Plant care for the transient
[/.
By BETH CALHOUN
Focus Editor
One of the easiest ways to
end your plant’s life is to force it
to pull up roots and move to
school without taking steps to
ease the transition.
Otherwise, your begonia may
end up pushing up daisies.
“You have to think about
where you had your plants be
fore and try to put them in an
identical situation,” says
Marihelen Kamp, a lecturer in
the Horticulture Department.
And never place them near
heater or air-conditioning vents,
she warns.
One of the two most impor
tant things to remember about
keeping your plants from taking
the deep-six is to check lighting.
Do they have the right amount
and kind of light?
“You might think it’s pretty
bright in here,” she says, point
ing around her fluorescent lit of
fice. "But it’s only about 100-
125 foot candles. Most plants
need 150-500.”
After you get the light right,
water is next on the list.
But the water in this area has
a high sodium content. And “let
ting the water sit over night will
not remedy this problem,”
Kamp says.
But you can water sucessfully
with all this salt if you do it prop
erly.
And properly means leeching
— but not the kind in “African
Queen.” This kind means letting
the water run completely
through your plant for a minute
or two.
A white deposit on top of the
soil is salt. And if you have this,
it means you aren’t leeching
properly — the salt isn’t getting
washed out of the soil.
When you’ve changed the lo
cation of your plants, watering
may also have to be changed,
Kamp says, due to lighting and
humidity changes.
Less light, less water and
vice-versa.
The most common problem
with water is too much water,
Kamp says. One of the first
symptoms of over-watering is
rotting.
“Your plant will start to turn
black at the base and the rot will
gradually creep up the rest of
the plant.”
A good item to invest in is a
water meter, which checks the
amount of moisture in the soil. If
you do use one, be sure to
Boston Fern
place it near the roots because
that’s where moisture counts.
But a meter isn’t a necessity,
she says, if you check moisture
correctly with your finger. Again,
check near the roots. Even
though you plant may look dry, it
may be very moist around the
roots.
Every other time you water,
Kamp says, it’s a good idea to
use a diluted fertilizing solution.
Almost any houseplant fer
tilizer is good enough, she says,
like the ones sold in grocery
stores.
Potting soil is another matter,
though. Don’t go dig up some
soil from your backyard to re-pot
with, and expect your plant to
grow well, Kamp says.
“The soil around here is
called Lufkin Fine Sandy Loam.
But it’s more like concrete.”
It’s not necessary to use
rocks at the base of your soil for
drainage. "It’s better to use a
pot with a good drainage hole,”
she says.
And to help with drainage,
potting soil usually has perlite or
vermiculite or styrofoam pellets
mixed in. They’re the little white
granules you see in the soil.
They break up peat moss.
Another thing to remember
when re-potting is that the roots
may need to be pruned. If they
look really thick, Kamp says,
simply take a knife and cut off a
portion of the root system — just
trim off from the bottom.
But you must also trim off the
top of your plant, too. When root
hairs are trimmmed, your plant
loses a capacity to take in nutri
ents, she says, so it must be
balanced out.
One warning signal to look for
is color. Some plants having dif
ficulty adjusting may turn light
green or yellow. But, Kamp
says, it’s difficult to diagnose a
plant, because the symptoms
are the same for so many prob
lems.
As before, Kamp recom
mends, check the watering and
lighting first. If they don’t come
around after that, try adjusting
the fertilizer.
If one or two leaves turn yel
low and fall off, Kamp says,
don’t worry.
“People get old and die and
so do plants and so do leaves
on the plants.
“Just one yellow leaf isn’t a
sign that the plant is dying. It
may be just getting old.”
Photos by Lee Roy Leschper Jr.
NOW OPEN IN
CULPEPPER PLAZA
MEXICI
Restaurant
Authentic Mexican dishes preparea fresh daily
the old fashioned way — DELICIOUS!
You’ll find our pleasant family atmo
sphere will make your visit even more
enjoyable.
(Orders to go)
Hours
11-10 p.m. Tues.-Sun.
Closed Mondays
focus
-K>
THE BATTALION
Focus is published every Thursday as an
entertainment section of The Battalion.
Policy: Focus will accept any stories, drawings or
photographs that are submitted for publication, al
though the decision to publish lies solely with the
editor. Pieces submitted, printed or not, will be re
turned upon request. Deadline is 5 p.m. the
Thursday before publication.
Contributing to this issue were: Lee Roy Les
chper Jr., Louie Arthur, Ava King. Special thanks
to the University Archives.
Editor: Beth Calhoun
Assistant Editor: Doug Graham