after not being watered for 2 and a half months but two of the three were possibly salvageable…

I tossed the completely dried out one. The largest I pruned the dead leaves off and decided that it was worth trying to save. The third had completely wilted leaves but didn’t seem beyond repair. I chopped off the leaves to try and propagate and gave the root base to my niece to grow.

*June 26th* – One day after water. Already perking up!

*June 26th* – First day in water. I let the ends callous over for a day before placing them in water.

Five days after being placed in water, I already had the start of roots and much healthier leaves!

*July 7th* – The start of two new leaves!

As much as I love growing things in water and watching the roots grow and change, I really wanted to get these leaves in soil ASAP. I planted and replanted these darn things at least four different times before finally deciding on how I wanted them arranged. I thought one super full pot would be neat but I didn’t have the right sized pot and I figured two would give me a better shot at least one surviving. (…Not that I really have any doubts but ya know!) So two pots it was. One larger for all the big cuttings, and a smaller one for the more petite cuttings – who interestingly enough had much larger roots.

*July 20th* – Right after being planted.

*July 29th* – More new leaves coming in!

My mom was never really a house plant type of person but anyone who had ever been over to the house would tell you how much she loved to garden. She kept such beautiful flower beds. My love of plants definitely stemmed (heh!) from her. When I moved to the city and no longer had an outdoor space, I started bringing the outside in. It was then I convinced her to try growing things inside as well.

All of that to say, it feels a little weird to be putting so much importance on these plants that I’m not sure she ever loved, at least not as much as the ones she grew outside. It’s a perfectly me way of dealing with grief though, especially since tending to my many houseplants is already so cathartic to me.

I look forward to continuing to watch these plants grow and hope that they continue to bring me at least a little bit of peace. My mom may be dead but she lives on in so many other ways.

*July 29th –* The start of new leaves on this tiny guy!

gift guide for plant lovers!

by Kaylah Stroup December 12, 2018

plant lady, plant lover, gift guide
1. brass mister. Misted plants are happy plants!
2. monstera enamel pin.
3. 4″ pilea. Instagram’s favorite plant. I won’t lie, it’s one of my favorites as well.
4. Leaf Supply: A Guide to Keeping Happy Houseplants.
5. stacking planter. Love this planter! It’s plain white which means it will match any decor but it still has a lot of style. Mine has a pilea planted inside.
6. plant lover enamel pin.
7. Urban Jungle: Living and Styling with Plants.
8. plants get me socks.
9. grow lamp. Chances are everyone’s house plants could use a bit more light. These lamps are inexpensive and make a world of difference! Check out my review here.
10. let’s trade cuttings enamel pin.
11. plant mom enamel pin.
12. rattlesnake plant. One of my absolute favorite plants! This beautiful thing wakes up and goes to sleep every day – check out this GIF I made!
13. face planter. Another favorite thing of mine, this planter is even cuter in real life and a great deal for such a high quality item.

cactus cardigan

Friend Assembly face planters

plants make people happy // plant tote

I specifically chose to link to this tote because it has a large flat bottom making it perfect for trips to the garden center. That tote with a small plant inside is *the* perfect gift, doesn’t even need to be wrapped!

cactus neon light

Check out some of our previous gift guides –
▴ 30+ gifts for your ~weird friend (+2017 version)
▴ Enamel pin gift guide (+ 2017 version)

I’ve got an even more extensive list of plant-related items here which includes tons of live plants you can purchase online!

adventures in avocado propagation V

by Kaylah Stroup July 19, 2018

adventures in avocado propagation

June 19th, 2018

It’s been a little while since my last avocado propagation update and a lot has changed. Back on June 2nd, the pit shown above had fallen from the windowsill where I had it and split in two. I briefly considered throwing it away opted to put both pieces back in the container together to see if it’d continue to grow. I’m glad I gave it a chance because it definitely continued to grow. By the time we got back from our wedding trip, it had grown so much that it barely fit in the container. It was at the point where it would halt the growth because it was so resitricted or just break out of the glass.

Originally I thought that I’d just leave them in the water indefinitely. I really do enjoy watching the roots grow and change but this one seemed like it’d be a good one to experiment with. On June 19th I popped it in a small planter.

June 27th, 2018

Five of the six pits I have growing. (Number six being the one in the tooth planter.) I think it’s really interesting how differently each seems to be growing.

That one in the middle? It was my first to sprout but it didn’t take long before I realized how weird it was compared to the others. As I said, they’re all kind of doing their own thing so I was thinking that maybe it was just a different kind or something. Time went on and it never seemed to get any bigger. I thought it was especially strange that the leaves weren’t opening up. I just kept letting it do it’s thing though.

Fast forward to last week, I gently pulled one of the leaves open and there were mealy bugs!! So disappointing! I tossed that badboy straight in the trash and picked up some neem oil to protect the rest of my plants. So far I haven’t seen any others. Hopefully this was just an isolated incident.

July 4th, 2018

July 3rd, 2018

I decided to trim this guy down to help promote healthier, fuller growth. I kind of just winged it. This whole process has really just been about experimenting so I figured it wouldn’t be too big of a loss if it never grew back. It didn’t take long before I started noticing new growth!

In hindsight, I think it should have cut it lower, most likely below the first little sprout. No big deal though. I’m excited to see what it does from here and if I can see a difference between it and one I didn’t trim back.

July 11th, 2018 —-> July 13th, 2018

July 17th, 2018

Planted two more of the pits in dirt. One now lives with my pencil cactus, and the other in a small pot of it’s own. This decision was mostly based off the fact that the water was getting dirty really quickly. Since I started them, I’ve been changing the water fairly frequently. Most of the time it was even dirty but these last few weeks it’s murky looking in no time at all. I don’t quite understand why but figured maybe it really was time to plant them.

It’s been such a long process. The first photo I have from this whole adventure is from January 12th. Six whole months and I feel like I’m just now seeing real results. I mean, of course roots sprouting, growing, and changing was thrilling but I officially have leaves on something that came from food. Gardening is a blast!

Have you started your own avocado pits yet!? If you couldn’t tell, it’s pretty darn satisfying.
xoxo

Past updates – part 1, part 2, part 3 + part 4.
Here’s a link to the tooth planter, if you’d like to grab one for yourself.

adventures in avocado propagation IV

by Kaylah Stroup June 19, 2018

May 21st, 2018

Look how wild that one is getting! I’m a little grossed out by how… meaty(??), for lack of a better word, it is on the inside. At this time it seems to be the only one growing all that extra stuff.

May 26th, 2018

Look at all that growth! I’m super impressed with how quickly my little sprout seems to be growing. For a while it felt like it’d never make it’s way out and now every time I look at it I’m shocked how much taller it is. Even comparing these photos to the ones on the 21st of the month you can see how much it grew.

May 29th, 2018

We put the air conditioning unit in the window and all of my plants had to be moved from the kitchen table! I’m a little bummed because they did look so pretty there, all grouped together but they’d never survive with cold air pumping in on them.

June 2nd, 2018

Lots of growth and an accident. One of my containers slid and fell from my even so slightly slanted windowsill. I was pretty disappointed, especially since that one seemed to have some really interesting and healthy looking roots. Instead of throwing it away, I decided to just pop it back into the container, and see if it would still grow. Worst case scenario? It dies. Best case? I grow a tree!

June 14th, 2018

Didn’t see my avocados for over a week while I was off getting married. I expected to see a bit of change but I definitey did not expect to see all the growth that happened. All of my roots are SO wild! Pretty sure that one is just some sort of alien, not really an avocado! Look at the roots!

The photo above (and the one below) show the pit that had fallen and broken. Clearly that didn’t hinder it in the least. When I placed it back in the container the two pieces were carefully leaned up against each other so they wouldn’t just fall into the water. When I got back from the trip and finally checked on them there had been so much growth that they were both firmly pressed up against the glass. I’m thinking I might need to move it into a larger container so that it continues to have room to grow.

June 17th, 2018

Look at the leaves starting to open up on that guy! I’ve waited so long for this!!

Have you started your own avocado pits yet!? If you couldn’t tell, it’s pretty darn satisfying.
xoxo

Past updates – part 1, part 2 + part 3.

plant pressing tips

by Kaylah Stroup May 22, 2018

plant pressing tips

Around eight years ago I became interested in pressing plants. My love for the hobby has a sort of natural ebb and flow that’s fairly dependant on the season. Winter, obviously, isn’t a great time to find specimens. As soon as spring comes around each year I fall right back into old habits. Picking and saving all the prettiest little plants! It’s fun, it’s easy, and it’s really satisfying!

Every time I share photos of my pressed plants I get a few questions on my methods. I’m all about experimenting with what I’m pressing and how I do it. There is no wrong way to do it unless of course, you’re not getting the results you want. I thought it might be helpful if I shared some tips for pressing plants that I’ve learned through trial and error and some information on what I use.

My supplies and method

I always keep a notebook in my bag for pressing plants. No matter where you go there is always an opportunity to find something pretty to press. I like these moleskin notebooks because of the size and the band that keeps it closed but honestly, any type of book works! Word to the wise, don’t press in any super special books. It will leave marks and potentially ruin the pages. This is why I like to have a dedicated notebook on hand.

When I get home I always try to empty my notebook so I have lots of room in case I hit the jackpot next time I step outside. Your specimens will most likely dry just fine if you leave them in your small notebook (I leave mine in there about half the time) but for the best results, I recommend doing this next step.

After I’ve emptied out my findings for the day I transfer all the plants to a larger notebook but not before first sandwiching them between paper towels. This really helps the drying process because all the moisture gets soaked up in the paper towel. After everything is neatly layered in my notebook I cover it with something heavy and try to forget about it for a week or so. Drying time obviously depends on the plant size!

After they’ve dried completely you’re free to do whatever you’d like with them. I normally move mine to yet another notebook (this one is perfect!) and tape down my plants with some washi tape. I tape them down because it holds them in place, looks nice and keeps them organized. Also, I can remove them if I ever want to use them for another project. The ones that don’t get organized in the notebook are placed in a Rubbermaid container. Just make sure not to place anything in the container that isn’t completely dry. If you add moisture, you’re probably just gonna end up with a moldy container of rotten plants.

I have plants that I dried many many years ago that are still holding up beautifully! They’re fragile, of course, but their colors haven’t faded.

Some tips!

▴ Press the prettiest! Let me state the obvious here, your plant isn’t going to get any prettier after being pressed! Make sure to choose the healthiest looking one of the bunch.
▴ Say no to plastic. There needs to be something to absorb to moisture or someway for to it to escape so avoid putting plants in plastic baggies or airtight containers before they’re dry.
▴ Press fresh things. You really don’t want to press plants that are already dry or dead, they’ll just crumble.
▴ Remember that however you put them in your notebook is how they’re going to look when they’re done. Arrange all stems, leaves and other parts exactly how you want them to be when they’re dry before you close up your notebook.
▴ Make sure your specimen is dry to the touch. Carefully wipe off any moisture before pressing.
▴ Use paper towels that are flat and do not have a bumpy design on them or else that design will be imprinted on your plants. I’m partial to Viva.
▴ Try not to put big juicy plants near small nearly dry ones in your notebook or else the moisture from the big one may compromise the quality of the small one.
▴ Keep a small piece of paper towel folded up between your phone and its case to press plants when you don’t have a notebook. I mostly use this for when I find four-leaf clovers. You’re going to want to get them out of here as soon as possible since it traps moisture but in a pinch, it’s a great thing to have.

I think that’s just about everything! Like I mentioned at the beginning of the post, flower pressing is all about trial and error. After a little bit of practice, you’ll have your own routine that works for you. If you prefer to go a different route, plant presses exist (and have great reviews). I’ve also tried microwave flower presses! I always end back up at my favorite method though, the notebook! All you need to get started is a book of some sort to squish plants in between and you’re good to go!
xoxo

adventures in avocado propagation

by Kaylah Stroup March 13, 2018

In my last apartment, I went plant wild. It was the first time since moving to the city that I had an outdoor space and I utilized the heck out of it. I amassed quite a collection of plants both large and small! (Seriously, look at them all!) Sitting on my porch, with the sun on my back, attending to my plant babies was the ultimate way to relax.

Sadly, my current apartment doesn’t offer any private outdoor space for plants. Before moving in, at the beginning of 2017, I gave away a ton of my collection because I knew I most likely wouldn’t be able to keep them alive. I kept a few of my favorites (which was still a lot of plants to squeeze into our place) and I’m still finding new ways to satisfy my urge to grow things. Most recently I’ve been learning to grow cuttings in water. They’ve quickly begun to take over my kitchen table.

January 12th

This little obsession all started on instagram. I follow a handful of plant accounts and would always see things being grown in water. I’m fairly knowledgable about propagation when it comes to growing things in dirt but water was a whole new world. I did a little research then threw some cuttings into a cute little container I found at an estate sale. It was a success, and I wanted more… (Check out dem roots!)

We eat a ton of avocados so clearly the natural progression here was for me to start trying to grow from them. I researched, and researched. I read a ton about what a pain in the butt they are to grow, and how most fail. But with the perfect container and an avocado pit already sitting on the counter, what did I have to lose?

I poked three toothpicks into the pit, popped that into the water, and waited.

February 18th

It didn’t do much for a while, basically just sat there and looked weird, but that didn’t stop me from adding more pits to my collection. I even picked up some cute little beakers perfect for growing in.

February 24th

Finally, a little after a month of sitting in the water, my oldest one split. Eventually I was able to see some roots peeking out which was beyond exciting. I’m pretty sure I checked on how it was doing every single time I walked past the table.

February 26th

More root growth! Just seeing those roots poke out the bottom felt like a huge success.

March 3rd

Added a few more pits to the collection… Help, I can’t stop!

March 6th

A second pit has cracked open! And just look at the root on my first pit!! So awesome! That one has cracked all the way open and if you peek inside with a flashlight you can see a sprout heading up toward the top.

March 8th

A few things I’ve learned / been doing / think might help other folks…

Growing from an avocado tree from a pit takes a long time. It’d take years to produce fruit and if it eventually did it mostly likely wouldn’t taste the same.
There’s a top and bottom to the pit. The bottom goes in the water. It’s pretty easy to tell which side is which based on the shape (fat bottom) but the fool proof way is to look for the circle shaped mark – that’s the bottom and where your roots will grow out of.
Changing the water once a week or so is a good idea so nothing else starts to grow, the water doesn’t get funky, etc.
Just like any other plant they need sunshine, so place them near a window.
Totally not necessary to take the skin off, and doing so may damage the pit. After a few days in the water it usually gets soft and is super easy to peel off. I’m the kind of person who likes to pick at things hence why nearly all mine have been removed.
PATIENCE. This is seriously such a slow going thing but it’s also super easy. Just make sure they’re getting enough sunlight, don’t have gross old water, and you’re good to go!

I’m so excited to see how my plants look in another month! I currently have no plans to move them to dirt. I have enough plants growing in pots so its fun to do something a little bit different. Not to mention, watching the roots grow is just incredible. It’s really fun to be able to see that for once.

I’ll be sure to update y’all on my progress. Cross your fingers they all sprout!
xoxo

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