How to Appreciate Your Houseplants this Winter

Summary

All Of It: How to Appreciate Your Houseplants this Winter – January 10, 2025

In the January 10, 2025 episode of WNYC's All Of It, host Alison Stewart delves into the art of winter houseplant care with expert guest Chris Satch, renowned as the Plant Doctor. Celebrating National Houseplant Appreciation Day, the episode offers listeners a wealth of insights into keeping indoor plants healthy and thriving during the colder months. Through a series of listener questions, Chris addresses a variety of plant care challenges, providing practical advice and professional tips.

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Winter Houseplant Care Essentials

The episode kicks off with Alison Stewart introducing Chris Satch, a professor at the New York Botanical Gardens and the founder of NYC Plant Help. She sets the stage by emphasizing the importance of giving houseplants extra attention in winter, noting, “In the dead of winter, houseplants can use all the love they can get” ([00:37]).

Chris Satch discusses how plants respond to the shorter days and decreased sunlight during winter. “Plants have various proteins inside of them that sense red light and determine the length of the day,” he explains ([02:07]). This sensing mechanism triggers reactions that influence their growth and maintenance needs.

Listener Questions and Expert Advice

The heart of the episode revolves around listener calls, each presenting unique plant care dilemmas:

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1. Repotting Phalaenopsis Orchids ([05:02])

Caller Karen from Manhattan seeks advice on repotting her phalaenopsis orchids, noticing that many roots are exposed. Chris advises, “Repot into a nice orchid bark mix… Just replant into that and water once or twice a week.” He emphasizes the importance of using a well-drained medium tailored to epiphytic orchids.

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2. Giant Umbrella Plant Dropping Leaves ([06:24])

A listener reports her giant umbrella plant drying up and losing leaves despite unchanged care routines. Chris attributes this to seasonal changes, suggesting that adjustments in care are necessary as light and temperature fluctuate during winter.

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3. Caring for a Venus Fly Trap ([11:17])

Caller David from the Upper West Side shares his struggles with a Venus fly trap that appears to be dying. Chris clarifies that overfeeding can be detrimental, stating, “Feed it once a month… you might be overfeeding it.” He recommends using distilled water and ensuring the plant isn’t exposed to minerals that could cause leaf discoloration.

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4. Succulent Potting Soil ([13:00])

A listener inquires about the difference between regular potting soil and succulent-specific mixes. Chris reassures, “You can take regular potting soil and plant your succulents in there,” noting that adding sand can enhance drainage but isn't strictly necessary. He encourages flexibility, highlighting that succulents are generally forgiving.

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5. Polka Dot Begonia Health ([13:40])

Anya from Carol Gardens reports her polka dot begonia exhibiting brown, dropping leaves. Chris suggests checking for cold drafts and ensuring adequate light, as begonias thrive in warm, well-lit environments. “Make sure you’re giving it as much light as you can,” he advises.

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6. Water Quality and Fertilization ([15:31])

Frank from Montclair questions the necessity of using filtered water versus tap water and the effectiveness of over-the-counter plant foods. Chris defends tap water quality, especially in New York City, and explains the role of fertilizers as plant vitamins rather than essential foods. He recommends balanced fertilizers like Dynagro for added calcium.

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7. Pruning and Propagation Techniques ([20:47])

Listeners seeking guidance on pruning and propagating various plant types receive Chris’s expertise. He explains that the growth direction of a plant influences pruning strategies, and shares methods for propagating both tree-like and shambler plants. “You can trim just about anywhere and force it to grow in any way you like,” he notes.

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8. Dracaena Propagation ([22:16])

Jamie from the Upper West Side asks about propagating a dracaena tree that shows nascent roots after being placed in water. Chris acknowledges the natural propagation methods of tropical plants and advises maintaining clean water to prevent mold, ensuring that roots develop fully before transferring to soil.

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9. Gardenia Overwintering ([26:33])

Angela from Mendham seeks tips on keeping her gardenia plant healthy through winter. Chris emphasizes the plant's need for ample sunlight and suggests investing in high-quality plant lights to mimic the intense light gardenias require. “They prefer it on the hot side… blast it with as much sunlight as you physically possibly can,” he advises.

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10. Pony Palm Pest Infestation ([28:49])

Sharon from Piscataway describes her pony palm being afflicted with a white powdery substance and leaf loss. Chris identifies the issue as a mealybug infestation and recommends using insecticidal soap, escalating to systemic pesticides if necessary. “Just keep spraying and wiping them off until they all go away,” he instructs.

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11. Thrips on a Bonsai Tree ([31:39])

Kevin from Brooklyn reports tiny bugs damaging his bonsai tree's branches. Chris identifies the pests as thrips, explaining their destructive feeding habits. He recommends spraying with insecticidal soap and, if needed, introducing predatory mites to control the infestation.

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Community and Continued Learning

Towards the end of the episode, Chris highlights the vibrant community of plant enthusiasts in New York City. He encourages listeners to join local plant clubs, such as the Manhattan Orchid Society or the Cactus and Succulent Society, to share knowledge and resources. “These clubs have meetings at least once a month… and I’m a part of almost all of them,” he shares, underscoring the value of community in fostering plant care expertise.

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Final Thoughts

Alison Stewart wraps up the episode by reiterating the importance of attentive plant care during winter and celebrating the joy that houseplants bring to indoor spaces. The episode not only provides actionable advice for plant owners but also fosters a sense of community among culture and plant enthusiasts alike.

Notable Quotes:

• Chris Satch on Plant Sensing: “Plants have various proteins inside of them that sense red light and determine the length of the day” ([02:07]).

• On Repotting Orchids: “Repot into a nice orchid bark mix… Just replant into that and water once or twice a week” ([05:17]).

• On Fertilizers: “Fertilizers are salts. So you want a very well balanced fertilizer for most of your things” ([15:07]).

• On Thrips Identification: “Thrips… they slash into the cells” ([33:12]).

This episode of All Of It serves as a comprehensive guide for houseplant enthusiasts navigating the challenges of winter care, blending expert knowledge with community-driven questions to cultivate a flourishing indoor garden.

Transcript

[Alison Stewart]

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[Chris Satch]

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[Alison Stewart]

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[Chris Satch]

Prices vary based on how you buy.

[Listener]

Listener Supported WNYC Studios.

[Chris Satch]

This is all of it on wnyc. I'm Alison Stewart. Hey, if you're looking for something to do this weekend, check out some of the conversations we had on the show this week. There are a lot of great art exhibits. We spoke about four of them on Monday's show. Works at the Guggenheim, the Jewish Museum, the Museum of the City of New York, and the Gordon Parks Foundation. If you don't want to brave the cold weather and want to stay in and binge something, check out Shrinking on Apple tv. You can check out our conversations with one of its stars, Michael Urie. And the NYC Jazz Fest is happening. Orin Evans playing this weekend. He performed live in WNYC Studio 5. You can check out that conversation. In other words, there's a lot going on this weekend. Head to our show [e-mail] to get inspiration. Now let's get this hour started with the Plant Doctor. Happy Houseplant Appreciation Day, everyone. So take pride in your pothos, be extra nice to your monstera and sprinkle a little extra something on your succulents. In the dead of winter, houseplants can use all the love they can get. So we're going to talk now about how to make how to best care for your houseplants and how to make sure they're healthy and happy. Chris Satch is a professor at the New York Botanical Gardens. Botanical Gardens. He also has his own plant consultancy business called NYC Plant Help. You might know him as the Plant Doctor. Yes, he makes house calls. He's here in studio to help us out with our green thumbs. It's really nice to see you again.

[Listener]

Nice to see you again too, listeners.

[Chris Satch]

If you have something that you would like to ask Chris Satch about your plants, you can give us a call. 2124-3396-9221-2433 wnyc or you can hit us up on our social medial of it wnyc. So while we wait for the come on in. I'm going to ask you a few questions. We just passed the winter solstice. The days have started getting, you know, the days a little longer, a little more sunlight. Each and every day a Little bit. Do plants know they've passed this threshold?

[Listener]

They do, actually. So without getting too technical, the plants have various proteins inside of them that sense actually red light, and they determine the length of the day by sensing the red light, and they determine whether or not they're shaded by sensing far red versus red light. So as the days get longer, they do have a way of knowing, hey, the days are getting longer. I mean, also, they do photosynthesize. They do eat the light.

[Chris Satch]

So I was gonna say, what do they do with that information?

[Listener]

Yeah, so they photosynthesize and they get more food because they collect the sun's energy. So with an increase of sugar inside of the plant, as well as an increase of the red light that's available to them, they know that the days are getting longer, and that triggers various reactions within the plants.

[Chris Satch]

So it's getting colder, though. Even though it's necessarily brighter, it's still pretty chilly out there, as we have seen from this week. At this point, how should we think about sort of pacing of our plant care?

[Listener]

Right. So in the wintertime, as it gets cooler, you know, maybe you're in a pre war apartment. Maybe, you know, you're in an apartment that's not as well insulated. You want to be careful around cold drafts. You want to be careful around, as the days are still short and it is cool, that means that your plants won't dry out as quickly as they would have otherwise. So, you know, the flip side is also, if you have your heat blasting, you may be watering more often, versus if you kind of have a chilly apartment, you may be watering less often. So because there's a lot less light, most folks will be watering actually a lot less frequently than they would. Caveat, of course, is if you have, you know, really hot apartment, you will probably still be watering a lot more often.

[Chris Satch]

So the sun on a whole is lower in the sky. And depending on your windows, that might mean a dramatically different natural light happening at this time.

[Listener]

Yes and no. I mean, for the plants that are a little further in the room, which I usually don't recommend placing them there, you know, they'll get a lot more direct hit because, you know, the sun is lower in the sky, it is coming further into the room. But for the plants that are in the window, they're just happy being in the window.

[Chris Satch]

Well, do you have any clever tips to take those sun changes, take that sun change into account? Is it moving them all to the window?

[Listener]

I mean, I always advocate for shoving all your plants into a window.

[Chris Satch]

Let's take a call. Karen from Manhattan on line two. Hi, Karen, thanks you, thanks for calling in. What's your question?

[Alison Stewart]

Hi. Well, I thank you for the expertise. I have phalaenopsis orchids and I want.

[Chris Satch]

There too many of the roots are.

[Alison Stewart]

Out of the pod. I assume I have to repot them.

[Chris Satch]

I want to know when is the.

[Alison Stewart]

Best time to do so and what medium would you recommend.

[Listener]

So anytime is a good time for repotting most things. If your orchid is not in bloom anymore, if your phalaenopsis orchid is not in bloom anymore, then I would say go ahead and repot. Just keeping in mind that phalaenopsis are epiphytes. That means that they grow on tops of other plants like trees and rocks and things. So they don't really have access to soil. You'll notice their roots are very different from other plant roots. They're a lot thicker. You know, they turn green as soon as water drops on them. They turn from silver to green. That's them absorbing the water. Because when, you know, living on the side of a tree, you gotta grab as much of the water as you can before it rolls off. So repot it into a nice orchid bark mix. You know, it's mostly cedar bark chips with some charcoal, maybe a little perlite, maybe a little sphagnum moss. They sell pre made mixes and you know, you would just replant into that and you would water as you would once or twice a week. Most orchids like it twice a as long as they're in that well drained medium.

[Chris Satch]

This says my giant umbrella plant suddenly started drying up and dropping leaves. I've changed nothing in my care help.

[Listener]

It could be from, you know, just the change of the seasons and not adjusting your care with the change of the season. So I think that's what's happening.

[Chris Satch]

All right. How many plants do you estimate that you'd care for in your house?

[Listener]

In my house, yes. Well, this is going to make me sound. I have 300 plants.

[Chris Satch]

Do you have like a spreadsheet? How do you keep things organized?

[Listener]

Well, they all have their little tags. I mean most of them are tiny. Most of them are tiny. And I have like vivarium tanks and things like that where I just set the spritzers and the sprinklers and it's like those frog enclosures and I just repurpose a frog enclosure and it comes with the kit when you buy it from the pet store. So I'm like, I just slap it together and throw everything inside.

[Chris Satch]

Well, what tools would you recommend to people for them to have on hand that they can make plant care easier or even take it to the next level.

[Listener]

Yeah, that's a good question, actually. So what I would say is always have a watering can that measures to one gallon. Because when you are fertilizing or when you're mixing, you know, a fungicide or a pesticide, insecticide, whatever, you'll need to know exactly what a gallon is, because all the instructions on those labels are so many teaspoons or tablespoons per gallon. So definitely get a. Have a gallon. Also have all those things, too. You'll want to have a little bit of fungicide. You'll want a little bit of, you know, some kind of insecticidal soap. I know a lot of people have talked about neem oil. I am not a proponent of neem oil. Neem oil doesn't work. Neem oil makes your plants sticky. It smells bad, and it doesn't really work. So don't. Don't do it. I don't know who big neem is, but they've been getting around lately. And so insecticidal soap is the better solution. You'll want some of that fertilizer. I like the liquid fertilizer. And, you know, if you don't have as much light, maybe a plant light.

[Chris Satch]

How important is it to make sure your potting soil is fresh?

[Listener]

Pretty important. Yeah, pretty important. So when it comes to potting soil, it's sort of like you have to take it as it goes. So, like, potting soil is actually not earthen soil at all. There's no earth or minerals in that soil. It's actually digested peat, like the same peat, like peat moss. And so they mix it with perlite, the little white things, and they mix it with, you know, a couple of other things, maybe some coconut coir. And over time, it will degrade because it itself is organic 100% or nearly 100%. And so you'll want to watch for signs of, you know, maybe your plant gets too big for the pot and it's tipping over. Maybe, you know, your plant just starts to decline for absolutely no reason. That could have been what happened to that schefflera. You know, it was in the same soil. I always say repot every couple of years. Repot when the plant gets too big for its. When the plant gets too big for its pot and repot. If you start to see or smell, it turns into this, like, silty, dark black consistency. And it's. And once it starts doing that, that's That's a sign.

[Chris Satch]

Help. My 37 plus houseplants have been infected by spider mites. I tried NEEM and systemic and they are still fighting it. It's like a preschool over here. As soon as one recovers, another one develops an absolute sweater of mites.

[Listener]

Yeah, I've, I've. You know, everyone with a larger collection tends to have some kind of pest here, there, and, but not all the time. So when it comes to spider mites, you can spray for them. Systemics won't work against spider mites just because of the way that they feed. So spider mites actually go to individual cells and rip the cells open and drink the cell guts. And that's different from a systemic, which goes through the vascular system of the plant. So that would be. Systemics work best against things like that are SAP feeders, like aphids, like scale bugs, like mealy bugs, things like that. But for spider mites, you either have to use insecticidal soap to spray them down or. Recently, I've had really good success with my own collection. I've actually gotten rid of spider mites from all of my plants by using beneficial mites. You can order beneficial mites or they call them predatory mites. And there are other mites that eat the spider mites and they search and destroy because they are hungry and that's all they eat. Bugs are great like that because they are. They're sort of programmed to only do one thing. And so those predatory mites will go after the spider mites and eliminate them. They will search and destroy.

[Chris Satch]

We are celebrating National Houseplant Appreciation Day with Chris Satch, aka the Plant Doctor. If you have a question, give us a call. 212-433-WNYC 212-433-9692 or hit us up on social media. Llofit WNYC. Let's talk to David who's calling in from the Upper west side with his dogs, apparently. Hey, David.

[Listener]

Sorry about that. We're actually out on a walk right now.

[Alison Stewart]

So quick question. Somebody gave me a Venus fly trap and never had any plans for a carnivorous houseplant.

[Listener]

Right. Had plenty of others. I've done what I can.

[Alison Stewart]

I switched it to half perlite, half peat moss.

[Listener]

It's in a regular plastic container.

[Alison Stewart]

It has some distilled water underneath it.

[Listener]

To kind of humidify the area around it.

[Alison Stewart]

It's feeding it once a month and it seems to be dying.

[Listener]

But I know they also enter a state of dormancy.

[Alison Stewart]

How can you tell the difference?

[Listener]

So Venus fly Traps generally don't have a real dormancy. They just kind of stop doing stuff. They don't actually really die back. At least a lot of them. A lot of the ones that they sell you are already in a good spot by using distilled and, or rainwater for them because they are very salt sensitive, because the natural environments they come from are bogs which have no mineral content. So even tap water in a lot of places will make them turn black and die. And so when a plant's leaves turn black, that's a, that's a salt problem. Now you said that you fed it once a month. Now that's the problem. These creatures evolved in bogs where they have to wait a really long time for a bug to be silly enough to trigger the trap. Like even with your finger, you kind of have to try hard to make the traps go off so they don't really consume that as many bugs as people think they do in nature or in your home. So I think that you might be overfeeding it, especially if it's turning black as well and you are using the distilled water from, you know, you can buy it and buy them in gallons from the drugstore. Just make sure it's distilled and not filtered or purified or anything. It has to be distilled like the same kind, mineral free kind of water that you would use in like small household appliances.

[Chris Satch]

Got a lot of questions about potting soil. What is the difference between regular potting soil and succulent potting soil? I have some succulents in regular potting soil. They seem fine, but should I repot them with specialized soil? Somebody wants to know, hey, is that soil I get at the hardware store good enough?

[Listener]

So you're going to like this answer. They just add sand. There's, there's not really a difference other than they add a little more gravel, a little more sand and call it a day. But you can take regular potting soil and plant your succulents in there. That I do that. I don't even bother with any kind of specialized soil. But if you want to, you can add, you know, sand or whatever you like. You know, they're not very picky.

[Chris Satch]

All right, let's talk to Anya from Carol Gardens. Hi, Anya.

[Alison Stewart]

Hi. Thank you so much. So I have a polka dot begonia that's maybe about five years old and about one foot tall and it bounces back in the summer. It definitely dies back a bit in the winter. At the moment though, its leaves are like half Brown and kind of dropping. It seems like it's just dying full stop. We do have a north facing apartment so we don't get a ton of light. But I worry about the cold and I worry about the kind of balance of soil versus humidity versus light. Like what can I do to make sure it lives a happy life, Right?

[Listener]

Yeah. So when it comes to humidity, begonias don't really care that much about humidity. Some of them do, but not the polka dot one. That one doesn't really care. As long as you're watering it properly because most of the water goes into the plant through the roots, you're fine. But I would check all those conditions that you mentioned to me too, like is there a cold draft on it? Begonias really don't like it cold. They actually prefer it on the hot side. So maybe it is a little chilly. You mentioned you lived in a north facing apartment and you sort of have seen this pattern where in the summertime days are longer, more light, it's more robust, it grows back and then in the wintertime it gets sad and it dies back. So that's kind of expected. But if it's full out dying, check the soil, maybe, maybe it needs to be repotted. How long has it been since actually, how long has it been since you repotted?

[Alison Stewart]

I mean, I think I repotted it about a year ago.

[Listener]

Okay, so then, you know, the soil is fresh enough. So then maybe check, you know, is there a new cold draft? Something else must have changed or perhaps? Well, actually no, it's been only a year. So, you know, it wouldn't have totally run out of nutrients by now. So, you know, I would go for the cold draft and see how that is. Just make sure you're giving it as much light as you can.

[Chris Satch]

We have a lot of questions about water, so we'll start with just one and then we'll go from there. Frank is online five from Montclair. Hi Frank.

[Alison Stewart]

Hi there. Thank you for taking my call today. Yeah, I'm just curious about whether or not it's better to use filtered water versus tap water. I was told there was an issue with one of my indoor plants that completely shifted actually. In fact it's hide. But I'm just wondering about that. I've been doing the filtered water thing now for about three or four months and it seems to hold. And one other little tiny question is about the over counter of, you know, plant foods which you know are liquid and you just use a little pump. Should you bother with that or you know, Obviously it's in the soil. If you use the milk or grow soil for six months, I guess you should change it. Anyway, those are my questions today. I look forward to your answers.

[Listener]

No, those are great questions and they're kind of related, so I'm going to give sort of a longish answer. So when it comes to water, most of your, unless you are living in a well water area or your public source of water is really what we call hard water. Means it's mineral rich, means there's a lot of minerals in it. Generally you don't have to worry unless it's that. So if it is hard water or if it is from the groundwater, you do have to worry because those salts will build up over time and they will poison. Not poison, but they'll, they'll salt out the plant. It'll get a little too salty. So most tap water is fine. I mean, here in New York City, your New York City tap water is absolutely fine. I mean, I kind of am taken aback when some people start using bottled water for their plants. I'm like, you know, New York City water is the greatest water in the world, right? And even in most parts of New Jersey where you're at, the tap water is absolutely perfectly fine. So I would just, you know, save the money, use the tap water, keep the filtered or, you know, other kinds of water for yourself. Now, when it comes to fertilizer, fertilizers are salts. So you want a very well balanced fertilizer for most of your things. Now keep in mind, you're not exactly growing vegetables. When we're talking about houseplants, we're talking about slow growing tropical plants that take their time to do things. So we call it plant food, but it's really not food. It's a plant vitamin. Think of it as a multivitamin. Just like I don't have to take my multivitamin every day, I do. You don't have to fertilize your indoor plants all the time. They're going to, they're going to absorb the nutrients very slowly and it'll take time for that soil to exhaust itself. So for most intents and purposes, you can use kind of whatever you like. Although I prefer, you know, I'm not allowed. Am I allowed to?

[Chris Satch]

You can if you believe in it.

[Listener]

Oh, I do believe in Dyna Gro. Dynagro is really great because it's one of the only fertilizers on the market that has calcium in it. And calcium is an essential mineral for cell walls. It actually helps keep your plants more robust against fungal attacks. So for those of you worried about.

[Chris Satch]

Root rot, we are talking about plants. We're going to talk pruning and propagation with Chris Satch, AKA the Plant Doctor, after a quick break. This is all of it.

[Listener]

I'm Ira Flato, host of Science Friday. For over 30 years, our team has been reporting high quality news about science, technology and medicine, news you won't get anywhere else.

[Chris Satch]

And now that political news is 24 7, our audience is turning to us.

[Listener]

To know about the really important stuff in their lives. Cancer, climate change, genetic engineering, childhood diseases. Our sponsors know the value of science and health news. For more sponsorship information, visit sponsorship.wnyc.org.

[Chris Satch]

You are listening to all of it on WNYC. I'm Alison Stewart. Hey, happy National Houseplant Appreciation Day. We are celebrating with Chris Setch, AKA the Plant Doctor. If you have a question for him, give us a call. 212-433-WNYC. I love the idea. Plants can be, it can be something you do with other people as well, right? There are plant clubs all over the city.

[Listener]

Yeah, absolutely. There's a bunch of plant clubs. There's a lot of them will call themselves societies, but that's just because those clubs have been around for so long that they didn't call themselves clubs back then. So there's the Manhattan Orchid Society, if you're into orchids. There's the Greater New York Chesnariad Society. There's the Cactus and Succulent Society, you know, they're meeting pretty soon. All these clubs have meetings at least once a month where you can, you know, take your plants, show your plants off, trade, swap, buy, sell and do all kinds of things with planty people. And I know at least the Orchid Society and the Gesneriad Society and I think the Cactus and Succulent Society too, once a month. They'll also invite speakers like professors and people who actually go into the jungles or the forests or the deserts. And, you know, they do research on these plants. So they're really great groups to join. And, you know, I'm a part of almost all of them.

[Chris Satch]

Let's talk about pruning and shaping and propagation. Some plants grow upward. Some produce these long runners that dangle. How does growing in these different directions change the way, one, the plant takes its nutrients and two, how we can set them up for success?

[Listener]

That's a really good question because based on how the plant is growing will determine how you really prune it, propagate it or treat it so when you're pruning something, what I would call like a basic structure, right? Something that's tree like, you know, it has a stem, it's got branches, it's got leaves. You can trim that, you know, kind of almost however you like, because there are what are called nodes all along that plant. So like a rubber tree plant, like Ficus elastica, you can cut that just about anywhere and force it to grow in any way you like. And what's really nice about the, you know, semi woody, bushy kind of plants like that is you can actually bend and train those plants to grow in any direction you like. Now, keep in mind, the plant itself will always try to grow in the direction of the light. That's why if you don't really rotate your plants, they'll all just, like, pancake themselves against the window. But for plants that are, you know, kind of more runnery, I call them shamblers. They kind of put runners along the ground. They shamble along, and they just sort of, you know, creep and shamble. For those, you know, you might. If they're clumpy, you might want to split them apart. I just, like, grab a fistful and I just rip it apart, and I put one in one pot and one in the other pot, and now I have too many pots.

[Chris Satch]

Let's talk to Jamie calling from the Upper west side. Hi, Jamie.

[Alison Stewart]

Hi. Can you hear me?

[Chris Satch]

You're on the air. You better.

[Alison Stewart]

Can you hear me?

[Chris Satch]

Yeah. There you go.

[Alison Stewart]

Okay. Sorry about that. Yes, I have a very robust dresinea tree that I have to prune a lot because it's happy and grows. As an experiment, I recently cut off a extending branch and thought, let me just put it in water. And I'd always thought you grow trees from seeds, but it appears off this branch that there's some kind of furry beginning, nascent root happening. I'm not sure what it is, so I just want to know if that's indeed the case and if I let it. There's no spine, like form forming. It's kind of fluffy off, but in several nodes on. On the branch. And just curious if what's happening and if I can ultimately put it in soil and make a new tree.

[Listener]

Yeah, no, I mean dracaena, dracina. You know, you could say it either way. Those kinds of plants, when they propagate them and grow them in Hawaii in, like, these massive plantations of house plants. Kind of a wild concept to think about, a plantation of houseplants. But when they grow them there, that's exactly how they grow them, they propagate them, because they don't really flower that often and they don't really go to seed that often. And most tropical plants, seeds actually take months and months and months to germinate. So most of your house plants are clones of clones of clones of clones of clones of some mother plant that they collected or started to grow years and years and years ago. So do be careful if you're water propagating, because I've noticed sometimes when I water propagate that there's this kind of, like, cloudiness coming off of it. And you. It might be a root, but it's actually sort of, you know, kind of like a. Like a water mold, like a water fungus growing off that. So as long as you're changing the water every day or changing the water every other day, that shouldn't be the case. And then you'll start to see, like, an actual fibrous, like a hairy root come out, like a. Like a white hair or an orange hair. Some dracaenas are orange. They have orange roots. They can. And once the roots are about a couple inches long, that's when you can transfer it to soil.

[Chris Satch]

What about when you're placing these various little plants that you've mismade or it's mismade and you're in an apartment and you don't have the thermostat, so you have to kind of open a window to make sure it's not boiling there, but it's not so great next to the window, because now the window's open. Like, where should we place the plants in our New York City apartments?

[Listener]

Oh, yeah. I've lived that life. And it's not fun for the plants. So there's a couple of really interesting solutions you can do. So the first solution is instead of opening the bottom of the window, like most of us are inclined to open the top of the window, because that way the cold air descends into the room and has a chance to mix with the warm or hot room before it even touches the plant. So that's option one. Option two is you could hang your plant in a window such that it's out of the way of the breeze. So it's okay if it gets a little chilly as long as it's not, you know, blowing on the plant. So you can hang the plant in the window. That's option two, if you have that luxury. Option three, which I used to do actually myself, you can take. Well, you could take like, they throw out these wine boxes from the liquor Stores and wine shops and things like that. And you can. What I did was I took these wine boxes and you could take anything. I punched out the bottom so I had a see through frame, like a wide frame to sort of make a shelf. Right. And so I would stack a couple of them on top of the radiator case and so you could see through them. And now you have shelves in your window, these boxes. And so you'd put your plants, like, you know, one on each one, but obviously not right on top of the radiator. You don't want to do that, but, you know, maybe a couple of feet upwards, that heat has had enough time to dissipate. Now, just beware that you may be. This might be one of those situations that you may be watering more often because the radiator's cooking it to death. So do pay attention to it and check on it a couple times a week. The fail safe is if you can place your hand there and your hand is okay, your plant will be okay.

[Chris Satch]

Let's talk to Angela from Mendham. Hi, Angela, you're on the air.

[Alison Stewart]

Yes, hi. Nice to be connected with all you great guys and all these wonderful questions. My question is. Thank you. Yes, I'm sorry, My question is, I have had in the past some success overwintering in the house gardenia. And I always take a chance because the worst that could happen is it doesn't make it. And I start all over again in the spring. I do have one, though, that is putting off nice, beautiful green leaves. And there are actually quite a few buds on it, so I want to keep that going. And they're in an east window. They're getting beautiful morning light, very sunny there, surrounded by tons of other plants. So there's, you know, good amount of humidity there. But I, I just want to keep this one going so it can bloom and give off that beautiful fragrance.

[Chris Satch]

My mother had, my grandmother had a gardenia plant uptown. Anyway. Yes, go on.

[Listener]

Yeah, no, I, I mean garden. It sounds like the plant is telling you that it's in a really good spot, right. If it's making buds, if it's making new leaves and leaves look great and you're giving it the direct sun that it wants. Gardenias are very, blast it with as much sunlight as you physically possibly can kind of plants. There's no such thing as burning your plants. There's no such thing as too much sunlight when it comes to them. They want as much as possible. And when you overwinter them indoors, I imagine you're. I Imagine you're. You're. You're taking it outside for the summer, and it grows really big in the summer, right?

[Alison Stewart]

Yes.

[Listener]

Yeah. So, you know, when you take it in indoors are, you know, your biggest problem growing indoors, and most people's problems growing indoors is they don't get enough light. And especially with a plant like that that needs a lot of light, just keep blasting it with as much light you may want to invest in a plant light. They sell really great plant lights. You know, the LED kinds don't get the ones that are, like, purpley and whatever. You just want the brightest plant light you possibly can. I mean, I. For my plants, I use vivosunlights because it's like a flat license plate thing, and I have, like, an entire plant cart rack that I hang it from, and I grow a bunch of things under it. But gardenia would do well under. Under a plant light like that.

[Chris Satch]

Thank you. Let's talk to Sharon from Piscataway. Hi, Sharon, you're on the air.

[Alison Stewart]

Hi. Hi. How are you? Thank you so much for taking my call. Please help me save. Please help me save the life of my pony palm. I don't know the official name, but my understanding was it's supposed to be drought resistant. And I have it in the house. I face southeast, so we get plenty of sun. The problem is it's getting this white powder, like, substance inside the leaves, like, deep in and, like, towards the center. Yes, like towards the center. And now some of the leaves are falling off. I've tried to spray it with water and a little bit of dish detergent. I was told for a little while it seemed like it was doing well, but now, actually, today I looked at it and said, I don't know what to do.

[Chris Satch]

What do you think, Chris?

[Listener]

Yeah, so that's a good one. So what's going on there? It sounds like. And it's not in front of me, so I can't really see it, but it sounds like you have a mealybug infestation. Can I ask also, is the floor around it sticky or is there anything sticky around it?

[Alison Stewart]

No, no, no, no. It doesn't sit on the floor. You know, it sits on a pl. Plant stand.

[Listener]

Okay.

[Alison Stewart]

Yeah, it sits in a plant stand. I moved it from, like, right in front of the window with full sun to, like, across the room where it still gets good sun. I'm hoping that. That that would do something. Then I was worried. Did I over water it? Should I be potted?

[Listener]

No, no, no. This is. This is more of a A pest infestation. So what you're going to want to do is you were kind of doing the right thing and you were sort of of, from what you were saying, seeing results with the dish soap. So the dish soap, and this has to be like plain, unscented dish soap with water is sort of like a bootleg insecticidal soap. I would get a good insecticidal soap from like your local hardware store, Home Depot, Lowe's, wherever, and spray it down with that and just keep spraying and wiping them off until they all go away. Now, if you get tired of doing that or they don't go away after, you know, you spray once a week for a couple of weeks and they're still there. What I would do then is I would escalate to the next best thing, which, you know, to something a little more hardcore, which would be to treat the plant with a systemic pesticide. And they sell that in the garden section at Home Depot and Lowe's and all those garden places. So you would do that and that you would just mix with your watering can. Remember the one gallon watering can, like I mentioned earlier, have that? Because they have the measurements for what you'll need to do for that. So I hope that that helps.

[Chris Satch]

We get one more call in, Kevin from Brooklyn. Kevin, real quick.

[Alison Stewart]

Oh, sure. So I have a Brazilian ring tree, it's a bonsai tree. And I have these, like, little bugs that are so small that you can barely see them unless you zoom in sort of with like a, you know, like a camera. And they, you know, they almost like they appear on, like, the branches, the green branches, almost like a droplet that's appearing out of the branches. At first they're like, you know, I see like red spots on them which I assume are maybe eggs. I was just wondering if there's anything that, you know, that I could do to get rid of these, these plants, these bugs. I'm not sure if they're, you know, inside the plant branches or what, but.

[Chris Satch]

He wants the bugs gone. He'd like the bugs gone, please.

[Listener]

Bugs gone. I mean, me too. So what I recommend is actually taking the insecticidal soap, spraying it down with insecticidal soap. You can try that first. If that doesn't work, you can then try the, the, the predatory mites. If it is indeed a mite, it sounds like it's a mite because, you know, they're really tiny and they kind of crawl around the plant. There's other. Are you seeing any kind of, like, damage to the leaves or anything? Or is it just, hey, this is crawling with bugs.

[Alison Stewart]

Some like in like indentations, like little like almost like if you pressed like a pen into the leave and it made like a dent.

[Listener]

Okay. Do you also see like CD scratches like that kind of damage too?

[Alison Stewart]

What kind of scratches?

[Listener]

Like it looks like CD scratches as well. Like do you see that as well on the plant?

[Alison Stewart]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Listener]

Okay. Then you have thrips. Okay. Thrips are really annoying. They. They're. They're what we call slash bugs. They. They slash into the, into the cells. So unlike spider mites which do. Each one individual cell actually deeds horrible. And they're very quick. They, they wiggle very fast. They. That they're kind of elusive. You really only know if you have thrips by seeing and they're larvae. What you're seeing, the small ones you're seeing, they're tiny little crawlers or larvae. You can't see them really with the naked eye. You can only really tell if you have thrips by either the damage or by seeing an adult. So for thrips you will have to spray with the insecticidal soap. There is no. They do have predatory mites for thrips which work okay. You'll have to shop around and identify which mites those are. You can also write in to NYC. You could also go to nycplantdoctor.com and write in to me and I can help you there. And we could take. I'll tell you which mites you'll need to get.

[Chris Satch]

We could keep you here all day. Instead we'll invite you back real soon.

[Listener]

Fantastic.

[Chris Satch]

Chris Satch is the plant doctor. Happy National Houseplant Appreciation Day to you.

[Listener]

Happy Houseplant Appreciation Day to you too.

[Alison Stewart]

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