Your plants are looking nice, and you think, 'hmmm, maybe a little water?' NO. Step away from the plant. Plants tell you if they need to be watered. So if you're observing the plant and it looks good, watering is the last thing you want to do. Remember, most plants originate from the Rainforest of the world.
Here's a brief story on the age of plants in our world from Science Daily, University of Bristol, article submitted on April 23, 2007.
Earth's First Rainforest Unearthed
The Earth's first rainforests dates from the Carboniferous period, 300 million years ago, when most of the world's coal resources were formed (humanity appeared on the scene about 200,000 years ago in Africa).
The rainforest is composed of a bizarre mixture of extinct plants: abundant club mosses, more than 40 metres high, towering over a sub-canopy of tree ferns, intermixed with shrubs and tree-sized horsetails.
The fossilized forest was preserved following a major earthquake 300 million years ago. The quake caused the whole region to drop below sea level whereupon the forest became buried in mud, preserving it forever.
The fossil forest is the largest ever found, covering over 10,000 hectares (1 hectare = 2.47 acres), an area 10 km by 10 km (which would cover the city of Bristol, UK). The fossils preserve a unique snapshot of what tropical Rainforests were like 300 million year ago.
Source: Science Daily/Universal of Bristol
The article above was referenced because plants have been here a lot longer than humans have. Therefore, when you bring a plant into your environment, give it what it needs and back off. Obviously, there would be no over-watering in the Rainforest, so, as tempting as it may be, don't over-water in your indoor garden.
Over-watering is one of the more common causes of problems with houseplants. Heavy and poorly drained soils are susceptible to becoming waterlogged. Roots growing in waterlogged soil will not survive because they cannot absorb the oxygen needed to function normally. The longer the air is cut off, the greater the root damage. The dying roots decay and cannot supply the plants with nutrients and water.
Inserting one or two fingers a couple inches into the soil is the best way to determine if your plant needs to be watered. If it's moist or damp, do not water the plant.
Plants growing in containers, at some point may become root-bound; they out-grow the pot. When roots have no where to go, this stifles the growth of the plant. The plant will droop or react as as if it needs water but the soil is moist. Simply re-pot root-bound plants into the next size pot and your problem is usually solved.
Use the proper potting soil that drains well, with fertilizer already mixed, such as Miracle-Gro Potting Soil, or Espomosa Organic Potting Mix. These soils are not as dense as outdoor gardening mix and allow proper drainage after watering.
It's also important to use pots that allow the water to drain completely. Most pots have a removable tray at the bottom.
In my trial and error experience with indoor gardening, over the last 30 years, I've found that plants do better if you remove the tray, allow all the water to drain, then put the tray back.
The reason is that sometimes the tray that is attached to the pot can get clogged up thereby not allowing water to drain fully and could lead to the plant suffering. The Dragon Tree pictured above right shows a 14-inch self-watering pot with a bottom that cannot be removed. You could just pour water into the lid but I choose to water the plant from the top of the soil. I'm not a big fan of the self-watering pots because of the fact that the soil always appears to be bone-dry. Therefore, my preference is to water from the soil and allow the water to drain.
If you purchase a decorative clay or ceramic pot with no holes on the bottom, you will need to place small rocks and/or pebbles and even a few sticks at the bottom of the pot to allow for proper drainage.
Below is a response by 'New Age Mystic' Aurora Clawson, written on March 26, 2015. Because of a response I received based on my affinity for plants, I did a Google search on 'plants and karma.'
The young lady stated, "There must be good karma around you. I like!"
As I perused through a few pages and stumbled across Clawson's answer to the question:
"How does karma work with living beings like bacteria, plants, etc?"
"Karma is a universal law that accompanies a level of sentient consciousness. Each bacteria does not have a sense of personal self with will and imagination. It has 'hive mind', subject to specific energetic laws governing its species. Its self is its principle. Each aspect of its principle is acted upon by thousands of variants that determine its effect upon those variants. Its species naturally moves along its own evolutionary path without personal choice, Thus, no karma. Since bacteria is acted upon, bacteria causing disease did not maliciously choose to harm human beings. Bacteria is subject to its own energetic design."
"It just so happens we live in a chemically oriented world and some chemicals are harmonious together, and some aren't. If the human system is harmed by interaction with a particular type of bacteria, it is not the bacteria's fault. It has simply, by some means been put together with a human host. It will seek to thrive, feed and survive within a human, as it does everywhere else. Bacteria will just go along doing what it does."
"Its just like wolves. Wolves form packs and kill for food only. They have no will or desire to KILL another wolf. They will fight for dominance, but never to the point of killing another of its species. They only kill for food, adhering to the primitive instincts deeply instilled within them. Ironically enough however, a dove will peck another dove to death. Aren't we humans good at choosing symbols of peace? Just an interesting aside. Still are they subject to karma? No. They are subject wholly to their instinctual natures. They cannot make a choice to deny their natures. There would be zero use for karma."
"Karma is simply a word for how universal consciousness responds to a species with will and imagination, and a species still defining themselves in a wholly limited and delusional way. Such a species is subject to something called the Law of Attraction which is how they are brought into wakefulness. This law is far more complex than the simplified version one hears by those who don't truly study it."
"We human beings have the capacity to choose our responses. Our perceptions create our realities. Self authority and the level of one's Conscious Awareness is what determines whether or not one is still subject to karma."
"When one has transcended their identification of ego as their self, they also transcend karma. The reasons for this would take a great deal of explanation. So I'll leave it at that. As well, there are many other truths about karma that are far more complex. It is never as simple as it seems."
"So the same applies to plants. Something to mention of interest however, is that these life forms can respond with something akin to emotion. When hooked up to instruments that measure their energetic response, they can receive differing types of music and emotions and create specific responses to them.
A plant can respond when its owner lands at an airport. The needles actually jumped at the specific time when measured in one particular experiment."
"Everything is a form of living Consciousness. The laws a thing is subject to depends entirely upon its degree of 'sentience of being' as an identity. Still they can respond with what humans may interpret as emotions to stimulus even if they are not possessing of an individual sense of identity in the human sense. Trees will warn other trees of fires, and the other trees will ooze more sap, which helps to keep them more fire retardant. Nature communicates with itself. None of these communications are determined by the law of karma, which pertains only to human thought."
Aloe Arborescens is one of approximately two hundred varieties of the Aloe plant and, according to scientific studies it has the most effective properties of all the combined Aloe plants. Although resembling a cactus it belongs to the lily family and produces a majestic red flower in the winter.
It’s potency is unmatched for providing the human body with a complete spectrum of phytonutrients and nutraceutical properties necessary to support, strengthen and eliminate waste particles in a healthy immune system. Your body rebuilds into a healthy state with remarkably improved functions.
The medical properties of Aloe Arborescens has been known for hundreds of years but it was the Brazilian monk Romano Zago who rediscovered and improved it with a new formula turning it into a powerful detoxifying agent. He simply coupled it with two more ingredients: honey and 1% organic alcohol.
Aloe Arborescens is not just another kind of Aloe plant. Recent studies, administered by the Institute Palatinin Salzano, Venice, Italy, concluded that Aloe Arborescens is substantially richer in medicinal substances when compared to all other Aloe Vera varieties. See the differences here.
Romano Zago’s mixture works as an effective cleansing procedure for your entire body. The alcohol dilates the blood vessels for the Aloe Arborescens to reach further into areas of your body. The honey works as a carrier to facilitate the cleaning operation. In ordinary cases, usually within 15 days, the blood is completely cleansed.
End statement: "This preparation acts like a broom that sweeps the blood and body completely clean while at the same time effectively improve your immune system. Actually all adults living in today’s toxic world would benefit remarkably if this FRZ cure is taken annually for at least 10 days."
Side Effects and Benefits:
You could experience a few side effects during the first two or three days of use. They represent, in fact, expulsion, the release from the body of impure substances and could emancipate as a slight form of diarrhoea or a slight feeling of morning sickness. However, these symptoms are rare, of no serious sufficiency and are actually a positive sign of the FRZ’s effect on your body.
from curanatura.com/Why-Aloe-Vera
A terrarium is a collection of small plants growing in a transparent, sealed container.
It is typically a closed environment, and can actually be used to illustrate how an ecosystem works. Inside a terrarium's walls, many different natural processes may be observed: photosynthesis, respiration, and the water cycle.
Terrarium's have the essential requirements of soil, water and light for the survival of plants that are housed in it, as well as a reservoir of water, as water is trapped inside the bottle and unable to evaporate. The carbon dioxide from plant respiration is used for photosynthesis, and the oxygen from photosynthesis is used for respiration. As such they require almost no maintenance.
Photosynthesis is "the process by which green plants and some other organisms use sunlight to synthesize foods from carbon dioxide and water. Photosynthesis in plants generally involves the green pigment chlorophyll and generates oxygen as a byproduct."
The Process of Photosynthesis
- Sunlight is absorbed by chlorophyll in a leaf
- Carbon dioxide is taken in from the air
- Water is transported from the roots
- Glucose is synthesized and distributed throughout the plant
- Oxygen is released
Sources:
Earth's First Rainforest Unearthed
